STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS & DISTRICT FEDERATION

by Thomas Garvie

MICKEY WEBB OF POYNTON

Now that the racing is well and truly over, I have decided to try and get some loft reports done on some of the fed's top fliers but I also want to do some on general fed fliers who try week in and week out, without whom the fed would not exist. There are always lots of fliers who do not win much but they are always there at the club every week without fail, as in general most folk love to watch the birds coming home. That is one of the reasons I do not like sprint racing because the race can be over in a very short space of time if the weather has been kind to the birds and they do not encounter any hazards along the way. I suppose in the sprint races it is still good to see your first bird arriving but I think nothing can match the buzz of waiting for your first bird to arrive home from over 500 miles and when you see it closing its wings when it nears the loft well, the adrenalin rush you get far outweighs the first sprint pigeon home. It is just the way I prefer racing but plenty prefer short fast races. This season we looked on the inland races as just training for the birds that would be racing from France and it will be the same next year as well.

Before I move on to my first candidate picked for a report I would just like to let the fancy know that the fed's presentation night, which was planned for later this year, has been cancelled because of a lack of interest from federation members, which is a shame because it takes a bit of the shine off all the prize winners. The Moot and Moot auction are also cancelled for the same reason and again it is a pity but you can't drag everybody in off the street if they don't want to come in.

Going back to the racing in the fed, I have added the federations averages winners which are as follows:

Old bird inland averages went to Mickey Webb from Poynton with runners up M/M A Hargreaves from BlytheBridge; Old bird channel averages was won by K Pettitt from BlytheBridge with Rick Geary & son being runners up; Old bird combined averages were won by K Pettitt with runners up again Rick Geary & son; Young bird averages was won by Paul Beck from Longdendale with runner up R Given from Poynton; Old bird and young bird combined averages were won by Mickey Webb from Poynton with Paul Beck from Longdendale being runner up; All races averages were won by yet again Mickey Webb with Ken Pettitt being runner up; Young fancier of the year was awarded to young Joe Flood from Macclesfield who is flying in his first year.

As you can see from the averages there are certain flyers who are always there or thereabouts and it is one of these men that I have chosen to do a loft report about and that is Mickey Webb from Poynton. My wife and I paid a visit to Mickey's place, where we were warmly greeted with a nice cup of tea but no biscuits!! Mickey has a lovely set up and a very nice garden and when we arrived his birds were having a bath in front of his lofts. I have taken a few photos of the lofts and birds and one particular photo with him holding his fed topping bird from Saintes. He also had the second bird in the fed from that race as well so no wonder he looked pleased when he brought it out.

One happy owner

I asked him if he had a bit of time so I could ask him a few questions, which were as follows:

How did you first get into pigeon racing? By watching a friend's father racing his birds and ever since then I have been bitten by the bug.

Does anybody help you with the birds or are you a one man band? I do everything myself then nobody can tell me what to do.

What has been your most memorable moment to date? Winning the Northern Counties two weeks in a row from Sartilly and Rennes and also having a race from Saintes where I had the only bird on the day.

What are your lofts made of? They are constructed of wood with corridors and aviaries on the front.

Do you prefer a tiled roof or felted roof? I have only ever had felted roofs and have never considered a tiled roof. The birds win well so why change?

Mickey's lofts

Do you have any form of heating in your loft and if so do you think it makes and difference? I have never thought about using any type of heating in the lofts.

What ventilation do your lofts have? There is a gap at the top of the lofts at the rear plus there are openings at the front.

What family of pigeons do you keep? Staf van Reets and Van Loons for inland racing, Lafebre Dhanens which came from Louella 30 years ago then later off John and Sid Bainbridge and Jimmy Richards; these were crossed in with birds from Chris Gorden. The Van Loons came from Dean Pallet, Tony Ancliffe, S. Wood, Lol Standbrook and Dennis Mathers. I also have some Koopmans from J Thonen and I Stafford. Jimmy Richards actually bred me my Saintes winner, which was in a batch of six young birds.

What do you look for when and if you introduce new birds? They have got to be from winning lofts and winning families.

Messac and Fougeres winners

How long do you give birds that you have introduced to make a mark? They are given three years and after they have raced as two year olds and nothing comes from them then they have to go.

Which of the sexes do you prefer when racing? Cocks as I only fly widowhood.

When pairing your birds up what do you go on? Winner to winner when possible as I do not race hens but there has to be a winner somewhere along the hen's side.

When do you pair the birds up? Some time between Christmas and New Year and the eggs are floated under the widowhood cocks but I do take a round off the winning cocks, mainly the channel winners.

How many stock birds do you keep? Twenty pair of stock birds, which are mainly my own retired racers.

How far do you train your birds young and old? 20 miles at the most; 6 tosses before the first race for old and the young get as many as possible with three a week when racing starts.

How many birds do you race? 35 to 40 cocks when racing starts.

Do you use deep litter or scrape out or what? A thin layer of sand and scrape them out every day.

Saintes winner having a bath

What and how much do you feed your birds? Versele Laga widowhood mix and Versele Laga young bird mix and they get as much to eat as they want but obviously I cut the youngsters down before a race.

Do you treat your birds for anything? Just the usual cocci, canker and worms.

How far do you race your yearlings? Sometimes as far as Messac but none go to Saintes.

Do you pick certain birds for certain races? Birds are split up for certain races but the Saintes birds do not go to Messac as I feel it is not long enough for them to recover as there could be a holdover and that makes it even shorter a time to recover.

Have you had young bird sickness and if so what would you treat them with? Yes I have had it and I just use whatever is best on the market at the time.

Do you race your youngsters out the full programme or how far will you send them? I stop the most promising cocks after three or four races but some will go all the way.

How many youngsters do you normally breed? About 60 normally.

Who has influenced you most in pigeon racing? Nobody in particular, I am just self motivated to beat everybody else and have always done things my own way.

Saintes runner up

Have you made any mistakes in the past that you have learned from? Yes, sending birds to races that I knew should never have gone.

If you had one bit of information to pass on to a new starter what would it be? Go to a consistent winning flier and never buy paper pedigrees. Try and get a team of good latebreds and breed of them the following year and then race the youngsters.

Is there something in the sport you do not like and would like to see changed? I am quite happy the way things are.

What is your main aim? To win a national outright.

Do you use ETS or conventional clocks and if you use ETS why and also if not why: ETS is the best thing that ever happened to pigeon racing and one of the main reasons I love it is because you never have to catch or handle a young bird when it returns

Mickey's highlights for this year were being first and second fed from Saintes, and also having three second fed places, two third fed places and a fourth fed place along with 11 section wins and 13 club wins so you can see why he has the reputation as one of the top racers in the fed. Both Liz and myself would like to thank him for the very kind offer for the pair of youngsters he has offered to breed us next year [which I hope he does not forget about]. ,I would like to thank Mickey for taking the time and also for letting us visit his lovely set up, as you can see from the photos I took at his lofts.

Well that is about it for another week but if you have anybody in your club who you would like to see a write up the same as this then give me an e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or give me a call on 01663 733317. Bye from TG.