talking to Les.J.Parkinson

When I have been looking for fanciers to write about I have always kept an eye on the top winning lofts of Kevin Porter and John Richardson. This partnership has been winning more or less as long as I can remember, as have their pigeons for other fanciers. I suppose that many scribes find themselves in the same position, having said that there have been many articles written on the partnership and it is always a case of looking for something extra to give the readers.

These Q&A series of articles have been received very well therefore I decided to have a talk to Kevin and go from there. As most will know Kevin is always in demand at moots around the country where he is very good at talking about his chosen hobby. It was through one of these moots that I met and saw Kevin in action and he is good but the thought occurred to me, "Would it translate into an article" that's one for you to decide. However before going onto those replies I must mention the pigeon of the moment "Firecracker" which is probably one of the best pigeons of all time. "Why" well this pigeon has everything, there is no question about his ability to race all you need to do is take a look at the performances. Then there is the breeding, second to none this one has the lot, sired by 1st Open RPRA North Road Centenary winner 11,500 birds "with his grandsire 1 st Open Kings Cup and his great grandsire was also 1 st Open Kings Cup, what more could you want. Oh and I nearly forgot this pigeon has not taken years to achieve the performances as he is only 3yrs old and achieved most of those performances in two years before he was retired for stock in preparation for the 2004. There is a lifetime of breeding for this cock and bred right there will be generations of winners to prove just what a good cock he is and I would expect this cock to be proving his worth for many years to come. That is also the case with his sire " J.C." who has bred numerous winners and is responsible for many more and has a record that any loft would be proud of.

Please introduce yourself and tell us how you got started in the sport.

My name is Kevin Porter of the Porter & John Richardson partnership. I was first introduced to racing pigeons in 1965 whilst living in a town called Retford in Nottingham, I was 10 years old at the time and one evening when leaving school for home I was asked by my school caretaker Mr Turner that if I cycled to another part of our town and retrieve a lost youngster for him he would present me with a pair of young birds, this I did, during a thunderstorm I might add, I often think what the gentleman must have thought when I knocked on his door drenched to the skin surrounded by thunder & lightening asking for Mr Turners youngster. Anyway Mr Turner kept his promise and gave me my first pair of racing pigeons, my step father built me a small loft and I was away, but my experience with racing pigeons was short lived as our landlord told my stepfather we were not allowed to keep pigeons at the property, so only young birds were raced that year and that was that, may I say that all of the races I raced in that season I had to run to a clock a mile away as my parents could not afford to buy me a clock of my own I might add that I did not win anything, maybe it was because I was a slow runner , not the pigeons being rubbish. The next time I raced pigeons was in 1971 at Ollerton I was 16 years old and was invited by my uncle (Chris Prest) to fly with him and a friend the partnerships name was Prest, Porter & Thirlaway it lasted a bit longer this time, 2 seasons in fact and we had a little success during those two years but as I said I was 16 years old and I became distracted by the other sort of birds. I got married to my wife Anne in 1975 and in 1976 after our first son was born I became interested in racing dogs (whippets) and with fair success winning many opens in fact one of my dogs became a National Champion. In 1979 my dogs escaped through a gate trying to follow me on an errand and a car run into all of them, two were badly injured but the champion was killed, I felt I could not carry on racing dogs anymore and in 1980 whilst kicking my heels a friend offered me a complete set up of pigeons, lofts, clock and basket for the total sum of £200 and I asked Anne what she thought and when she realised it was a back garden hobby and that I would be at home most of the time she gave me the £200 out of her own savings with the provision that I did not have a partner, however when word got around that I was starting up in pigeons I had three offers of investment in return for a partnership and I could not resist and within a week there was Porter, Swan, Richardson & Richardson and I was not popular with Anne, however within a year Johns brother gave him his share and Anne's father gave me his share and the partnership was re-established as Porter & Richardson.

With your pigeon work do you have a silent partner i.e. wife, partner or friend, if so what part do they play.

As I mentioned above I have John Richardson as a partner who I might say does most of the work around the place but he is more than just a partner in the pigeons he has been a great friend to me and my family in many other ways. My wife Anne has also done her share in the past as well, in fact she helped the two seasons in which we won two motor cars, and when my grandfather Percy was alive he also liked to help and I must not forget my Uncle Chris who also helps with the training and clocking if he is needed.

Do you consider there to be any advantage having a racing partnership.

Without doubt a partner is a big advantage, I do not think for one minute any of us would have had the success we have had if we had flown on our own, its not the fact that two heads are better than one it's the fact that there is someone there most of the time so not a lot is missed, training is easier when there's two and of course there's the advantage of being able to go on holiday and know there will not be an interruption to the birds programme.

Are there any points that you disagree on and if so how do you compromise a situation where there is a different viewpoint?

There are not many occasions where we disagree, the fact we respect each other's views helps and we both know each other's strengths and weakness and of course what one misses the other spots.

Do each of you have an area within the partnership where responsibilities take control regarding a decision?

Not really as we both take an equal responsibility most of time but I usually get my way if there's a dispute on a pairings and on pooling pigeons but John is well in charge of the day to day workings and he the boss when it comes to treatments etc.

Give the readers the most memorable results that you have achieved flying as a partnership and flying on your own.

There are many memorable results, maybe to many to mention, but one of the best was a recent result in the 2002 NRCC Thurso 385 miles having 9 in the top 33 open positions and of course the three 1 st NRCC Opens we have achieved, also gaining 3 rd open in the Kings Cup from Lerwick got my heart thumping. A couple of favourite Fed performances are taking 1 st , 2 nd , 4 th & 5 th open in the Notts Fed 5,982 birds with the 3 rd open being from our birds and all five birds were direct from our great stock cock "Young Trimard". Mentioning that reminds me of when talking 1 st 3 rd & 4 th open NRCC Perth we were stopped from taking the first three by Barry State who took 2 nd open with a cock through our own birds in fact bred from a sister to the 1 st open winner. Lastly when Dave Allen flew in our Fed he kindly took our birds to be centrally marked and on returning back to the club headquarters told me that whoever beat our birds would win the fed and boy was he right we took the 1 st seven in the fed that day from Fraserburgh 312 miles.

Is there anything that you have not won in the sport that you would like to achieve?

Of course! The Kings Cup but we do have differences of opinion on this; I think you have to send your best to win it but John believes there are to many good pigeons lost at Lerwick and not because the bird is not good enough, its not because of the distance either, its because you rarely get the right conditions to race from there

What organisations do you race with?

Our club is the Ollerton & District H.S. and the club belongs to the Nottingham & District North Road Federation. We are also members of the North Road Championship club and The Midland Two Bird Championship Club.

Do you hold any official position and if so do you take an active part, if no what are your reasons.

We both hold official positions; John is the club secretary and clock setter for the club and MCC 2 bird clock station. I am the Federation President and clock setter for NRCC clock station and until recently was on the NRCC committee

What are your lofts made of and how big are they

All our lofts are of timber construction, the stock loft is 16 ft x 10ft with the front 4ft being an aviary the widow loft is 28ft x 6ft in two sections each holding 15 cocks. The young bird is 24ft x 8ft pan tiled with 3 sections each with 40 perches but! Only 25 young bird per section maximum

Do you attach any importance to having a tiled roof on a loft, if so are there any benefits.

The only pan tiled loft is the one we can see from the house and that's the young bird loft and its pleasing to the eye. Pan tiles are effective for ventilation but! Chimneys do exactly the same job

Do you use any form of heating system in any of your lofts. Do you think it would be advantages for the birds?

No we do not use heating the only time I ever saw heating have an effect on racing was in 1985 when bob Picking had it in his loft, it was a damp, drizzly and cold for weeks and every time he let out, his birds got damp but on returning to a dry warm loft they bloomed, whereas ours could not come to form because they were cold and damp for most of the day, having said all that we would not install heating because in general the weather is kind to us.

How do you control the ventilation in your loft?

The widow loft has 4 x chimneys in the roof, 2 in each section, with louvers across the front, which allows air to enter the loft and escape out through the chimneys; the stock loft has the aviary. The young bird has the pan tiles, which with louvers across the front seems to work well. We used to believe that the widowhood cocks closest to the chimneys were the best performers but this myth was dispelled with Firecracker flying from a bottom box.

Do you have any grills fitted in the floor or in the boxes, are there any advantages to using them.

Yes all widow cocks stand on grills because we believe by keeping their feet out of their own droppings helps their feet to stay warmer on therefore keep form better, you do not see many winners with cold dirty feet. The young birds also stand on grills, in fact when I think about it our birds spend their life on grills because even the widowhood hens stand on grills in their boxes

What families of pigeons do you keep?

Frans van Wildermeersch mainly, with a few Gevaerts & a couple Busschaert's, we have kept other families over the years such as Grondelaers, Frank Arts, Van Reets and we had a little success with them but our feeding methods seem to suit the none Janssen families

Easterly or Westerly do you set any stall by the position and if so why.

Of course especially the route we fly, the most easterly lofts have the advantage because the prevailing winds are south westerly, don't get me wrong it worked in our favour for us in many cases in the past for the NRCC Section but certainly not in the case of the NRCC Open, but now with the present banding system we fly 50 miles west of flyers in our section but we have always had to do that in the open anyway. When we are beaten by the east coast flyers I always look at how many birds were in front of ours and if we were say 34 th open, then I would say we only have to beat them 33 pigeons next time to win 1 st open

BREEDING AND RACE PREPARATION/PLANNING

How do you go about bringing in a new family and what do you look for.

We believe you do need to try new families against your own and we like most people become interested when someone informs us of a new super winning family and we do a bit of homework on that loft, one thing we will not do is bring a family in from someone who wins by sending big teams or only wins with young birds, try to buy from somebody that is winning against the odds, this sport is to expensive to make mistakes

When you bring in that new family do you think that they need time to acclimatise, if so how long.

Yes a new family does need time to settle and you do need two or three seasons to find out the strengths and weak ness's example-some win as young birds only and not as old birds, some do not win as young birds but win as old birds so you need to show patience, remember give them a fair chance which is always harder if you have a family that is already successful

When looking for new pigeons do you look for a particular family, one for specialist races or club races or just by name.

We look for birds that are going to win at the very top level, there's no point in buying to win the club races, we also look for a type because of our heavy feeding system we tend to look at the none Janssen based families that's no detriment to Janssen's there are many, many good Janssen's, its just we have found the do not suit our methods

Which of the two sexes do you consider is the most important when it comes to breeding?

Both sexes are of equal importance there is no difference

Some fanciers like big hens for breeding does the size of the hen make any difference to the quality of youngsters that she breeds in your past experience.

In our experience none whatsoever, we've had top pigeons from tiny hens and top pigeons from large hens.

When it comes to breeding do you line-breed or use a first cross or just pair winners to winners.

We have breeding winners for 23 years now and found all three methods are as successful as each other and if we were breeding for another 23 years we probably would not know which is the best, what we do believe that you need to breed vigorous pigeons for racing and the best way to do that is to put opposite to opposite like light eye to dark eye, big to small, silk feathered to buff feathered and deep to shallow and that's assuming all the birds are from winning lines. If you are breeding for the stock lofts then the best breeding is line breeding.

Do you think that fanciers change for the sake of changing or do you think a loft can breed a winning team out and lose track of the winners.

Yes to the first question many people change families to readily sometimes you have to look at yourself before you condemn your birds, I mean are you giving the birds the dedication they need to win. My tip for keeping a family winning for years and years is not to breed a type in fact do the opposite do not breed a type, after all fantails have apple bodies, silky feathering and bull eyes but they would not win Lerwick

What method do you use to select your breeders?

We try to breed from the birds that have performed for us or at least from a very close relative such as a sister /brother, son/daughter and I know there are winners bred from the most unlikely sources but you got to lessen the risk by breeding off the winners.

Did you find your best breeding pigeon by luck or judgment?

Defiantly luck! In the past we have asked other people to buy for us when we could not make it to a sale or to a loft and when they have returned with the new pigeons we have been very disappointed and would certainly not picked them ourselves but those birds made fantastic stock birds, three of which have turned out our best stock birds

What materials do you use for nesting

We use nest felts, we have used them now for over 14 years and find them very good and convenient

When do you pair your pigeons and why then.

We pair our stock up in mid December and our widows about the third week in January, which gives us about three or four weeks to get some training in, and the widows then can take the second round of stock eggs if we want to.

How many stock birds do you keep and do you breed off your race team also how many pigeons do you think that you need to breed off any individual stock pair each year to see if they are quality producers.

We keep 20 pairs of stock birds and of course we breed off all of them, we breed of the best racers and some of the yearlings if we fancy them, there is no magic formula or equation that tells you how many you need to breed off a pair but we like to get four off each pair if we can and we use the bull system on special pigeons, one season we got 33 youngsters off one cock, mind you we did pay £2,500 for him. Talking about the bull system and there are many out there we prefer to just use two hens at a time although we have paired four hens to one cock before but found that he would pair to all the hens to start with and then would favour just two after a few days and reject and attack the other two, so we found that just using two hens at a time is better and breeding 33 on that system is more than enough by any standards (just for the record we raced 13 of them and 7 won prizes so just over 50%).

Please explain the method used from pairing up until the first race.

We pair the widow hood cocks up about the 3 rd week in January let them rear a round of youngsters and when they are on the second pair of eggs the hen is removed on the tenth day, please note that she is removed at dinner time whilst the cock is sitting this is very important. The cock then decides when he wants to leave his eggs and therefore he is deciding when he wants to come onto widowhood, and if a cock wants to sit his eggs for a week he can do but they normally leave the eggs within the first couple of days, even when he has left his eggs they are not removed for a couple more days, then maybe the day after the eggs are removed the nest bowl will be cleaned, then the day after that the bowl will be turned over, its very important that you don't put the cock into shock because if you do you can forget him racing his heart out for you, let me explain in a little more detail if I can ,take two fanciers in a club they both fly the same family lets say Van Reets they both use the same widowhood corn from the local corn merchant, they paired up at the same time and they both train with a local bloke with a trailer ,when they mark the birds on a Friday night both teams are the same weight and in the same condition but one man has five birds before the other on the Saturday why? Because the first man's are happy and the others mans are not happy, now I bet the unhappy birds were not brought onto widow hood properly and the happy birds were, you have to have mentally sound birds if you want them to race for you, if you get them right between the ears you are almost there. Once they are all widowhood for about a week we begin training from a ten mile point and they are trained from that point as many times as we can (about twenty chucks) and they are shown the hen every time, not always before they go but always on their return, we like to stop training about a week before the first race.
Do you move the hens with the young birds?

No we don't believe taking both the hen and youngsters away at the same time, it would not do the cock any good, because we believe that it's the most important part of the widowhood year and it is crucial that you do not cause the cock any stress, the trick is to let the cock think he is putting himself onto widowhood a mentioned in the previous question.

What is the farthest distance that you would train your old birds or young birds?

The furthest we go is ten miles for both the old and the young birds because we believe that learning them to break from the basket and trap into the loft is very important so they are always released from the exact spot each time and there's always something for them to return to e.g. (hens for the cocks) and (food for the youngsters) do not get the impression that the youngsters raced to the corn tin as they get 1 ¼ of corn a day which is more than enough for a young bird. In the past we have taken them further distances but we did not get the results as we get today.

Do you breed off the top widowhood cocks after the racing has finished; do you breed late bred youngsters and what do you think of those later bred youngsters.

Yes we do take a round off the widowhoods after racing it seems to settle the cocks down and as for the quality of these birds growing them on is the secret they must have plenty of good high protein food with the emphasise on plenty. Remember is this how many top fanciers on the continent have a stock bird called The Late Blue or The Winter bred.

For every 50 pigeons that you breed realistically how many of them would win at Lerwick 480mls, based on your past records .

I have never thought about this before but if you analyse it, one out of two hundred would be well above average when you consider we have won nine out of a possible twenty at 480 miles and bred seven for other people at 500 miles that's a total of 16 which when you look around that is good because there's only a hand full of lofts in the country that can boast to have bred more than that. (By the way that is not a challenge) lets not carried away on this question 500 mile winners are rare and that's because there is usually only one 500 mile race a year unless you belong to the specialist clubs.

RACING

How do you race your pigeons and how many.

Our birds are raced on widowhood and we start with thirty cocks

Do you compete in the National events, if not why not? Or are you happy to race in the club.

We race in the North Road Championship Club, we consider this to be our National and we take pride in the fact that our birds can compete at that level, we also enjoy club and fed racing because we have some fierce competitors in these areas and they keep us on our toes.

Do you ever think of competing for averages, if not why not?

Of course averages are the ultimate prize at any level, although I do not think there is a full proof average system out there, if its time and distance a man can win every race but not time on in the last race and then he is out, and the other is the points system which can be abused by the man that fills his clock every week but I am talking about the exception not the rule generally the average is won by the top man.

Do you race your pigeons every week or do you prefer to condition them for a specific race.

It all depends, you see our National races are every two weeks once they start, if we have birds coming well then they will be rested between each national and will not be club raced.

In your view do you think that a loft needs different pigeons for different distances?

We have been bringing different families into our loft, well since we began, some for sprint and some for the distance but what we find is that if they are in the same loft as your existing family and are fed the same then they will fly the same distance, so in my opinion if you want to win at a different distances then put them in different lofts and feed to suit.

Is there any specific condition that your pigeons perform best at, or any particular time of the year?

I suppose our birds usually come to their best form about the end of May onwards but that's down to the heavy feeding earlier in the season (nothing has been taken out of them).

When do you allow your racers to take a bath?

 As often a possible and sometimes we will hand bath the day of basketing so as to relax and rest the cocks, not letting your racers bath after a certain day is an old wives tale.

Do you use any floor dressing or do you clean the pigeons out daily.

If you mean whitening no, but we do use sand sometimes and a bit of sawdust around the nest bowls and yes every loft is scraped out each day even Xmas day.

Do you like to have plenty of room for the pigeons?

Yes we have 120 perches in a 24-foot x 8ft young bird loft but we like to have a maximum of 75 youngsters. The widow loft is 27 ft x 6ft and only houses 30 cocks.

How do you feed the cocks and what do you feed them on, a branded mix or do you buy separate corns and mix your own .

We feed the cocks in individual pots on their boxes with Versele laga super widowhood and it's in front of them all the time but we do try to give other tit bits on a Friday such as trapping seed hemp and peanuts. People should not send pigeons away without corn in them, its their fuel to perform with, I mean you wouldn't race a Formula 1 racing car without petrol in it would you

Do you measure the amount that you give to each pigeon, or are they fed according to the individual pigeon .

As I have said in the previous question there is always corn in front of our widow hood cocks and also our stock birds, our young birds receive one ounce and a quarter.

Do you attach any importance to grits and minerals or can the pigeons get what they want they are out of the loft .

We don't think it's critical for the racers but it is for stock birds when feeding youngsters, it is usually in all the lofts for them should they require it.

Is there a way that your pigeons let you know when they are in form?

That's the million dollar question, we have almost every sign of form there could possibly be sometimes it's a cock sat in his box and will not fly (he can win) a cock flying on his own (he can win) but its nearly always a cock that's doing something different to the norm, if you doing your job by observing he will tell you, mind you when the whole team is going to perform your club mates will tell you because your team will have paid them a visit, incidentally that's how "The Visitor" got his name ,when he was hitting form he would go to other lofts in the village drop into the garden and fight with their cocks

Do you have any secrets about what you do with your pigeons and how you get them right?

There are no secrets, believe me, its not if you train or not, its not if you show the hen or not, its not the type of corn you use, if your birds are in good health and are happy they should be looking for a hen every time they are exercised and the harder they look the fitter they get and the fitter they get the more races they win, the two main things a widow cock needs to win is health and happiness the rest follows.

Do the pigeons need any special treatment on their return from the race to help them relax? Is any such treatment needed for the short or long distance races or the hard races compared to the easy races?

The only thing our bird's get on return from a hard race and it has to be hard is re-hydrating salt's.

How many weeks do you think a pigeon can maintain its form on the widowhood system for both cocks and hens?

I can't answer for hens because we don't race hens but there's no reason why cocks can't hold form all season but there is sometimes a period of two or three weeks when they hit super form ,this can be frustrating during the week when trying to get them into the loft after exercising but very rewarding on race day,

If your race team went off form during the season what action would you take to restore their condition?

First of all we would pick the bird that was last from the race, take it to the vets along with some droppings and have a swab taken from its throat, the vet should tell almost immediately if you have worms cocci or canker but will be a couple of days with other tests and depending on the outcome treat accordingly, having said that we would treat for canker immediately because canker is usually the primary problem and most other problems are secondary to canker and you should be advised by the vet to treat for canker before you can treat for any secondary problems, to sum up if you think there might be a problem treat for canker straight away and it might save you some time later but please let a vet find the problem ,don't start banging any old antibiotic into them .

Is a favourable loft location the single biggest factor in sprint racing.

Definitely- but there has to be someone in every Club Fed or National that has the favourable loft position in it shows up more with young bird racing, there's nothing we can do about that but they themselves have to have birds in the leading batch, even when you change boundaries change sections or form another club its just another loft that will inherit the best favourable position. We ourselves used to have a favourable loft position in section A in the NRCC we would never deny that but them days are gone now with this banding system, now like I just said someone else has the favourable position. I remember a few years ago when we had all the top fanciers in our area flying in our north road club often there would be three cocks in the leading batch one for Mr (A) one for Mr (B) and one for Mr (C) lets say Mr (A) west side of the club would be third Mr (B) middle of the club would be second and Mr (C) east side of the club would win, now Mr (A) went south road racing through frustration because he rightly thought his birds are as good as the others and there's nothing wrong in that but at the same time Mr(c) can't help living where he lives, maybe the answer is to abolish sprint racing and start at 250 miles( no letters please I did not mean it).

Do you treat pigeons differently with their preparation if they are to go to the bigger races whether National, Classic, Specialist club or open.

In general we don't treat any one bird different to another, there's one thing for sure if you decide to prepare one bird differently then another, then it becomes hard work, no all birds in our loft have to conform to our methods or they are gone.

Do you think a pigeon has the capabilities of racing both short and long distance races? Also what distance can a pigeon actually still "RACE" as opposed to homing from any race point?

A good fancier once told me you can win a sprint race with a distance pigeon but you cant win a distance race with a sprinter, I think its in the feeding if you feed for sprint you wont win at the distance but if you feed for the distance you can win sprint races, As for the second part of the question, I think all birds start off racing from whatever distance, if it's a one day race then the majority are racing but when it comes to two day racing the majority are homing

What proportion of you pigeons get better on subsequent trips to the long distance races and what do you call distance.

I would expect all our young birds to fly up to 200 miles but having said that the birds we send to South Africa as young birds fly almost 5,000 miles with the final race being 392 miles and that before they are 10 months old, so we certainly would send all our yearlings to Thurso which is 385 miles to us, and I would call that middle to long distance.

Which is the more difficult, establishing a team of sprinter's or distance pigeons and why.

Its hard to establish a good team in either distance but maybe a distance team would be because getting a bird to fly for 8, 9 or 10 hours rather than 2 or 3 hours has to be more difficult.

Sprinter or distance, there is no difference; it is all in the feeding.

Correct it's all in the feeding.

If you could pass on one piece of advice or tip, at this point to fanciers old and young, what would it be?

To all the successful fanciers, you have the future of the sport in yours hands its how you handle success that will determine the future of your organization, don't destroy your chance of continued success by being greedy, try and give something back to sport and fellow competitors if you can.

To the not so successful fanciers, apply more dedication more observation and more prizes will come, there are no secrets, you can only learn from the pigeon itself.

How far do you race your yearlings?

We like to send our yearlings all the way up to Thurso 385 miles 

What races do you send your long distance candidates to before their chosen race?

They always get the first couple of club races and then we start and look at a programme for each individual bird

Where do you house your widow hens?

Widow hens are always a problem and I don't think there is a perfect system in which to keep them from laying, the best system for the cocks is to keep thee hens locked up permanently but its not the best system for the hens to many of them get wing lock and that's tragic for firstly the hen and of course for you, our hens are kept in boxes but the boxes are built such as V perches can be hung on the front of the box and the hens can perch on these until Wednesday the v perches can be removed after that and then the hens are boxed up until Friday night ,two days locked up will get them fresh enough for Friday.

YOUNG BIRDS

Young bird sickness is a problem; have you had this in your loft and if so what have you treated them with.

We have had the sickness every year for as long as I can remember except for maybe a couple seasons, it used to be the most devastating thing that happened to our young bird team especially when if it happened in mid to late June, the virus would be gone in a week or so but there was no way they could be trained or raced for at least a month and if you tried to do either you lost them. We still get the virus in fact we have it now as I am writing this article which is the 1 st week in April but in one way we are glad it is now because we know they will be totally over it by the time we come to training, the reason I think we get it earlier these days is that we vaccinate as early as we can, lets say early March whereas years ago we used to leave it till about May and then about a month later we got the virus, so we have no miracle cure but we recommend vaccination a early a possible. I know the question asked what treatments we use and the answer none! Now I can hear you saying "what" but its true we used to use nifuramycin, John rated it but I never did but these days because we get the sickness early we just let it run its course and usually its gone in a week or so.

Do you race your young birds, if so how many races, if not why, do you think they are better off in the longer events if they are only raced lightly.

We like to send every young bird to as many races as possible not only for the experience but we fly the darkness system and although flying that system makes them hold most ff their flights if you don't keep them going (training & racing) then they break into a body moult just as the races you want to win come up and having a full wing at the end of August is no good if they have no cover flights or they are bald around the head. So to recap if you race the darkness system and want to win the longest races which are usually the ones with the bigger prizes then it is very important to work and race them hard to keep them in the feather that's needed to win.

Do you use any preventative medication? If a pigeon goes ill do you try to put it right or does the bird have to go.

Yes we do use preventative medicines and in the case of canker and we do routinely treat for that but as I mentioned earlier we have birds checked by the Vet and treat to their instructions, and answering the second part of the question, we would try to get a bird right if we could.

Earlier in the article we discussed the wind direction, do you consider that good pigeons will win in any position .

Yes of course good pigeons can win even when the wind is not in their favour but it is usually an old bird, you don't get many youngsters breaking and coming on their own line, you know not having everything in your favour can make for a better team of pigeons because if you win when you are up against it, that bird becomes a true winner and if you build a family around true winners you will eventually overcome the man with everything in his favour,

Some fanciers go out and purchase good quality winning pigeons but never appear to make the grade, why do you consider that this happens.

There are many reasons but the main one is that they cant put the work in, or give the same dedication as the man they bought the birds from, I think if you buy birds from somebody sit back and think can I improve on those birds or at least give them the same kind of regime and if you cant then don't waste your money.

Do you give any special treatments when the pigeons return from the race as a precaution against anything that they may have picked up in the basket?

As I mentioned earlier we do routinely treat for canker and this can be between two to three weeks apart during racing, we don't anything else unless the vet says so.

Do you use the darkness system for the young birds, if so for how long and do you think it affects them later in life.

As I mentioned earlier we do fly the darkness, every young bird is put on the darkness as soon as it comes out of the nest and birds can be introduced right up to the middle of May, All the birds are to taken off darkness the first week in June and we find that the darkness has no bad effects these young birds later on in life, we seem to have had much better results with yearlings since we flew the darkness, remember racing youngsters with a full wing and body feather has to have a less detrimental effect than racing with gaps in the wing no cover flights and bareness around the head.

Are there any feeding methods for the young birds i.e. do you break them down, do you keep them hungry for control purposes, do you give them a trapping seed mix.

Our young birds are fed on just maples when they are weaned because of the protein value for growth and the protein also helps them to body moult, the other advantage of weaning on maples is that you don't get a youngster only picking small stuff out and therefore not coming along like the others. Once we run out of maples say the end of April then they are put onto a general Irish mix of witch they get one and a quarter ounce a day. Trapping seeds are used for training and racing purposes

Do you attach any real importance to the pigeon's wing i.e. back wing, end four flights and do you look at the wing to see if they have cast before a race. Do you have any other comments on the wing.

That's one thing we don't give relevance to, maybe its because we race widowhood and the family we fly have only thrown a couple of flights when the big races matter, in the past we have won top races with cocks that haven't even thrown one flight and I remember when we were 3 rd open NRCC Thurso, that cock had broke his eighth and ninth flights in the basket on the way to marking and they both were broken two inch from the top, one of the markers brought it to Johns attention and he decided to let him race so its not something we bother with within reason.

If random drugs tests were carried out on your pigeons, would it reveal any substance, illegal or otherwise?

If there were drugs called "happiness" and "love of home" then our pigeons would test positive

THE MOULT/WINTER

What criteria do you set down for the pigeons you winter with your thoughts on the following seasons racing and breeding?

Just complete rest with plenty of baths

Are there any special treatments that you give your birds once the season has finished what do you recommend the readers to do with the birds

The same answer, as for the previous question they need plenty of baths and complete rest.

What were the last four things that you put in your drinking water, when and why and did you notice any benefits.

The very last thing we put in the drinking water was Flight path which is a product that rebalances the gut flora in a birds stomach which ensures that the bird has a good chance of remaining healthy (we gave this in early April and will use it once a month from now on). The time before that was Emtryl cancer treatment, which we gave to everything, once they were 10 days sitting. The time before that last young bird season and that was diorite which we use for re-hydration after a hot hard race and the stuff before that was glucose which is always used before a race just to help overcome stress in the basket, the young birds get the aviform ultimate in their drinker to help with growth, they are the only five things we put into a drinker unless the vet tells to.

If you could only give your pigeons one supplement what would it be.

I think out of everything we use maybe glucose is the most important because of its value in relieving stress.

GENERAL

Irrespective of how your pigeons have flown, what are your views on the past season whether good or bad or the management of the sport in general.

I don't whether anybody agrees with me but we seem to have gone mad in the last couple of seasons at National level I don't mean the R.P.R.A., I mean National Racing, for as long as people have raced pigeons there have always been changes and although this is the case at all levels of competition the Nationals have fundamentally been stable but what with the MNFC having two splinter groups now and the NRCC adopting banding and of course letters that flew in after the NFC annual general meeting I just don't know where we are going, I often think what newcomers to the sport must think of all this.

Which fancier has influenced you most, in the way in which you fly your pigeons?

There have been a few fanciers that have impressed and won my admiration but no fancier had any influence on the way in which we race our birds because we have learned from the pigeons and pigeons alone and that's done by simple observation, however I suppose you could say that the local fanciers have had a kind of influence on us by being highly competitive and keeping us on our toes.

Which Champion pigeons over the years have left an impression on you and perhaps influenced your direction in the sport .

The very first champion we had was a 1982 rung mackerel Wildermeersch cock who's name was Champion 600 and he was the bird that taught us more about the racing pigeons than any book or video could teach, we were just starting out and widow hood was the craze but we were green as grass so we were looking for advice and believe me we tried everything and when I say we tried everything I mean every method out there, now back to "600" he was one of a team of six cocks, he had 9 races in 1994 2 x open races and 7 club races and the lowest position he attained was 9 th he topped the federation 3 times with over 5,000 birds each time, one week we would show the hen the next we wouldn't, one week we would use depurative the next we wouldn't , one week we would train the next we wouldn't, we must have changed the type of corn we fed 4 times in other words we didn't know what we were doing but that cock flew his heart out every week in fact every time he landed from a race his wings would be down because he had tried. At the end of that season John and myself sat down and realised that it doesn't matter what system or methods you use the pigeon has to be happy and want to race home and if between the birds ears is right then he is going to win.

Whenever I have visited a loft fanciers always look at the pigeon's eye. Do you consider that the eye has any importance in (a) the breeding, (b) distance races (c) sprint races. (d) The pigeon's health. Or do you steer clear of the subject and if so why.

Yes we do look at a pigeons eye as soon as it is to hand and we do like to see a rich colourful eye it seems to say I have qualities pick me but the truth is it doesn't have be rich and colourful be a good racer or breeder, we have been lucky to have bred some top birds over the years and I can tell you this, some have come off some what we would call weak wishy washy eyed pigeons, I know there are experts out there that would say ah! But you don't know what you are looking for, maybe not, but it hasn't done us any harm has it.

Who do you consider being the best fanciers in the Country and for what reasons.

There are many and I will mention two greats, the late John Lovell, and Geoff Kirkland, I also have great respect for the following fanciers, John Gilbert, Leadbbeatter Bros, Mr & Mrs Litherland, Mr & Mrs Alfie Rothwell, and of course not forgetting my local rivals Charlie and Russ Wooff , Kevin Lawson, Keith Morgan and Gary Daykin they all can fly a good pigeon.

What do you think can be done to take the sport forward?

I don't have a magic answer but to take the sport forward we have to stop people leaving the sport and we can start by looking at ourselves (are the most successful driving out the less successful by being to greedy) once we stop people leaving then we need to promote our hobby and to do this it has to be marketed well, so maybe some of the monies generated by us could be spent on a marketing company to promote us.

Who or what motivates you to remain successful?

Obviously trying to win another National is always a good way of motivating us but sometimes it's the claims made by other fanciers that gets us wound up, we just like to let our pigeons do the talking.

What qualities do you think must be present for a fancier to be classed as a top fancier and at what level must he/she have achieved results to be rightfully so-called a "Champion".

That's a good question, first you have to determine what is a champion and in my opinion they have to be good at more than one thing and what I mean by that is they have to first compete at National Level but not necessarily at open level because there are fanciers that have not got a chance of winning a National because of their location, they have to be consistent over many, many years at all distances and with old birds as well as young birds and if their name is on every result sheet then they will be a champion in my eyes.

Do you think winning fanciers should move on from club racing once they have reached a certain level of consistency? Are club performances paramount for personal satisfaction or sales purposes?

I don't think the top winning fanciers should avoid their club racing because in this day and age clubs need members and of course pigeons, there are also other benefits to have a top flyer or top flyers in the club for instance advice and help on a number of queries, young bird sales for club funds etc but I think they should limit the birds they clock, I think clocking two or three birds is quite enough for a club race

To term a phrase are you a professional pigeon fancier and do your circumstances make a big difference.

There are more professional fanciers out there than non-professional flyers and you could say we are semi professional because my partner John does not work. Mind you there are only three that do work in our club. I know it makes a big difference if you race and go to work it's so hard

You are a successful fancier, there are far too many leaving the sport, to encourage fanciers to either join or stay in the sport what do you think about limiting prizes to two per race per loft. If not Why. If yes Why.

Many are leaving the sport that's true and there are many reasons and I think limiting prizes is a good idea as I said in the answer two questions ago but I am afraid its not going to happen because of the professionalism in the sport, take a guy in a club he doesn't work but he can fly a good pigeon, which could lead to selling a few birds so he thinks well I need this average and that average so I will have to clock as many birds in as I can to achieve this unfortunately he doesn't see past the end of his nose because in the end he wont win any averages because he has no-one to fly against. It's the pigeon fancier himself that is destroying this his own great sport

Is pigeon racing as a hobby going beyond the average working man? Is it becoming too technical and complicated or can you keep everything simple and still win with the pigeons.

I must admit it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. Its not the complications and technicalities of the sport that a working man has to contend with, its getting out of reach of his pocket with the price of the required products for racing and racing itself.

What is your view on pigeon "moots" or "panels", are they over played and outdated and what do you think may bring as much or more interest to the quiet season when racing is not taking place?

Moots can still be successful of that I have no doubt, our own moots at Ollerton pays tribute to that but you have to have the right panels because sometimes the best fanciers are not the best talkers. Is there an alternative you ask? What do we have moots for? Well for most pigeon fanciers its "information", "socialising" an "excuse for a night out" and maybe a chance to buy a good young bird, for the club that puts the Moot on it's a chance to raise club funds. I think there is a need to vary it a bit now though, I remember a few years ago I judged a show in south Yorkshire it was run jointly between two local clubs, they had an open show any age cocks and any age hens about one hundred and fifty pigeons and whilst I judged them they had an auction of pigeons there was a couple of trade stands, raffle, and food etc, the thing I remember the most about the night apart from getting my wheel trims nicked is that it was packed and everybody was enjoying themselves, I don't know maybe its worth a try.

What do you think about the vaccination programme for the pigeons and do you think it affects the pigeon's long term.

We along with many others have many unanswered questions about the vaccination programmes like do we need annual vaccination the price and has it anything to do with young bird sickness but one thing is for sure we will continue to vaccinate because if we get the dreaded paramyixo virus then we wont be able to race and we would sooner follow MAFF instructions that not be able to race our birds. I don't think vaccination would have a long-term ill effect on a bird and I am sure if there were any we would have heard of it before now.

What do you think of veterinarians in the UK and have you had any dealings with them.

We are lucky to be very local to an avian veterinary " Retford Poultry" and they have the facilities for testing for all the general ailments (canker, worms, cocci and respiratory and they have always done their best but sometimes I think they are to busy looking after large flocks of poultry and our racing pigeons have to take a back seat, I don't think they realise that its as important to us to know what's wrong with our birds but I suppose priority has to given to the people who give the greatest business to them, that could be the problem its not big enough business for anybody to specialise in pigeons

How do you consider that the British sport is going compared to the continentals and do they have any ideas that you think would benefit the sport in the UK?

I cannot comment on the continental's sport compared to the British as I have never been to Belgium or Holland but I would imagine they have the same problems as us but whilst on the question of continental flyers I found Dr Wim Peters article in the BHW 2 nd April entitled A NEW PIGEON WORLD POWER and he highlights the success the success of the Germans in the Million Dollar race held at Sun City very interesting he made some very good points and it makes very interesting reading indeed, I have been saying for a couple of years that although the Germans are flying the same pigeons as the British ,what I mean is that they bought their birds from the same place as us (Belgium & Holland) they certainly seem to be improving them better than we are ,I first noticed this at the last Olympiad held in Blackpool two or three years ago I handled some of the winners and thought they were superb and then of course I have been out to the Sun City race for the last two years and found that at marking the German birds are generally streets in front anybody else's and from talking to Willie the loft manager, they are streets in front when they arrive for quarantine, he says they stand out form start to finish and as anybody can see from the results in the race they are still streets in front, I have a few theories of my own on why the Germans do so well at this race in maybe after the next time I go to South Africa I will write an article myself to compliment Dr Peters theories.

What is your view on pigeon shows and showing?

Why not, its great that fanciers can get together in the closed season and still be competitive and it gives the fanciers that don't win a lot at racing another chance to beat their fellow competitors and I don't think it bothers the pigeons, we always support our club shows. As for the big shows like Blackpool and Doncaster they speak for themselves with the recent increased gate entries, its what the fancier wants.

Do you read many magazines/Articles, if so which type of article do you find interesting and why.

I know this is going to sound hypercritical, especially with me writing this article but I rarely read any articles in the weeklies although as I said two questions ago I found Dr Peters article on the success of the Germans in the Million Dollar race in South Africa very interesting . I have never read a book of any description in my life but I do admire the scribes that give up their time week in week out to bring the reports and articles to the people that do read. They do a fantastic job.

What aspect of the sport interests you the most?

Apart from racing, breeding and of course the social side of the sport and there always seems something that makes my ears prick up either a new racing system or a new family of super pigeons and in my twenty or so years in the sport there have been several revolutions within the sport, I mean who would have thought twenty years ago most of us would be on widow hood now and of course the darkness who would have thought ten years ago that most fanciers would be on it now. But the thing that interests me the most now are these one loft races I think they are brilliant and are a way of finding the best birds because no one has an advantage and I would like to se them extended to old birds as well

Is there anything that you do not like about the sport, something that you feel needs changing for the good of the sport?

If I could change anything that would be constructive in our sport it would to make it compulsory to attend the Club Fed and National A.G.M that members belong to or at least vote on A.G.M. business and this would be a condition of being able to race their birds. A bit harsh I hear you say but how many fanciers do you know, moan and groan at some of the rules and regulations decided on at these meetings and when it turns out they haven't even bothered to turn up or fill in their voting papers. An example of the ridiculous was at the NRCC A.G.M. in 2003 when there was one of the biggest fundamental changes in the clubs 100 year history a proposition was sent to all members to change the then existing section system to banding, there was an uproar when it went through but how many voted? About 25%, which meant about 750 members never even, voted. The people that moaned about this new banding system had their chance to overturn it in the 2004 A.G.M. how many voted? Yes about 25%. It doesn't take a genius to work out that if you can be bothered to put in a little effort you can get through what you want.

If you went into another fanciers loft and were given the opportunity to leave with a pair of pigeons, how confident would you be that you had selected the best pair, or in other words do you consider that you are a good judge of a pigeon.

If I was to go to a fanciers loft and try to pick the best pair, I probably wouldn't do it, because we've be lucky enough to have had some top pigeons through our hands and I can tell you this there hasn't been a type, shape, size or colour that is constant to a champion breeder or racer, in other words they come in that many shapes and sizes its impossible for anybody to do that and if they did, it was down to luck. We all have our favourite types and characters but I would have to leave it to the owner himself and trust them to look after me.

Is your loft of pigeons as strong as it was 5yrs ago?

I would say they are much stronger because of bringing in "J.C." from Jake Cotterell's Kings cup winning line, his bloodlines with Mr & Mrs Garnham with Mitchell Bros Kings cup lines as well, seem to blending in very well with our own family, you only have to look at our present champion "Firecracker".

Do you have any further comments about anything that we may have missed in any area of the sport?

No I think we have just about covered everything and I know that most of the answers I have given may sound a bit repetitive and to some I have said nothing new but if I have helped just one fancier with anything at all then its been worth it. I would like to wish everybody in our sport the best of luck for this and every season, I also wish everybody and their bird's good health.

LJP. As with all questionnaires there are many interesting points and I would like to thank Kevin for taking the time to answer honestly. All the best for the season.