JOHN BAKER

of Latchford, Warrington

by Les J. Parkinson

This is one of those fanciers who you see more or less everywhere because he is so keen to compete with his excellent team of pigeons. When I asked John about this article I wasn't sure whether or not he would take time out from his busy schedule as a roofing contractor to answer the questions which is something many will not do. Then when I eventually got the answers back and read through them, I was quite surprised how honest he has been with his information. I have heard John talking on many occasions when he has aired his views but I certainly did not expect him to put some of them down for print which is usually the case with fanciers. However I am sure that John will understand when I modify a few of his terms as the report progresses into the finished article.It is now 25yrs since John took to the sport of pigeon racing and to start the article I am going to let John have his say on the general thoughts of the sport.

"I race my bird's in five club's or should I say I am a member of five clubs but some weeks I only race on a Saturday because having neighbours on both sides with lot's of kid's makes the job very hard. I just race in my main club's which are Warrington & District and the Kingsway H.S which I have been premier prize winner of during the last two seasons. In 1998 I broke all records at Kingsway with 14 x 1sts 12 x 2nds 12 x 3rds 10 x 4ths. I also won every trophy that there was to win and coming out of that was the day the Three Counties Combine officials came to drug test my pigeons because they were flying so well and true to form they were negative. Just bloody good pigeons doing a bloody good job. It has taken me a lifetime to get these birds together, a team of birds that I am proud of because they win from 50 to 600mls in any weather". "For this I must thank the people who made it possible for me to buy these pigeons such as the elusive "King Arthur Isherwood from Frodsham who sadly passed away on the 1st Jan this year. What a pigeon man he was. Also my very good friend John Gerrard of Liverpool whom I consider has done more for pigeon racing than any other man I know. Then there's the man, who even though a youngster to the sport I rate amongst the top three fanciers in the world. He being Les Green of the Wall, Lunt & Green partnership because it is not often that you can go to a top mans loft and learn something; but them on the same day end up waiting for the pigeons from the nationals clocking them in and him winning 1st & 2nd North West Grand National, what a day out that was. Also one man that I put on the road to glory by breeding him (his words not mine) the best racing hen ever to go into Yorkshire Barry McNicholas Loft.Stock & Barrell. This man is a genius in his own right, he could make a Mallard win races. Thanks very much Barry for all the times you helped me in a crisis.

So as you can see I have four great fanciers in my stable whom I can talk to and in turn listen to if I am to improve my pigeons and system". "It is also time to thank fanciers from a little closer to home, such as Eric Perkins of Telford, Andy Noon of Warrington for letting me have them off their best. Also John Kirk of Warrington whom I have had some very good pigeons off over the years and I have spent many happy hours talking and listening to this fancier down on the allotments. It is hard for me to mention everybody that I know so I would like to say a big thank you to all the fanciers who I know and who supported me through the drug testing period. It is not an easy time when you are waiting 6 to 8 weeks for the result to come back. You start to wonder if there is anything in the treatments you use that can make a difference to the performances that the pigeons put up. There are sleepless nights wondering if the birds will carry on winning while the tests are taking place even though you know that you have not used any drugs. I was fortunate to take 1st & 2nd Combine Nantes the week after they tested the birds and believe me that got some tongues wagging. So for all the doubting Thomas's out there you now know that I am racing my pigeons in the honest way that they should be raced and my pigeons don't need anything to get to the top. The only products that I do use are from the Rhonefried range which are very good and nothing to do with drugs of any kind. Been there done it got the tee shirt. These products keep your birds in tip condition which you need in this day and age to get to the top of the tree. Please do not get me wrong, you can have all the products in the world but if the pigeons are not good enough you will never get to the prize table". "One thing that I would like to get off my chest whilst airing my views in the fancy press is that a lot of people are getting credit for racing good pigeons i.e. putting up good performances etc. when they have got a loft manager. In my eyes it is not the owner who should get the credit but the loft manager. Anyone can win with the help of someone else but please do not kid yourself because there's managers and idiots, I wish I had someone to go up the road training my pigeons and cleaning them out twice each day while I was tucked up in bed with the missus. Just imagine all you have to do is clock in on a Saturday win and everyone says Fred Bloggs is flying well and he has not seen the birds all week. What a load of rubbish, my answer is get off your backside do it yourself and enter the real world of pigeon racing and you will enjoy it more.

I am sick and tired of hearing people brag about winning this and that when it is not them. So next time you see birds in the fancy press for sale, firstly question is to the vendor, do you get any help, do you have a loft manager. But first and foremost do you have an alarm clock". "I have had some good times over the years and some bad ones, there was a time a few years ago when I won a mid week race by 11mins and was disqualified for an improbable velocity. This pigeon went on to win 1st club 1st Amal 2nd Chorley Open beaten on a decimal by Les Green in a hard West wind. This cock is also the sire of the Barry McNicholas hen classed as the bet hen ever to go into Yorkshire. She has now chucked out her 8th Federation winner for Barry & Co. so you see good pigeons breed good pigeons and in the right hands will win from anywhere. I know that some people will disagree with some of the points I make here but there again the truth often hurts". Here are a few of the top class performances put up by these lofts, 2nd St.Helens 3.B Sartilly Ylg which was a real hard race with only 10 home on the night. 1st Open Eccles 2B Rennes. 2nd Open NWCC Rennes after a 6 day holdover. 1st Warrington 2.B.Renens. 1st Warrington 2.B.Nantes. 1st Warrington 2.B.Plymouth in a year when John won all the races with the club. 2nd Middlewich 2.B. beaten on decimal in a N.N.E.Wind. 1st Club 1st Fed 1st Combine 2nd Three Counties Combine 11,380 birds and also 3rd Open. 1st Club 1st Fed 2nd Combine Nantes. Won the averages in the Central Lancs Combine 1998. 2nd Warrington 2.B.Picauville beaten on decimal. In the Kingsley H.S. 1999 John sent to 9 Y.B. races winning 8 and lost the ninth when his clock jammed and ended up 2nd 3rd 4th beaten on a decimal and this is a limited entry club and topped the fed three times with the young birds with all the clubs stacked against him. All that was with a team of young birds that never got trained after the first race. Out of all the Y.B races John only lost one which was Picauville with the Warrington 2.B when he was 2nd winning �318 and only deciding to send on the Saturday due to comments from his good friend and secretary of Kingsway Geoff Callen. Geoff said to John, "Your birds are flying well, I should send them and if you want I'll pay half". As John said "It was not a bad return of �175 for a �25 stake, keep up the good work Geoff".

Let's look at some of the things that John either has or does with the birds to keep up his excellent performances year after year. Firstly the loft is some 45ft in length, 6ft deep and 6ft 6ins high and is split into three sections for the widowhood cocks and whilst on that subject John does emphasise that he is 100% widowhood and there are no heaters in this loft. Then there are two sections for the young bird team and one for the hens. The loft has louvers all along the front at the lower level and has a 2ins gap the full length of the loft both front and rear. Normal trapping is via the open door but there are sputnik traps for late comers that John assures me does not happen very often. There is deep litter throughout the lofts but the boxes are scraped twice each day. There are 24 stock birds housed along with 40 racers and usually there is a team of about 35 youngsters to race which are raced on the darkness system. To rear the young birds John pairs the breeders on the 6th December and when considering the breeding looks to the first cross within the Janssen family that John keeps and the basket is what sorts the breeders out in the first place. A good point that came up prior to breeding is that the nesting material is straw and one month before they are paired it is sprayed with duramitex and left to dry. They are also treated for Cocci and Canker for two weeks plus a one month treatment for worms. Over the years John has dealt with the local vet's but this is not now as often as it used to be because he now keeps on top with a 4 in 1 system on return. John is also a fancier who adds to the water which is starting from Sunday Tea, Monday clear, Tuesday Garlic, Wednesday Yoghurt, Thursday & Friday multivitamins and Saturday the 4 in 1 system. If everything is alright and the birds are winning John leaves well alone but if things don't appear to be right the birds are locked up for three days. The cocks are exercised daily and this is where John picks his pool pigeons from on the strength of them flying around home plus if John considers that they are not exercising sufficiently around home they are given a 50ml toss. The hens are also exercised daily and are treated much differently being kept on poles and are only fed three times each week which is the art in keeping them right for the cocks and they are housed next to the w/hood cocks. What you must not do is let the birds get bored because if they do you are not going to race consistently and to avoid that John will throw a trapper in for half an hour now and again.

Another change that is made to stop them getting bored is that about every 5 weeks John will pair them up just until the hen lays. The pigeons are only raced once in any one week period. Prior to basketing for the shorter races the nest bowl is turned over and the cocks are shown the hen for 30mins both before and after the race but when it comes to the longer races they are together for the three days prior to being put in the basket. What John does is to let the hens out at 3pm and lock the cocks in one half of the box then the hens are let into the loft for that half an hour before the cocks are basketed. I asked John if he did anything to relax them when they returned from a race and was surprised at the answer. "When the hens have been removed after the races I dip the cocks in a bucket of warm Radox mix that helps them to settle". When the races are on the pigeons are not let out for exercise on a Saturday and are only let out once on the Sunday when there is an open bath available. On to a few more pointers for the birds and the preferences for instance the birds that are chosen for the long distance events are only raced to Weymouth 190mls and a lot of importance is put on the state of the wing at the time of each race. Corn used is the Bosmolan Diat 200 plus the addition of groats and Homorform and they are given a quarter once am and three quarters pm. What John did say on feeding is that they are fed on the floor and have to fight for what they want which gives them a challenge in the loft. This is the full feed pattern that is used starting on a Saturday with Diat 200 with lemon and Vitapro. Sunday am Diat 200, Sunday pm Diat 200 as much as possible which is left with them all afternoon. Monday, Tuesday am Diat 200 quarter oz and pm three quarters oz. Wednesday am quarter oz Diat, pm 50/50 Diat & Corn at a rate of three quarters oz. Thursday am half oz corn, pm 1oz corn. Friday am 1oz maize and pm half oz hemp seed. For channel arcing the birds are fed 1lb of maize on the floor for five days before each channel race and the doors are left open all day. To trap them John just shuts the door and lets them go in through the trap whenever they want that is unless John am staying out then they are trapped with peanuts. At the time they are left on the open hole they are also given 3 by 80ml tosses if it is thought necessary.

When breeding they are fed on Bamfords breeding mixture and peanuts and are allowed as much as they want. This is of course given along with the Hormoform. It was interesting to see that John trains the youngsters with the candidates for the longer events which is generally two weeks before the first young bird race and their exercise is 1hr both am and pm. When the young birds are weaned at 16 days the hens are moved with them to help them along for the first few days. What you must remember about these youngsters is that they are only bred off the best and to achieve his aim John puts the eggs off the best under feeders to maximise each top pair that are housed. The widowhood cocks are split from the hens 1st February and then re-paired on the 1st March and left to sit for 12days. During this period the cocks are trained starting at 10mls, 20mls then they receive about 10 tosses at 30mls, as soon as the races start they are not trained. The only exception is if they go stale then John puts his serious hat on and they are taken up the road for a 50ml toss, that is only if they are not achieving the results that John expects from his excellent race team. John is a fancier who knows what he is doing and if he feels that it is necessary one day he will not let the birds out but just sit there in the loft and play with them. John also likes the young bird races because as he pointed out they have to work just like the old birds and they cost as much money to keep and race. They are raced on the darkness system and John was quick to point out that if you get the system right they will quite easily go through their moult. These youngsters have to be good to go into the old bird race team and John is always watching to see which of the young cocks are quick to select and claim their own box and protect it even from the older cocks. The first season of the new Millennium will be different for John because he is racing a complete team of yearlings as a start with a fresh team. This new team will no doubt have started to make their mark by the time I finish this report and it is published, this is a brave move from a winning fancier. "We need to encourage young fanciers in the sport and I was fortunate to be encouraged by Jack Hibbert who I helped to clean out and learn the game. It was also great watching Jack's very good pigeon "White Face" flying around the lofts. I have had a great deal of enjoyment over the years but I was more than pleased to top the Combine twice in one season also having 29 x 1sts and an RPRA award. I also remember the race from Niort when I was 1st & 2nd Club, Fed & Amal when they went in the loft together. My only real ambition now is to win the National and to be record breaker at Kingsway for many years to come.

If a problem arises now that may cause me a problem I go to my solicitor Frank Howard because if you discuss it with anyone else as I have done in the past it causes an awful lot of other problems. There are far too many know it all's in the sport and what I say to any fancier is if they sat down and thought about things they would beat me, there are too many who try to get involved in other fanciers business instead of racing their own pigeons." "I must give a mention to my girlfriend of 11yrs who has had a lot to put up with and I don't know how she does it, I think it's called love. As I mentioned earlier my two good friends who have passed away. My mother Audrey Rose, the name of the hen that won the Eccles 2.B open defying all the odds. My dog Bruno who brought me 13yrs of pleasure, no wonder I bought him off the master himself Joe Shore. If I beat Joe at these 2Bird races I would win it". My final comment on the things that John does are firstly the point I raised about how quiet the birds were. That point came hand in hand with the second thing on my mind at that particular time, "Why the music" "I leave the music on 24hrs a day because I believe it keeps the pigeons quiet and at ease. When I moved here I asked the neighbours about leaving it on and they had no complaints". John is also very keen on hygiene and at the end of the lofts there is a propane bottle with burner which he uses twice a day during the arcing season after he cleans the birds out. This is a precautionary measure and also in the morning it puts a bit of heat in the lofts. I was also impressed with the way that he thought about the structure of the loft by having several layers to keep the floor perfectly dry at all times. This is made up of wood, sheet, metal and a further layer of wood that keeps everything out. Also to maintain the dry atmosphere John uses a mix of sand and sawdust. A point also raised was that the young birds are on poles and to basket them for training John drives them into the trap and straight into the basket. John's theory is that he insists that everything is made easy with the pigeons. This is pigeon racing with a winning system that is made easy and less stressful for both pigeons and fancier which is probably part of the reason that they win so well.

Thanks for your time John and for sharing your ideas which make pigeon racing what it should be, easy and a hobby. I shall leave the last very word to John. "It has been a great pleasure to be asked by Les to do this article for the pigeon world and I hope that you get as much enjoyment winning races as I do, all the best for the new Millennium. Don't forget to keep them on the boil and never let your guard down and more importantly never think that you know everything. I have enjoyed the sport immensely over the last 25yrs and I would like to finish by thanking Jack Hibbert for introducing me to this wonderful sport (I know he now regrets it). Also to Hill Bros Midge & Harry from the old school, without who I would more than likely be a scally with a string of convictions for being drunk and disorderly. If you want to win at this game one of the things you must do is stay off the pop, it shrivels your brain. If you are going to win get yourself a good alarm clock because if you are not up before me I will beat you."