Established 1979 Company Number: 11693988 VAT Registration Number: 284 0522 13 +44 (0)1606 836036 +44 (0)7871 701585 [email protected]

Les J Parkinson - 07-01-25

Elimar Header

Les J Parkinson

What’s on my mind this week. Done

As many will know I have been writing articles since the Olympiad at Blackpool in 1977 when my first article appeared so there are times when I am going to be repeating myself but that’s the way it goes. Those were the days when I was pairing up in December without giving it a second thought and being told by the more experienced fanciers that I was breeding too early. That brings me to the present day when I have been thinking, should I or shouldn’t I pair up, for a few weeks, in fact through all of December. I have heard that by the end of December some were rearing young birds that were ready to be moved into the young bird section. I sometimes wonder if young birds are better being bred in the cold weather when there is less chance of them picking something up. I remember when the best pigeon I ever had. A Chequer cock I had was “Joe 90” he was reared on a ledge next to the bob wires with inches of snow within pecking distance. Anyway, let’s get to the point, I decided to pair the stock birds up on the 16th December which is 10 days later than I used to pair them in the 70’s. Mind you the weather in general is much better now than it was in those days.

The days when people had less illness in winter because the cold weather kept it at bay.

The days when we used to make slides in the snow to see how far we could go.

The days when we went to school no matter what the weather and enjoyed break times when we had snowball fights instead of playing football.

The days when it was that cold the ice was on the inside of the bedroom windows.

The days when we had a tin bath hanging up in the back yard and no central heating, unless you were rich.

The days when you didn’t need to lock everything up and in general it was left alone.

Enough on those days let’s get back to when I paired the stock birds up on the 16th December for the crop of 2025 young birds. They were mostly the pairings that I had for 2024 so there was not much of a problem and with them now being 2yo they were more settled. There were only two pairs that had not reared young birds in that section before, which was a good thing. Now I am undecided as to when I am going to pair the race team up. At one time I would pair them in December and rear two nests off them and they flew very well. The difference being then that I didn’t have the stock to breed off. Another major difference today is, we keep so many untried stock birds because of their breeding and not necessarily because they are winners or directly off winners. There was a time when nearly all the birds in the loft were raced, and we didn’t need to breed so many. Teams of 30 young birds were the norm for most fanciers, now it’s twice that number and many are still finishing the season with around the same number left for the following season. The loss of pigeons is far higher than ever before, what is it down too, think that is something we all know so let’s leave it at that.  

Trend

I can hear the words now “He’s off again with the latest fashion” I do because I think this is where a lot of fanciers go wrong, buying the latest fashion three of four generations further down the line. A couple of weeks ago or maybe even longer I mentioned winning fanciers and how their birds are not in that much demand even though they are winning out of turn. I do watch the sales to see who has the latest fashion and is winning with them. Then when you look at sales and those who are not winning with the same lines they are outnumbered, there are far more losers than winners. That might be down to pigeon lovers, the fanciers who have pigeons no matter what, win or lose they still carry on. I asked Ray Lunt how many years he tests a new line before they go fully into the race team. I was surprised when he said up to 5yrs, when I was thinking 3yrs tops, who is right and who is wrong. That question answers itself because in 2024 his name appeared at the top of the list 11 times, yes 11 x 1sts out of 21 races and one race. Oh yes, in one race the clock missed the strike and a further 4 he did not send, so that means 11 x 1st feds out of 16 federation races, oh yes let’s not forget the 11 x 1st sections which I don’t hear the lad’s mention making it 22 x 1sts, after all it is still a 1st. Then to make it even better he took the first 4 positions 7 times, and they have a gentlemen’s agreement that they only read off the first 4 velocities for the federation result. I have used Ray’s results even though I say Ray, we still have Gary and Alan in the team. Yes, I have used these lads as an example but there are other fanciers out there whose pigeons’ put-up top-class performances through to National level and when they want to sell a few the price per winner to the loft is far less than the latest fashion. I did speak to another fancier whose pigeons win out of turn, but his pigeons are not fancied and he said, “I see fanciers in our fed, which is a big one, buying pigeons and think to myself, There’s another member I don’t have to worry about” That’s not the first time I have heard those words come from a winning fanciers mouth. Yes, I agree there are many who go for the latest fashion but there are still going to be wines amongst them, but that percentage will be relatively low. It’s taken the team at Enfield Lofts a few years of careful selection to get to where they are now, and these pigeons are winning for others. I have no doubt that their unfashionable winners could soon rack up 1sts going into 4 figures. In fact, I am going to make it my aim to find out how many 1sts I can trace to these pigeons over the last 3yrs.

Les Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ.
Tel: +44 (0)1606 836036. Mob: +44 (0)7871 701585. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web site: http://www.elimarpigeons.com