“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.

PIGEON FANCIER’S LUNG DECEASE

Pigeon wise the year of 1995 was a very bad one for and Betty and me. I kept having constant bouts of flu and coughs which got more and more frequent, to the point where I was having time off work, sometimes twice a month with ill health. After months of visits to the doctor, I was referred to a specialist at Kingston Hospital and they concluded that the problem was my pigeons. After discovering that I had the dreaded Pigeon Fancier’s Lung, I had to give up my beloved pigeons, after 25 years in the sport. Giving up the pigeons was the hardest thing I had to do in his life, not only did I feel sorry for myself but was shattered for my daughter, Caroline, who was a very good pigeon fancier and new member of my pigeon partnership. After the clearance sale in 1995 I stepped up the writing and video side of my participation in pigeons and became even more involved in the sport.

In 1997, whilst at the British Homing World Blackpool Show, I met a pigeon lung suffer, Tony Grinsil of Wakefield and he told me that he had overcome the problem by using a ‘rabbit hutch’ type loft. You do not have to walk into this type of loft to look after the pigeons and on my return from the Blackpool trip; I built myself some rabbit hutches, so I could keep some old timers as pets. In 1998 I obtained a few choice youngsters from my good friends Eric Cannon and Tom Gilbertson, with the view to racing in the NFC Pau Grand National event, which I think is one of the premier races in the sport. With such a small team of pigeons, I couldn’t hope to enjoy weekly Federation racing with the same success as I had in the past, so it was more realistic to have a go at one good race like the Pau National. In the winter of 1998 I built my eight section ‘rabbit hutch’ loft, with natural long distance racing in mind. The loft was 10ft long, 2ft deep, and 6ft high, or height of the fancier and had six spacious sections to house six pairs of long distance racers. It was made of 3/4in ply and was set on a nice 3in x 2in timber stand. Each rabbit hutch had a bob wire trap and all wire doors were fully removable so they don't flap about and damage the birds as they flew out. When not in use the bob hole trap was blocked off with special 'gravestone' shut off boards and the stand had a nice shelf to store the pigeon bath and nest bowls etc. Each old bird section was kitted out with two ‘V’ perches, fixed to the right hand side and back walls, a nest bowl, sited at the left hand back corner, and a small drinker, sited on the floor at the front opposite side to the bob trap. After building the old bird rabbit hutch I constructed a new matching 4ft double to house ten young birds each season. The loft set up at Claygate had again been increased, as in the Christmas period of 2000; I built an aviary type loft to house the stock birds and his small team of young birds. As I've stated my rabbit hutch loft system was brilliant for racing the old birds but, although the hutches are very roomy; the youngsters tend to fight a lot and dominant cocks hold the floor and stop the others feeding and drinking. I always wore a mask when cleaning out the rabbit hutches, which was a very quick job, carried out at least once a day and the whole set up was kept spotlessly clean.

I only kept 14 pairs in our ‘rabbit hutch’ loft set up, including stock birds and the main family kept were the very best of Eric Cannon’s champion 550 mile family. I did say at the time, I had only been in long distance racing for a few seasons and loved it! I was not interested in any other type of pigeon racing and I wished we had started long distance year ago. The Claygate loft housed the Brian Denney of Strensall lines which had crossed with Eric Cannon’s pigeons successfully. The loft normally had five pairs of stock birds which were paired up in January each season and I was very proud of the fact that I owned probably one of the best Brian Denney and Eric Cannon stock teams in the sport. The stock section housed several direct children of Brian Denney champions, including ‘Tuff Nut’. All the main pairs in the stock loft had bred several pigeons to score well up in Classic and National results in long distance events. One of the early star racers at the Claygate loft was the red chequer cock, ‘The Gilbertson Cock’, and was bred by Tom Gilbertson of Carlisle, being one of the original gift pigeons to start me up again in 1998. This wonderful pigeon went missing for two months as a young bird, but went on to win: 2000: 2^nd clock station (beaten by a loft mate), 305^th open NFC Nantes (9,074 birds), second bird clocked on the winning day NFC Pau (552 miles), 2001: flew nearly 1,000 miles north road in three weeks, 90^th open L.& S.E.C.C. Perth (very hard race), 1^st clock station, 51^st open L&SECC Thurso (516 miles), scored in 500 mile cocks class at BHW Blackpool Show, 2002: 2^nd clock station, 204^th open N.F.C. Pau (552 miles), 3^rd in the B.H.W. Pau Sporting Challenge, 2003: flew Dax (528 miles), won Best in Show at the Esher open show. This wonderful cock was bred down from Tom’s ‘Red Alert’ bloodlines and bred several good 500 mile racers, including the mealy hen, ‘Foxwarren Javelin’, winner of several premier positions from 550 miles, including 20^th open L&SECC Pau. ‘The Gilbertson Cock’ my first great racer, flown to the ‘rabbit hutch’ loft system!

Early racing positions won flying to the ‘Rabbit Hutch’ loft.

Betty and I only race a very small team in the 500 mile plus National and Classic races and achieved a fine record over those first five seasons racing to the ‘rabbit hutch’ loft:

2000: 1^st and 2^nd Godalming clock station, 276^th, 305^th open N.F.C. Nantes (9,074 birds), a very hard race, sent three birds to Pau N.F.C. race, clocked two birds on the winning day recording, 5^th Godalming clock station, 311^th open (3,941 birds). The third bird was home next morning.

2001: This season saw our loft compete in only two old bird races and with only eight old bird racers recorded, 3^rd, 5^th Guildford clock station, 77^th, 80^th, 90^th, 91^st, 92^nd and 94^th open L&SECC Perth (370 miles), 1^st, 2^nd and 5^th Guildford clock station, 51^st, 52^nd and 69^th open L&SECC Thurso (516 miles), only six birds sent, all south road pigeons.

2002: Sent four pigeons to the Pau NFC race, recorded 2^nd and 3^rd Guildford clock station (only three birds clocked), 204^th and 252^nd open (4,071 birds), 7^th National Yearling and 3^rd. in the B.H.W. Pau Sporting Challenge.

2003: Sent eight birds to Dax (528 miles) L&SECC race, clocking five on the winning day and recording 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th Guildford clock station (very hard race only two clocks returned in clock station), 32^nd, 121^st, 154^th, 155^th, 174^th open.

2004: Sent eight birds to San Sebastian (560 miles) in Spain with the L&SECC, clocked five on a this very hard race and recorded 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th. Guildford clock station (only clock returned), 23^rd, 29^th, 37^th, 43^rd, 69^th open, with only 79 birds clocked in race time. I returned from the clock station to find the sixth bird, ‘The Allwright Cock’, was home and had been badly hawked. The first bird clocked from San Sebastian was the two year old blue hen, ‘Foxwarren Express’, and she was sent due to hatch on the day of liberation, to win 1^st clock station, 23^rd open. This was her first race from over 500 miles and she is a daughter of my number two Eric Cannon stock pair, being a granddaughter of Champion ‘Culmer Marion’, 1^st open N.F.C. Sartilly, ‘Culmer White Flight’, 1^st. sect A, 14^th open N.F.C. Pau and ‘Culmer Channel Queen’, the N.F.C. Pau Merit Award winning hen. ‘Foxwarren Express’ flew through to Nantes as a yearling and won B.O.S. in the Esher open show the following winter. My second pigeon from San Sebastian , to record 2^nd clock station, 29^th open, was his good blue chequer hen, ‘Foxwarren Complete’, and she is a Cannon/Denney cross, being a daughter of that fantastic Brian Denney stock hen ‘Pathfinder’. ‘Foxwarren Complete’ was sent to San Sebastian sitting twelve day old eggs and in 2003 was clocked on the winning day from Dax (528 miles), to win 1^st clock station, 32^nd open.

2005: Sent eight birds to Pau (552 miles) with the L&SECC and clocked three birds on the hardest weekend of the 2005 season. The team recorded 2^nd, 7^th, 8^th Guildford Clock station, 20^th, 116th, 119^th open, with only 119 birds clocked in race time. First bird on the clock was the mealy hen, “Foxwarren Javelin”, and she has plenty of previous good form having flown 550 miles four times, winning: 2005: 20^th open L&SECC Pau, 2004: 69^th open L&SECC San Sebastian, 2003: 155^th open L&SECC Dax, plus 3^rd 500 mile hens at the B.H.W. Blackpool Show. She was a daughter of the ace 500 mile racer, “The Gilbertson Cock”, when mated to the premier Eric Cannon hen, “Pat’s Girl”. The same weekend as the Pau classic, three yearlings were sent to the B.I.C.C. Tours smash race and a Cannon blue cock was recorded to win 111^th open.

Having not raced Pau or Tarbes for several season because of the lack of pigeon time due to his massive commitment to other activities in the sport, we decided to send to Tarbes with the L&SECC in June 2011. We only had two candidates for the 560 mile Classic, but sent them in good order and got both birds home, recording 48^th open. First bird on the ETS was the four year old Eric Cannon blue cock, ‘Foxwarren Ryan’s Express’ and he had been in the stock section for two seasons before being brought back to fly the channel four times in 2011. This handsome cock had bred some super 550 mile racers and is an inbred grandson of Eric Cannon’s Champion ‘Culmer Marion’, winner of 1^st open NFC Sartilly. He had raced and was clocked twice from Tarbes (560 miles), flying it again in 2012, recording 52^nd open L&SECC Tarbes and 67^th open L&SECC Bergerac. In the 2012 season ‘Ryan’s Express’ flew over 1,000 in a three week period!

Life after the ‘Pigeon Fancier’s Lung’.

February is the time of the year when fanciers receive their results from pigeon lung blood tests taken at the BHW Blackpool Show, by the British Pigeon Fancier's Medical Research Team. Some will be pleased to see a reduced reading of their pigeon lung count and many will be shocked and puzzled to be told that they are now suffering from the dreaded pigeon fancier's lung. I think it's common knowledge that I suffer from pigeon lung and I get countless phone calls, especially at that time of the year, from fanciers who are very worried and want to know the facts about the dreaded 'lung'. The first thing I tell them is don't get rid of the pigeons as I did, to take their time and try better ventilated accommodation for the birds and this will reduced their pigeon lung blood test count drastically. My own pigeon lung problem came to a head in 1995, although I think I had probably had it for years but wouldn't admit it, for fear of having to pack up my beloved pigeons. 1995 was a very bad year for me. Firstly I discovered that I had pigeon fancier's lung after 25 years in our great sport. It was the hardest thing I have had to do in my life, when I had to get rid of my team of pigeons on doctor's orders. On giving up my birds I decided to carry on as secretary of the Surrey Championship Club, an office I had held for 9 years at that time and increase my hobby in pigeon journalism. My second bit of bad luck that year was an accident at my work as a carpenter. I fell head first 10 feet through a rotten roof smashing my nose and right elbow on the concrete floor below. I had a stay in Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton, and had two screws inserted in my shattered elbow. This set-back meant a year off work and I wouldn't write. They say when one door closes another one opens and from the sale of my small team of birds I could afford to purchase a professional standard camcorder which I had always wanted, and the time off meant I could make some pigeon videos. Well, four camcorders and two cars later we had produced 18 highly successful 'Many Miles with Mott' videos, which in turn producing articles on premier fanciers for the British Homing World.

While I was in Scotland shooting 'Many Miles with Mott' Number 12, I visited the Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow, home of the British Fancier's Medical Research Unit, for a one to one video interview with Dr Gavin Boyd, the pioneer of research into pigeon fancier's lung. In my interview I asked Dr Boyd what were the symptoms and he replied, 'Well I think the classic symptoms are flu-like aches and pains with a temperature, shivering, feverishness, sweating, and coming on 4 - 6 hours after fairly heavy contact with the birds.' I then asked him if it could be cured with drugs and he said, 'I think the real treatment is to avoid heavy exposure to bloom and get exposure to the pigeons to a level below that which triggers of the clinical problem'. My next question to Dr Boyd was, 'So would you be saying that fanciers should be using an open aviary type loft?' His reply was, 'I'm not going to tell pigeon fanciers how to race their pigeons but the truth is, if you are sensitised and then you have to be able to adjust the way you make contact with the birds to limit the amount of bloom that you are exposed to. In 1997, whilst at the BHW Blackpool Show, I met pigeon lung sufferer Tony Grinsil of Wakefield and I had a chat with him about the problem. He was in a bad way with pigeon lung and had to pack up the sport under orders of the specialist at Mexborough Montague Hospital , where he had various lung function tests and x-rays, much the same as myself. Tony had the idea of having a loft that you didn't walk into, so didn't get exposed to the bloom. The result was that the loft was 7ft long, 3ft wide and 3ft high and was set up at waist height, almost like a rabbit hutch. The loft worked so well that in December of that year he was discharged by the specialist, but had kept four pairs of pigeons since early October. As I previously stated on my return home from that Blackpool trip I was offered a pair of my old pigeons back, which had gone past their sell-by date and I built two rabbit hutches, so I could have them as pets, and the result was no bad effect! When the birds were taken out in the car they were carried in reeded widowhood baskets in the car boot and the driver's window was always kept open. The baskets were cleaned out every time after use, and re chipped regularly, always with a mask on.

There is pigeon racing after pigeon fancier's lung and prizes can be won racing to rabbit hutches! The 1999 season saw me race 5 yearlings and 11 youngsters to my rabbit hutch loft. I won several good positions in the Saturday Club and 56th and 116th open in the London & South East Classic Club Guernsey Young Bird Classic in a strong east wind, lifting £500. It's a wonderful way of keeping racing pigeons and the birds keep so well in the rabbit hutch type loft. We housed only about 15 young birds and in 2001 we started racing with 14 youngsters, flying the programme, including two Channel races, and finished with all 14 birds. The youngsters scored several times in the very strong Esher Club, including 1^st Club Blandford (160 birds) and in the London & South East Classic Club won 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th clock station, 107^th, 126^th  and 132^nd Open Guernsey recording 2^nd and 4^th Futurity and lifting £1,300. My champion 550 mile racing hen “Foxwarren Complete” was born in and  raced to a rabbit hutch and she laid the egg in that ‘rabbit hutch’ that produced Bobby Besant’s “Half Crown”, the dam of Champion ‘Noble Dream’, winner of 1^st open International Agen (10,500 birds) in the 2015 season.

I had nine really enjoyable years as chief convoyer for the London & South East Classic Club, which may sound horrendous for someone who has pigeon fancier's lung, but most of the work was done in the open air and I always wore a mask and coat when feeding, watering and liberating the birds. I loved driving through France to places like Bordeaux and Pau, and I never had any real ill effects from my convoying work. Over the years I have made thousands of pigeon loft visits all over the UK, for my video and writing work, and if I said it hadn't affected me I would be a liar, but my pigeon lung attacks are much milder and less frequent because I don't go into a dusty, closed in pigeon loft every day. Not everyone who has suffered will be able to keep pigeons, but I believe that modern enclosed lofts are a major factor in encouraging the problem. Few fanciers had the allergy when racing 30 years ago to the old type dowel fronted lofts, and generally fewer pigeons were housed in them. I have been amazed at the number of fanciers I have spoken to who say they have the symptoms but have not been tested. However, if I'm honest, I think I had it for about 15 years, before it peaked in 1994, when I was very ill. I get many phone calls from all over the UK asking me about the problem and I'm always happy to have a chat about the allergy, but the two people who really knows about the problem is Dr Gavin Boyd and Dr Philip Lynch, at the Research Centre in Glasgow. I can't praise these two wonderful doctors enough for their excellent work. I am amazed at the great interest which has been shown in my old ‘rabbit hutch’ loft system. I've had countless phone calls and letter from pigeon lung sufferers from all over the world.

The bones of this article have been published before and because of the many phone calls and emails I receive constantly from all over the pigeon world, I’ve decided to re-write and update it as a permanent reference article. It really is unbelievable how much correspondence I receive asking me about the ‘rabbit hutch’ loft system and pigeon fancier’s lung decease. I’m going to put this updated article on my Internet Website as a reference article for fanciers to look at, as I consider ‘pigeon lung’ to be a very important issue in our sport. There is life after ‘Pigeon Fancier’s Lung’. My interview with Dr. Gavin Boyd is Video 22 on my YouTube channel. My mobile phone number is: 07535 484584. I can be contacted with any pigeon ‘banter’ on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)