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Parkinson L.J - 28th April 2022

Parkinson L.J. - 28th April

Another Saturday morning sitting here typing away glancing out of the window wondering if the birds have been liberated for their second race of the season. It’s certainly not a good day for the pigeons because it is very cold outside and as we know they don’t like racing in a cold easterly wind. I always say, it it’s too cold for me to stand out there waiting for pigeons it’s too cold to expect them to race and put up a good performance, not only in this race but also for the rest of the season. One knock this early in the season can ruin the whole season and it does for some fanciers. The weather forecast looked better for an early Sunday morning race, but we know how wrong the weatherman can be. In the first race the wind was in the east but a very light south easterly and the winners clocked up 1900ypm, but it was nowhere near as cold as it is today. This week it is far colder, and the wind is east northeast which makes a big difference. The temperature did rise about 11am and when we returned from shopping, I heard that the vels locally were towards the 1500ypm mark which I always believe is good for returns. I say good for returns because if they are doing that kind of velocity, they are not having too tough a time during their flight home. It was also at this time that I heard the SWC Fed were marking on the Saturday, a decision that was made by their convoyer who is very experienced and one of the best around. It is now Sunday morning and having just taken the dog for a walk it is cold out there but there is plenty of chance for the temperature to rise. I had a call from Geoff Bebbington about an issue from the previous week, but I will leave that one and maybe report later if needed. Geoff who is one of the new members to the club was telling me that the Middlewich 5B had another good send this week and I am told they are expecting more as the season progresses. Their radius has been open to the fed for many years with limited entries, but this is the first year they have taken off birdage wise, there is plenty of room for growth in the club. By the time I had finished cleaning out and feeding the weather had started to improve and I was down to a T shirt and jeans, so things are looking up for a good day’s racing. Just about to go in and have a brew when an email came through from the 5B secretary Dave Healey, probably wife Linda doing the messaging, that the birds were liberated at 10.40am in a northeast wind. The weather improved considerably as the day went on so a good race day for the Sunday liberations.

Winners

For most of the winter I have been meaning to get in the car and go to see Nigel & Wendy Shaw's new stock loft. This is a grand place to race pigeons where there is plenty of space to relax and watch the pigeons. They moved to this property when HS2 was going through their previous property which was a really nice place. I have mentioned most of this before but there are always changes here and those changes will continue for a year or two because there are buildings to convert. Anyway, the reason we went over to see Nigel & Wendy was to see the latest addition for the stock birds. The last time we went there was just a long breeze block wall, which is now been added to and is a stock loft, tool shed with the rest to be worked on, don’t think it will be for pigeons. As you enter the corridor in the new stock loft there are single breeding pens on the right and on the left, there are two sections where a few specials are housed. I handled a few of those in the stock loft and can understand why they race so well for Nigel and Wendy. One thing that I have learnt over the years is that if pigeons are going to survive here, they must race or breed winners, or be bred from the best stock birds from other fanciers tried and tested and then if not, there is only one place for them. Since our last visit there has been a big reduction in the number of stock birds housed. All the stock birds were once housed in a rather large aviary within a building and not what we might call under control, but those days are now gone. They are now in a much smaller purpose-built stock loft and there are far fewer stock birds which brings them under control. They just need a few weeks to get used to having Nigel being within arm’s length and they will be fine. After leaving the stock loft we went over to see the modifications in the race loft and to see a cracking team of race hens, there are a few gems in that section that have achieved well in the National races, and more is expected of them in the coming races. There are panels to hang in front of the wire on this section so that the cocks don’t see them when they are out for exercise. The young birds were also looking well and batching up nicely around the lofts, no doubt a few more to go in there yet. It was Friday during this visit, so the race cocks were being sent to their first race of the season so were being left in peace and quiet. I asked Nigel about his chances in this first race, although he was happy with the condition of the pigeons, he went on to say that they had only been taken to one 11ml toss. I did see the result of the first race where they were 1st & 2nd, so a good start to the new season. What I can add is, Nigel has plans on a new loft in the not too distance future, that is as soon as he has finished renovating the original farmhouse on the property. I was recently asked by a none fancier why some pigeon racers/breeders have the edge over others. I used this family as an example, whenever you go there you have a relaxed atmosphere and from what we have seen they work hard together so deserve all the success that they get out of life. We have visited some lavish lofts that are not successful, and they have not had the same relaxed feeling when we were there. I am a firm believer that your pets pick put on what is going on at any home and that includes racing pigeons, they are not going to rush home if they are not content in the loft. As the saying goes, “You only get out of anything what you put into it” and this family put everything in and deserve what they get out of anything they do.

n shaw race hens sec    n shaw sec 2 stock    n shaw single pens

n shaw yb sec

Breeding loft.

I made a mistake in the breeding loft by not listing the pairings in their boxes, that is usually a priority but for some reason I did not do it this time. I left them too long because I only go into the breeding loft once a day to clean them out and feed them, so have not taken a great deal of notice where they are nesting. Before I realised it the young birds were two weeks old, all rung but no details taken, and the parents were looking for other places to nest with their second round. There are only 6 nest boxes the rest are two sets of the larger widowhood hens’ boxes. So, with there being far more boxes than pairs (14) there plenty of boxes for them to have a choice where they can go to another box which most have done. So, the plan now is to catch them all and make sure of the pairings while on the second nest. I will get there in the end, most are done so there will be no problem. Each time I go into the loft now I look who is where and make a mental note to add to my records, even Elizabeth cannot believe I have not booked them down. As we know there is a first time for everything. There is a batch of about 10 that are ready to go so will be sold and the money taken will be put into our charity account. There are more that will be hatching so until we get the race loft up, they will all be going the same way. I was asked why I don’t turn the breeding loft into a race loft and have no stock birds. As I pointed out, where the stock birds are there is no way, the birds could get in out without coming through the front garden and I don’t think that would go down with the neighbours. Before we had the extension on the back of the house, they did have access into the back garden, so a few were going in and out, but that access is no longer available. As we know pigeons will get used to going in and out of anywhere, given the chance.

Results

For some reason the first Mid Cheshire Fed result from Worcester went into the bin without me seeing it. The fed has had a great start to the season with 103 members from 17 clubs sending 1,763 birds that were liberated at 10.15am in a light south wind. Most of the results will be on the results page so I don’t want to make more work for the hard-working staff in the BHW offices. However, there are two sections, and it is worth giving a mention to the winners, especially John Peever who is 1st club 1st south section 1st open and is the only pigeon from this section in the top 40 of the federation open and records a vel of 1932ypm. John being some 32yds in front of the 2nd placed pigeon in the open, not much in time at those vels. What is more impressive is John is 110yds ahead of the second bird in the south section, when you see where he is sending her, could this be John’s year with this hen. I was talking to John about how things used to be when we were young in the 60’s when no end of young lads had pigeons in their back garden or back yard in my case. There were so many who had pigeons, I wonder where they all went to and why others have not followed in our footsteps. Anyway, I asked John about this blue hen, and he was saying he is getting her ready to send to the Barcelona race. She has always been a very consistent hen, so he is expecting her to do a good job, a long way but she won’t be the first to get into the result from up here in the northwest. She is currently on the roundabout system, but john did say she is ahead of where he would have liked her to be, but circumstances dictate what we do. We shall have to keep an eye on this 7yo who has been on the road for many years and has learnt when the time is to go home. Mr & Mrs Carl Hickman are runners up in the fed being 1st club 1st section 2nd & 4th open in a tightly contested area of the north section. With the competition in the fed it is never always going to be easy to get in the top ten, so here are the next eight. 3rd Ryads Lofts. 5th 9th 10th B & D Hooper. 6th 7th 8th John Hankey. I was talking to a fancier about the length of the Mid Cheshire Fed and I didn’t realise it was about 40mls from the first to the last droppers. The latest South West Cheshire Fed race saw 39 members send 630 birds to Mangotsfield when they were liberated at 10-40am in a north east wind. This race was held on Sunday after the controllers made the decision to change the marking to Saturday instead of Friday due to the stronger cold northeast wind predicted for Saturday. Once again the top spot was taken by Crewe WE members Mr & Mrs Richard Young on 1342ypm with a 2yo. 2nd & 9th go to Winsford's Mike & Keith Hitchin recording vels of 1339/1314ypm after taking the top two positions in the club. In the Middlewich 5B the speed team of W Wilson & Son also took the top two positions finishing 3rd & 10th Fed. Nice to see Charlie Peel having another good race taking the top 6 in the Greenbank club with his first being 4th Fed on 1327ypm. Mr & Mrs Nigel Shaw are 5th 6th 7th with the first two being entered into the Hankelow club. That leaves 8th which goes to Mr & Mrs Keith Lovatt. The second race for the Mid Cheshire Fed Cheltenham when 122 members entered 1,977 birds that were liberated in a strong north east wind at 2pm. The Kingsway members racing in the north section had a good race with 5 in the first 6 that saw Mr & Mrs J Jones top the list on 1428ypm. Others being Mr & Mrs Carl Hickman 2nd 3rd 4th & 6th being split by R Hayes & J Pickstock from the Runcorn DHS are 5th while 7th & 9th go to Earlestown FC members W & P Brown leaving 10th to Newton FC winners C Johnson & Son. J & B Oakley took the first three in the south section with their best being 8th Open after recording a vel of 1425ypm. I have contacted Ben about a loft report, but like other fanciers at the moment he is so busy with the pigeons and his work, we will catch up sooner or later.

Sponsor

Elimar are sponsoring the Middlewich FC but not on a race-by-race basis, this year Elimar will break it down into 3 prizes. At the end of the season when the club prize list is down Elimar will add the following. 1st £150, 2nd £100. 3rd £50, which means the top 3 will have additional prize money to what they win in the club. On top of that we have the joint sponsorship from Enfield Lofts which is based on the best 3 velocities in each race, 1st £10, 2nd £6, 3rd £4. We will no doubt organise a presentation night at the end of the season to pay this money out.

Les Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ.

Tel: +44 (0)1606 836036. Mob: +44 (0)7871 701585.

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Web site: http://www.elimarpigeons.com