MOORE,
OGDEN & GODWIN
talking to Les.J.Parkinson
I
had heard about the above partnership many times and spoken to Mick Moore
about an article but there was never much movement. I have never seen
much publicity on these lads and after a few years of pursuing them know
why, they have never gone out for publicity, as they have always been
content with racing their birds and enjoying their hobby. However there
always comes a point when you have to give and help a report to get under
way. This is what they had to say about the sport and how they race their
successful team of racing pigeons.
Q. Please introduce yourself and tell us how you got started in the sport?
A.
We race our pigeons as Moore, Ogden & Goodwin but there are actually
four of us in the partnership consisting of Mick Moore, Eric Ogden, Bob
Goodwin & Mike Brearley. Myself Mick, Eric and Bob have been partners
for 8yrs and Mick Brearley joined us in 2002.
Q. Give the readers the most memorable results that you have achieved?
A.
Don't know where to start really but here goes with the last 5yrs. 1999
27 x 1sts. 2000 28 x 1sts. 2001 25 x 1sts. 2002 22 x 1sts, 2003 32 x 1sts
plus 7 x 1st feds up to 2,700birds. Over the years we have been 1st section
B NWCC including 2003 1st 2nd 4th sec 3rd 4th 6th Open Poole winning £700.
We have taken 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Tyldesley Open against the best fanciers
in our area. Our first attempt at the MNFC saw us finish 26th Open over
6,000 birds. In the Bamfords Gold Ring race we have only sent the last
3yrs having birds in the top 5 of the open consecutive years.
Q. Which clubs do you race with and what are their purpose?
A.
We race in the Walkden HS and Farnworth & Dist HS which are both on
the Altrincham & Dist fed. We race these clubs to get our birds fit
for the specialist clubs and the NWCC plus the many open races that we
enter.
Q.
Do you hold any official position and if so do you take an active part,
if no what are your reasons?
A.
Myself Mick Moore am a federation delegate in Farnworth and Eric Ogden
is chief clock setter in Walkden HS and is also a fed delegate for the
same club.
Q. Do you ever think of competing for averages, if not why not?
A.
The answer to that question is a resounding NO, we never chase averages
in any of the club's or fed's that we compete in, we only send the bird's
when we think that they are bang on form.
Q. How do you race your pigeons and how many?
A.
Our birds are raced totally on the widowhood system, which suits the way
we like to race the pigeons that has consisted of 24 cocks and 9 hens.
But in 2004 we will increase that number to 36 cocks on the widowhood.
Q. What are your lofts made of and how big are they?
A.
The lofts are made of timber; there is plenty of room in these 'L' shaped
lofts that are 140ft in a total of five widow sections. The young bird
loft is 36ft long with a full length aviary making it 12ft wide with a
stall trap on the front of the aviary where we house between 80 &
100 youngsters.
Q. Do you attach any importance to having a tiled roof on a loft, if so
are there any benefits?
A.
We don't have a tiled roof on any loft
Q. 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?
A.
At the present moment we have 24prs at stock and we also breed off our
best racers. Normally we breed 2 or 3 rounds off the stock and they usually
breed a winner in every nest, these youngsters will win between 12 &
15 first prizes in the two clubs that we race them in during any one season.
we very often get between 15 & 25 young birds dropping together so
when we win this shows the quality of the birds that we keep in our stock
team.
Q. When do you pair your pigeons and why then?
A.
Both the stock birds and racers are paired on Boxing day, this is done
because we are off work for two weeks and can spend some time with them
which makes pairing them much easier.
Q. Do you move the hens with the young birds?
A.
No we don't move our hens with the young birds, what we do is to move
the hens in their own loft when the young birds are about 14 to 16 days
old or just before the hens lay their second round. Then the cocks bring
the young up until they are moved into the young bird loft at about 21
to 24 days old.
Q. Young bird sickness is a problem, have you had this in your loft and
if so what have you treated them with?
A.
We have not had any serious problems with young bird sickness but if we
thought we were getting it we would put them on a light depurative mix
for a few days and not let them out of the loft plus we would put elderberry
juice in the water for 5 days.
Q. 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?
A.
We like to race our young birds every week providing that all is well,
when the longer young bird races come along we send the birds that we
consider are in the best form, we do not treat any of the young birds
with kid gloves, they have to be raced to keep their place in the loft.
Q. Do you have any grills fitted in the floor or in the boxes, are there
any advantages to using them?
A.
We do not have any grills fitted on the loft floor or in any of the nest
boxes, the only grill floors we have are in the aviaries.
Q. What do you think about the vaccination programme for the pigeons and
do you think it affects the pigeons long term?
A.
We think that everyone should vaccinate all their birds yearly because
I have seen parmyxo in the 80's and its not a nice sight. You should do
all you can to protect your stock and no we don't thin k that it affects
the birds long term.
Q. Do you attach any importance to grits and minerals or can the pigeons
get what they want they are out of the loft?
A.
Our birds get soft clay block's with grit only in the loft, our method
is simple, if they are not flying then they should be in the loft and
not pecking around the grass where there is a possibility that they can
pick something up.
Q. Do you use any floor dressing or do you clean the pigeons out daily?
A.
No we never use any floor dressing at all, the lofts are all cleaned out
twice a day 365 days a year. All floors are whitened with a white powder
once each day. Also all lofts are sprayed once each week with disinfectant.
Q. Do you like to have plenty of room for the pigeons?
A.
Yes we do have plenty of room for all our birds, that's why our lofts
are so big. For every nine widowhood cocks we have an 8ft x 8ft which
we consider to be plenty of room. The 24prs of stock birds have a 24ft
x 8ft loft with a 5ft aviary the full length. The young birds have a 36ft
x 8ft loft for 80 to 100 young birds plus a 24ft x 12ft aviary on the
front.
Q. 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?
A.
We feed the cocks in their nest boxes in a pot while the youngsters are
fed in trays on the floor, both young and old birds are fed on Bamfords
Premier Gold with Natural depurative added.
Q. Do you measure the amount that you give to each pigeon, or are they
fed according to the individual pigeon?
A.
Yes all our feed is measured but if we think that they need a bit more
for whatever reason we will give them more, it all depends on the weather.
Q. Do you consider there to be any advantage having a racing partnership?
A.
Yes most defiantly that's why there are four of us in the partnership,
we all share the chores twice each day 7 days a week. Also this allows
someone to be at the lofts when the birds come back from a training toss.
Q. Are there any points that you disagree on and if so how do you compromise
a situation where there is a different viewpoint?
A.
There are no different viewpoints anymore, we have been arcing in partnership
now for 8yrs and our system is more or less the same as it was 8yrs ago.
We try to keep things very simple.
Q. Do each of you have an area within the partnership where responsibilities
take control regarding a decision?
A.
Each one of us have our own responsibilities in the loft, Bob does all
the stock birds, Eric looks after the young birds and the dogs while myself
(Mike Moore) and Mike Brearly do the racing cocks and widowhood hens.
Q. To term a phrase are you a professional team of pigeon fanciers and
do your circumstances make a big difference?
A.
We are not a professional team of pigeon fanciers; I would say that we
are a dedicated team of pigeon fanciers. Professional means that you do
it for a job and that is not the case with us as we all have full time
job's. Mick Moore, Eric Ogden and Bob Godwin all felt roofer's and Mike
Brearly is a postman. We are all on the pen very early in the morning's
to do the birds before we go to work and also about 3pm to 5.30pm each
afternoon.
Q. Whenever I have visited a loft fanciers always look at the pigeons
eye. Do you consider that the eye has any importance in (a) the breeding,
(b) distance races (c) sprint races. (d) the pigeons health. Or do you
steer clear of the subject and if so why.
A.
We do not pay any importance to the eye, we let the basket tell us which
are those with the best eye's.
Q. 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. Disease, how do you treat
pigeons, what medication do you use. Do you use vitamins on a regular
basis or not at all? How many times a day do you change the water?
A.
We do not get many birds ill and if we do they go, we treat our birds
for canker, cocci and respiratory when we think that they need it.
Q. How many weeks do you think a pigeon can maintain it's form on the
widowhood system for both cocks and hens?
A.
Good pigeons with good management can and will win races without form
but when form does come it can last up to 4/5 weeks and it may come back
later on if the birds are kept in peak order. This was the case with our
team in 2003.
Q. Does this include channel races or are the specified number of weeks
for sprint races and do you think that a pigeon can be prepared at fortnightly
intervals for the channel races?
A.
Yes this does include channel races, a pigeon will race the channel every
fortnight but if they have a really tough race we think they will do better
¾ weeks later instead of fortnightly.
Q. Do you treat pigeons differently with their preparation if they are
to go to the bigger races whether National, Classic, Specialist club or
open?
A.
As we said earlier we always try and send the birds that we think are
on form to the specialist races. In the NWCC Poole race we sent 10 and
had three in the first 6 of the open winning nearly £700. this is
the same with most of the specialist races that we compete in.
Q. 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.
We think most birds have the capability to race sprint and middle distance
but we think you need proper distance birds for over 400mls if you really
want to win these races. We also think that after the 400ml mark the birds
are just homing and not arcing.
Q. What proportion of your pigeons get better on subsequent trips to the
long distance races and what do you call distance?
A.
We do not send to a lot of the distance races as we normally only send
to the 400ml races, we believe that this is far enough for our birds,
we call distance 400 to 700mls.
Q. Which is the more difficult, establishing a team of sprinter's or distance
pigeons and why?
A.
There is not much difference establishing sprinters of distance birds,
you have always got to get the right birds for the right job or you are
going nowhere.
Q. What happens when you are racing either widowhood or the roundabout
when you have a bad race and lose a few from one sex, how do you continue
with those pigeons who have lost their mate?
A.
We race widowhoods its simple, if we lost a cock we just put the hen in
with the spare hens and lock the cocks box up for the season.
Q. Sprinter or distance, there is no difference, it is all in the feeding?
A.
Yes there is a difference as explained with an earlier question but we
do believe you have got to feed distance birds differently form the sprinters
or middle distance birds.
Q. If you could pass on one piece of advice or tip, at this point to fanciers
old and young, what would it be?
A.
No matter what distance you want to race from you have always got to get
the best winning blood you can get your hands on if you are serious about
winning.
Q. Taking into account distance, which is more difficult racing to your
area, is it a case of a 600ml race is a 600ml race regardless of competition
or route?
A.
Don't know as we have never sent to a 600ml race.
Q. What families of pigeons do you keep?
A.
The family of birds housed and mostly Camphius Janssen's from Curtiss,
Wall, Lunt & Green of Irlam and we also have quite a few select Janssen's
from the continent that are blending in very nicely to make our own family
of Janssen's which we think are very special as the results of 2003 show.
Q. When you bring in that new family do you think that they need time
to acclimatise, if so how long?
A.
When we look for new birds we look at the fancier's results, we like a
family of birds that win in style i.e. not just 1 st prize more like 1
st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th etc. That show's a family of birds where it is
not just one good bird but a team performance and that is why we chose
the birds of Wall, Lunt & Green of Irlam and now our birds drop in
batches.
Q. 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?
A.
Yes fanciers do change for changing sake, we, like everybody else are
always looking for better pigeons and that's why pigeon men are always
changing.
Q. When looking for new pigeons do you look for a particular family, one
for specialist races or club races or just by name?
A.
When we are looking for new pigeons we try and get birds that win at club/fed/combine
and Classic level. We also like a family that have good team performances.
Q. Some fanciers go out and purchase good quality winning pigeons but
never appear to make the grade, why do you consider that this happens?
A.
We believe that a lot of fanciers do purchase good birds with good winning
blood but they will not change their methods. We also believe that if
you get your winning blood and put them on a strict routine i.e. same
time every day am or pm, flying them out then feed them, then leave them
to rest you will dot go far wrong, always remember that the birds love
a good routine that is stuck too.
Q. Early in the article we discussed the wind direction, do you consider
that good pigeons will win in any position?
A.
We know for a fact that good birds put down right will win in any wind
direction, you only have to look at our fed wins in 2003 when we won 7
x 1 st feds in different winds, six of those races were up to 200mls.
our loft is on the extreme West of our fed up to 200 members sending up
to 2,700 birds, our loft is on 2.23. Lofts on the other side of our fed
are on about 2.10. We believe that this point shows that you can win when
you put 110% in with your birds.
Q. 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?
A.
The only time that we do treat after a race is if there is a holdover,
then we give them a four in one product for (cocci-canker-e.coli-salmonella)
for one day unless we think that there may be a problem and all is not
we, then we continue the treatment for three days.
Q. Do you race your pigeons every week or do you prefer to condition them
for a specific race?
A.
Yes we do race them every week because we keep them in good order at all
times but when we send to the bigger races we only send our form birds.
By that we mean that in every loft there are always going to be certain
birds that will be in top form at any given time.
Q. Is there any specific condition that your pigeons perform best at,
or any particular time of the year?
A.
Our birds always perform best on the widowhood at all stages of old bird
racing.
Q. In your view do you think that a loft needs different pigeons for different
distances?
A.
Sprint birds like our Janssen's will race well up to 400mlsthen we believe
you do need distance birds to compete after that 400ml stage of the season.
From our own point of view we only had one distance bird for the 2003
season that we sent to Niort 505mls with a Janssen loft mate. We were
1 st & 4 th club with our first in the clock being the only bird on
the day in our club with our other entry being 4 th club next morning.
The only other water race we had this year was Falaise334mls when we finished
1 st club 1 st fed 2 nd Combine 3,222 birds.
Q. Which of the two sexes do you consider is the most important when it
comes to breeding?
A.
Well this is a tricky one as one without the other is no good but we believe
it is quite easy to get hold of quality cocks but not quality hens. Therefore
we believe good hens to be more important that cocks.
Q. 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?
A.
No none whatsoever, its quite the opposite with us, we like solid tight
smallish to medium hens. When you have big hens you get big young birds
and all that means is more food and more training. We prefer small to
medium hens.
Q. Is there anything that you have not won in the sport that you would
like to achieve?
A.
Yes we have only raced twice in the MNFC and already been 26 th open against
over 6,000 birds. We are going to give it a good go in 2004 and we would
love to win the MNFC.
Q. Who do you consider to be the best fanciers in the Country and for
what reasons?
A.
There are a lot of good fanciers in the country but we believe Wall, Lunt
& Green are at the very top of the list, not only with their racing
but also with their breeding. Everybody we know that have got their birds
do very well with them including ourselves. Our lofts would not be half
as strong but for this partnership and I would just like to say thanks
to them for the good birds that thy have supplied us with.
Q. Do you read many magazines/Articles, if so which type of article do
you find interesting and why?
A.
I read all the magazines and a lot of the articles I find them all interesting.
The reason why is no matter how good you think you are you never stop
learning about racing pigeons, that's why we all love them so much.
Q. 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?
A.
When the season has finished we treat all our birds that have been racing
for cocci, canker and respiratory, this is the first step to preparing
the birds for the following season.
Q. When it comes to breeding do you line-breed or use a first cross or
just pair winners to winners?
A.
We do a lot of in-breeding as well as line breeding but we also use a
first cross, if successful the first cross goes back into them. We never
put winner to winner unless they are bred right.
Q. 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?
A.
Yes we always breed off our best widowhood cocks, these youngsters will
make excellent stock for us and other fanciers. These youngsters are inbred
to our best lines and ideal for stock and when you look through our stock
loft you will see that many of those stock birds are late breds from this
system.
Q. If your race team went off form during the season what action would
you take to restore their condition?
A.
If we thought our race birds were going off form or stale we would rest
them for one week and only feed them natural depurative. Then we would
start the following week as normal, this normally does the trick for us.
Q. Is a favourable loft location the single biggest factor in sprint racing?
A.
At one time we thought that loft location was a big factor in sprint racing
but you only have to look at our results this year. We are in the extreme
West of the Altrincham & District fed and we won 5 x 1 st feds old
birds only up to 2,700 birds in different winds. 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5
th 7 th 9 th in a South West wind, we have won in all winds, if you have
the right birds and management you will win.
Q. 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?
A.
Yews we do use the darkness system for the young birds, if you want to
win in our area with young birds you have to race them on the dark. We
put them on the dark in the middle of March until about the second week
in June that is normally about 9 weeks. On the subject of the system affecting
the birds in future years, no we don't think that it affects them in later
life as all our birds are old bird fed winners that have been darkness
youngsters, we must add that we only darken them from 4.30/5pm to 7am.
Q. 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?
A.
Our feeding system for young birds is the same as the old birds, we break
them all down but we stress that we do not keep them hungry. Our system
is they fly when we want them too and when we say in they go, if they
continue to fly they soon come round to our way of thinking, they are
never allowed to mess about around the loft, it's a matter of flying or
in the loft and yes we do give a trapping mix.
Q. What percentage do you consider it takes to win with racing pigeons
for Management and pigeons and why?
A.
For sprint to middle distance we think an even 50/50, the fact is if you
have good sprint/middle distance birds and do not put the work in with
them they will still only be mediocre pigeons and the same will happen
when you have good management and bad birds. First of all you have got
to get good birds from a loft that does it week in week out and not with
one bird but 3,4,5 or 6 birds at the top of the list. Then when you get
these birds and get your management right everything becomes so easy.
With distance birds we think it is 80% birds and 20% fancier, this is
why a lot of fanciers break their novice status on the channel.
Q. What is the farthest distance that you would train your old birds or
young birds?
A.
We treat both old and young birds the same, the reason for this is our
old birds are locked up most of the winter so each year we start our old
birds off at 4mls then 7mls to 13mls and finally about 20mls, the same
also applies for the young birds. Sometimes if we think they are not fit
we will take them to Sandbach which is about 27mls and that is as far
as they go but most of their training tosses are at Knutsford, which is
about 18mls.
Q. If random drugs tests were carried out on your pigeons, would it reveal
any substance, illegal or otherwise?
A.
No and anyone can come along and test our birds anytime they want too.
Q. 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?
A.
Maybe pigeon racing as a hobby is going beyond the average working man,
that's why a lot are going into partnerships to keep the cost of their
hobby down. We don't think it is getting to technical or complicated and
yes if you keep things simple but regular with your birds you will win.
Q. 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?
A.
It does not matter what we think, what does matter is what the club vote
for at the AGM. The two Saturday clubs we fly in you win all four prize
cards but you only get one share of the actual prize money and I think
everybody is happy with that.
Q. 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?
A.
No fanciers should be able to choose how and where they want to race their
birds from and if you like sprint racing as in our case there is only
one club and fed that do our type of racing in this area. Like everyone
else we were novices once and had to work hard to climb to the top, if
all fanciers worked as hard as we do there would be no fanciers winning
week in week, the prizes would be shared more.
Q. 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, any other comments on the wing?
A.
No it's all in the person's preference, winners come in all shapes and
sizes, our own preference is an apple-bodied pigeon with straight to down
back.
Q. Do you use any form of heating system in any of your lofts. Do you
think it would be advantages for the birds?
A.
No we don't use any form of heating in our lofts, therefore we don't believe
that heating your lofts will give you an advantage because we know lofts
that do use heating and don't fly as well as we do i.e 7 x 1 st feds 2003.
Q. 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?
A.
Our birds are treated the same most weeks on their return from a race,
they receive electrolytes in the water and they are only fed on natural
depurative with a touch of red band.
Q. What is your view on pigeon shows and showing?
A.
Its OK if you like showing your birds but its not really for us, we don't
like disturbing our birds, we would rather leave our birds in the loft
resting.
Q. With your pigeon work do you have a silent partner i.e. wife, partner
or friend, if so what part do they play?
A.
As stated earlier we do have a silent partner making our team of people
to four, his name being Mike Brearley who helps me with the racing side.
Q. Is there anything that you do not like about the sport, something that
you feel needs changing for the good of the sport?
A.
The only thing wrong with this sport is when you are winning like we are
all you hear is "They must be using drugs" or they are training their
birds 40-50-60mls a day. Also when you are winning the people that speak
to you each week are not the same with you as they were when you were
not winning.
Q. Do you compete in the National events, if not why not. Or are you happy
to race in the club?
A.
We are quite happy with the club and fed plus a few Classic races, we
think we are on the wrong side of the country to have a fair crack of
the whip at National level but at the first attempt at the MNFC Messac
400mls we were 26 th open 6,000birds plus.
Q. Do you have any secrets about what you do with your pigeons and how
you get them right?
A.
There are no secrets in pigeon racing, its all about common sense and
what you feel is the right thing to do. The one thing you do have to do
to get your birds right is train and exercise them well around the loft.
There are also a lot of products on the market that will keep your birds
in tip top condition, we ourselves use the full of Stock Nutrition products
which we believe are excellent, especially Moor Gold and Provit which
we put on the corn with lemon juice. Also the Garlic Plus with vitamins
twice each week, this helps our birds to stay in excellent condition all
the year round.
Q. Can you tell the readers your routine for preparing pigeons for the
longer races? Do you look forward to a channel race?
A. As stated earlier we only send to the channel and specialist
clubs the birds, which we think, are out in-form birds. If we do send
them to a channel race they always have the next race off.
Q. Is there a way that your pigeons let you know when they are in form?
A. Most of them will let you know when they are in form, each
bird is different, all you have to do is study each bird and get to know
them. Then if you know them you will notice the change in them straight
away, most in-form birds just cannot keep still they are full of life.
Q. What do you think of veterinarians in the UK and have you had any dealings
with them?
A.
We think all lofts should send their droppings off at least twice a year
just so you know that there is nothing wrong with your birds because it
is not always possible to tell if all is well by just looking at the droppings
on the perch. Send your droppings off just to be on the safe side.
Q. What method do you use to select your breeders?
A. First of all when you are trying new stock birds it has got
to be full of winning bloodlines, without those winning lines you will
never be at the top. Then you have got to select what type of birds you
prefer, our preference is small to medium and full of winning blood.
Q. What materials do you use for nesting?
A. A mixture of straw and tobaccos stalks sprinkled with lice
powder.
Q. Do you have a special method to ensure you breed as many young birds
from the best pairs?
A.
The only thing we do is float the first round of egg's off the stock birds
under some of the yearling racers with the stock birds bringing the next
round up themselves.
Q. Please explain the method used from pairing up until the first race?
A. We are off work for two weeks at Christmas so we pair up on
the 1 st January. Egg's for the 10 th to 12 th that hatch about the 30
th January. We will move the hens about the 14 th or 15 th February to
their own section. We wean the young birds on or about the 20 th February
at 20 to 22 days old. After about five days we slowly start getting the
cock to exercise starting at 10 to 15mins building them up until they
are doing the hour. After that they go out twice each day for one hour
both morning and evening.
Then on about the 8 th March we repair the widowhood cocks. This is when
we start to road train them as many times as possible, normally about
20 x 18ml tosses. The hen's lay about the 18 th March with the cocks still
training until the 28 th March. On the 29 th March we separate the birds
with the cocks being left to sit the eggs on their own for a couple of
days, then all eggs are removed and the bowls turned over, the cocks are
now on widowhood for the31st March. By this time training is only around
the loft for one hour twice each day, the first fed race is on the 7 th
April.
Q. What races do your long distance candidates get before their chosen
race?
A. As we explained earlier all our birds get most inland races
and if we decide to send to a channel race we only send the birds that
we think are right for the job. For instance in 2003 we only had two water
races, Falaise 335mls where we finished 1 st club 1 st fed 2 nd Combine.
Then Niort 505mls when we only sent two and finished 1 st & 4 th club
with the only bird on the day in the club when a lot of lofts struggled
to get a bird home, we had two out of two.
Q. What past mistakes have you learnt from?
A.
If we think a bird is not coming very well when you know that it is not
a bad bird then leave it at home as you will only lose it. Also we do
not give a bird more than two channel races in one season because you
will only lose them if you get carried away.
Q. How far do you send your yearlings?
A.
This one is quite easy it must be 505mls because we won Niort in 2003
with a yearling and the same bird also won Picauville.
Q. When do you let your widowers bath?
A.
Widowhood cocks and hens always have a bath on Thursday pm during the
racing season, the reason being that they do not go out on a Friday. Young
birds have a bath on Friday in the aviary.
Q. Where and how do you house widow hens?
A.
Our widow hens are in two 8ft sections right next door to the cocks and
are on sloping perches. Also at the rear of the hens section is a 16 th
x 5 th aviary which is where we lock the hens out all day until feeding
time.
Q. How do you control ventilation in your lofts?
A.
We do not have ventilation as such in our lofts, our widowhood loft is
half Perspex and half wood covered with felt. There is only a 2inch gap
running at the top the full length of this loft, we believe that there
is plenty of air in this loft as there are only 36 widowhood cocks in
the 32ft x 8ft space. As for the young bird and stock loft it is also
not a problem as all these lofts are open with full length aviary's. as
for the widow hens they are locked out all day at the back of their loft
in the full length aviary. We believe that this system keeps the birds
very healthy.
Q. Who or what motivates you to stay successful?
A.
Winning races keeps us motivated and also having partners also keeps you
motivated. We are always talking about what we want to achieve and how
we are going to achieve it. All this motivates you and helps you to be
a successful fancier.
Q. Which fancier has had most influence on the way you race your pigeons?
A.
Another easy question, that is down to Curtiss, Wall, Lunt & Green,
also when I (Mick Moore) had a good upbringing with the late great Jack
Hill of Salford who taught me a lot about pigeon racing.
Q. What qualities do you think should be present in a so called Ace fancier
and at what level do you think he must have obtained success before he/she
can be rightfully called an "Ace" ?
A.
I thin k the so-called Ace fancier will be a very good selector at picking
out very good breeders because without good breeders you can never become
a so-called Ace fancier. He will also be a very good conditioner of his
or her race birds to get the best out of them. He/she musty race and win
at all levels right up to National level and the Ace fancier is not always
in the best spot. We would much rather buy stock from a so-called Ace
who is not in a good location but wins well.
Q. 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?
A.
We think Moots & Panels are a very good night out in the winter and
if the people who talked a good race asked and listened a bit they would
fly a better bird.
Q. What were the last four things that you put in your drinking water,
when and why and did you notice any benefits. .?
A.
Most weeks we only use two things in the water, twice a week Moorgold
and twice a week Garlic Plus from Stock Nutrition. Also on rare occasions
we use cider vinegar, as we know these products help them with their health
and condition because the birds are always bright, alert and sparkling
with good health.
A. If you could only give your pigeons one supplement what would it be?
A.
Homoform.
Q. Is your loft as strong as it was 5yrs ago?
A.
It's a lot stronger that it was 5yrs ago, out club results are just a
bit better, we used to win around 20 x 1sts a year, now we win about 30
x 1sts in the two Saturday clubs but our fed results are getting better
every year. In 2003 we had 7 x 1 st feds up to 2,700b and we also had
a yearling cock "Super 23" win 3 x 1 st clubs 2 x 1 st feds plus the RPRA
sprint award. So yes it is getting stronger and all this to a bad location
in the club and federation.
Q. Did you find your best breeding pigeon by luck or judgment?
A.
I would say that there always has to be a bit of luck, like being in the
right place at the right time. But without good judgement you are going
to struggle selecting the right breeders.
Q. If you were to go into another fanciers loft and were given the opportunity
to leave with a pair of pigeons how confident would you be that you had
chosen the best pair, or in other words do you consider that you are a
good judge of a pigeon?
A.
Yes I do consider ourselves as a good judge of a pigeon, that's why we
win about 30 first prizes each year. I am 99% sure if we went in a loft
and we there was a super pair we would pick them out.
Q. For every 50 pigeons that you breed realistically how many of them
would win at 500mls, based on your past records?
A.
We cannot go off our past record as we have only sent to one 500ml race
and that was in 2003 at Niort 505mls. We only sent 2 birds and were 1
st & 4 th with the only bird on the day. But realistically we would
say that out of 50 birds no more than 6 birds would win at 500mls because
our birds are mainly sprint to middle distance birds, if we had a distance
family it would be a few more.
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