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Lanarkshire News - Jim McLean a Master of his trade. - 29-12-23

Lanarkshire News - Jim McLean a Master of his trade.

Jim McLean attended the Clarkston show with Marshall Findlay as a judge, I quickly got to know from those in attendance that this guy was one of the most respected fanciers to grace the sport.  I spoke with Jim after he had judged and his enthusiasm for the sport was oozing out of his pores. He just was one of those guys you could listen to all night. This is a man who is 87yrs of age but showed and zest for life not found in most half his age.

JimR judging at Clarkston show with myself centre and Marshall Findlay L

Jim(R) judging at Clarkston show with myself centre and Marshall Findlay (L)

The next morning I phoned Ian Lindsay to possibly get Jim's his phone number as I wished to do a write up on Jim's time in the sport.

Ian told me that many a year ago Bob Kennedy a well-respected scribe at the time had contacted himself for an article on his performances, Ian declined saying Jim McLean is the man you are looking for as he was the best in the business.

After a telephone call that probably lasted over an hour, I arranged a meeting with Jim in the company of Ian Lindsay, Rab Simpson, Wullie Gilchrist to have a blether about their time in the sport and hopefully share some great memories and their knowledge to others in attendance in Newmains social club.

The main theme would be Jim but with some input from some those in attendance with over 300 years of experience in the sport.

Can I say that everyone I spoke with and told of this get together wished they could attend. I probably could have filled a hall with the fanciers wishing to attend. Maybe a night with Jim could be planned!

Enjoying a night with Jim MacLean 3rd left

Those at table (L to R) Alan Campbell, Rab Cairns snr, Jim MacLean, Ian Lindsay, Tom Corrie snr, George McLean (Not to sure what happened to Rab Simpson)

So I got down to asking Jim about his time in the sport.

Jim resides in Braedale nr Newmains, Lanarkshire.  

His father and uncles were already well established in the sport before six year old Jim got to going about the loft, going to the club house around 11 yrs old, Like everyone in those days you had to learn your trade as the ringer of the birds and then moving onto handling but that could last a number of years before you could show your ability.

Jim at the age of 13yrs pestered his dad to build him his own shed with 6 pairs of birds to breed and race. In his first season he won the first three races. After much observation and working with his father and changing the feed and his Dads fortunes improved ,he found out with the normal beans beans and more beans these pigeons weren't going to win at the top level. 

It’s something he had mastered himself working with Carbs and fats.

He said in the early years he said his Dad and uncles covered the beans in the feeders with damp bags to get them to sprout, he laughed you would have thought they were on a salad diet with these bean sprouts hanging out their mouth. Jim quickly turned to his own science about how to feed pigeons and after one season his father gave him charge of the management of the birds. Jim topped the federation at the age of 14, his father quickly came round to his way of thinking!

Birds have to be buoyant, it’s the most important thing he said "The Race is Won at the Race Point".

This can only be achieved with motivation, feeding and exercise.

He also quickly got to understand that observation and motivation was also essential to help get the best out of the birds.

He would work on different pigeons throughout the week to get the best out of them. He recalled winning a "May day race" with a yearling cock that didn't have a mate. This pigeon was bursting the Skye in his evening exercise. Jim said I made it a mate out of cardboard paper and feathers(He always kept some feathers from moulting season) and half closed its box with this made up hen on top of the bowl .After a number of days I let the cock about this made up hen, then introduced eggs to nest and the cock sat the eggs and Jim took the made up hen away during this time .On basketing day just before basketing he took the cock out the box and put another cock in the nest box with the made up hen .He then allowed the cock back into the section to hang onto the front of his box and see who was in his box. The cock was so aggressive when Jim basketed him he had to go into a single carry box for race marking. The race was from around 100 miles the yearling cheq cock won it by 7 minutes .Jim said I only seen his tail as he flashed through the trap that day..

That's Observation and Motivation

One of his best performances was with a 9yr old hen, yes 9yrs when she won .Jim said she had four good performance across the water and had never slept out in her life time.

He was the laughing stock of the club on race night that evening. "Your scraping the barrel this week MacLean was the shout". But Jim knew that this was an exceptional pigeon who had conquered this distance many a time.

Well it turned out a very hard race with no birds on shift. Jim said to his wife he was getting up early at 4am as this hen would be early. The hen arrived at 04 40am to win the race from around 500 miles mark by .

The reason she was racing at this age was because she wasn't  breeding the goods. Jim and others had raced her offspring without success.

Jim said Jim Hannah phoned him to day Jim isn’t it about time you got that hens photo taken as that’s 5 times in the prizes from Sartilly.

22        J MacLean Sartilly winner

Braedale Lass 1992 pigeon - 1st club, 2nd E/S, 3rd Amalgamation Sartilly 495 miles 1995 & Cheq hen 1st club,1st Lanarkshire Federation,Sartilly 1992
 

Another time he had a blue widowhood cock that was chasing everything in the Skye trying to get a mate, one day his friend Wullie Gilchrist came round when the birds were exercising  and they saw the blue cock chasing a wood pigeon into the nearby trees. Wullie wasn't racing that week and asked Jim if he could bet that doo. Well it obliged winning £84 pools.

Jim MacLean Blue Boy 1st club1st Fed1st Amalgamation 1995

Blue Boy 1st club,1st Lanarkshire federation,1st Amalgamation Charnock Richard 1995

Jim liked to fly a small team of widowhood cocks (7) to a 5ft section, it was traditional system with hens on return. These cocks never seen a training basket during the  season and raced the full 12 week programme out to 500mls.

Jim said they won 34 cups and trophies in one season, winning at club and federation level. Jim said my name is on most of the top trophies,the only  he hasn't won yet 1st Open SNFC. 

Jim said these cocks were beating fanciers sending 60 -70 pigeons to the race.

At this time the Lanarkshire was sending 12,000-14,000 birds and club 800 to 1000.

The cocks were never flagged, Jim said if you have to flag there is something not right with them. These cocks were up to 4yrs old and thereafter moved into the natural section as Jim explained moving them onto natural got another good two years out of them. It seemed to give them new motivation as they had that long on widowhood. 

He liked to motivate the cocks on basketing night as he felt they can get bored easily. He would one week put a ramp hen in  a small wire cage on floor .He would go down to the house for a cup of tea and on return would pool the cock that had dominated the top of cage. He also had a small two inch hole that he would open next to the floor that he would allow the cocks to see the hens again the cock that was dominating the space was pooled.

Jim with Robert Frame outside Jims loft

Jim in front of his loft back in the 90s
 

As earlier stated Jim had experimented with Carbs and Fats and the birds were kept light mixture of depurative up till Wednesday and then the good stuff was given up till Friday morning at 10 am and a light pinch of seed in box at 2pm to encourage them to drink.

Jim wasn't a spoon feeder all done by observation.

On return from race the cocks only got the hens for a short time and then hand dipped in warm water and then locked in nest box to rest .They preened themselves and relaxed.

A mixture of garlic (Bulb cut up ) and mother of cider vinegar in water on Sunday and Monday to clean out birds .

The cocks weren't let out till Monday evening and then 1 hour morning and evening.

Jim won the Sartilly race a good number of times in the 1990s, he also had 5 cocks that had second prizes from this distance. The cocks were good up to 12 hrs on wing then it was the hens you got.

Again this is the time when the club and federation was sending big birdage.

Wee 40 14th Open Sartilly 1992

Wee 40 2nd club,2nd E/S 14th Open Sartilly 1992 

The natural pigeons were trained from 15-20 miles Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday by local van that had around 200-300 birds going with other local fanciers. 

Jim liked his hens to be 14-16 days on eggs, they were lightly raced up to 250 miles and then 5 would be trained with possible 2 or 3 going to the race. When you start with 5 you are asking for 2 or 3 to come into super form.

The nest boxes and bowls were cleaned out 24 days before race marking and the hens were trained up till the race. 9 days to lay and 12 to 14 days sitting. He says you can see the form come over their head when sitting on the nest. He had his own elixir, he made up for conditioning the birds. It was all purchased from the Chemist totally natural products he blended together.

10 days before the race himself and his wife would go up to the loft at 9pm and lift the candidates off the nest, let them remove their dropping(Jim didn't like them carrying this dropping all night he felt it was better to get rid of it before resting) and on re-entering box they would  be handled and a bean size capsule of this elixir administered. Jim said they would hit the boards after a 15-16 hrs flight and look like new pins.

Well he wasn't holding back as said earlier ,he has nothing to hide at this time in life. It was a mixture of Complan powder, honey, Cod Liver Yeast mixture and Glucose powder and Garlic powder mixed until like putty to make into bean size portion.

When selecting his birds for the event he would part the breast feathers and look for the form dot on the keel. This is a sign of form and only birds from the vent to the middle of the keel where selected. If above half on keel they were over the top and didn't go. Many a good bird that fanciers thought were right weren't so the dot had to be bottom to middle. The form dot will tell you Jim said.

Jim had a record second to none with him winning out of turn at the distance.

He managed one year to top the Amalgamation and win a gallon of whiskey. The first time it had been raced for in Lanarkshire. He laughed saying a van pulled up at the door and out came the driver with this whiskey that had been donated by Billy Holland .I wasn't a whiskey drinker so sold this for £40 to a friend that was visiting one of my sons in the house, the buyer got a bargain wouldn't you say.

The company laughed with wee Rab Simpson saying you didn't even give me a nip out it and Ian said I thought I was your friend and never got the chance to buy it. Ian Lindsay says I’m supposed to be your pal and didn't even get a chance to buy it.

Jim never owned a car he couldn’t drive he had to rely on the local training van or a family friend to get some training. He said I had five children and a car was a luxury I couldn’t afford.

He had two boys and three daughters. One of his boys Gary was keen on the pigeons up till around 16,he was always around helping in the loft until he started his joinery apprenticeship and some of his colleges were into the fishing, so in came a fishing rod and out went the pigeons. His other son was into the canaries and he had a sixteen foot shed with two aviaries out the back for 150 of the breed. Then he met a girlfriend and moved  out of the house  and Jim got a phone call one day to say sell all the canaries. The canaries shed is still there to this day but has never been used for pigeons. Jim saying he likes to work with a small team. 

Pigeons had to take a back seat for a good number of years due to his wife poor health. Jim only remained in the sport as his daughter had observed how it gave him some relaxation.

Jim said in 2013 he won the section in the two longest races and this was his last real time competing.

Jim Maclean section medal wins from Newbury over 300 and Ypres over 400miles

Two section wins from the longest inland races 2013 by two widowhood cocks.

He said the sport is three things Dedication-Observation-Motivation.

-Dedication is getting up and working with the pigeons ,routine and discipline 

-Observation of what the pigeons are doing and looking for in the loft

-Motivation is the tricks of the trade ,trying to get the best out of them by every trick in the book.

Jim said you have to be patient with the hens, he would race the youngsters the full programme(not really a YB flyer) but pick out the ones he felt had the potential for becoming birds that he could time as 2yr olds at the distance. These would be stopped at 100miles and raced to the coast 350 as yearlings with a view for the longer events at 500 mls as 2yr olds.

Jim was asked about what he looked for in a pigeon for the distance ,he replied they need a good rump(something you could hammer nails into) ,it’s what carries them in 15-16hr hard races. 

The distance needs an extra silky feathering to take the altitude they have to fly 

Small to medium size hens and medium size cock birds .

One tail feather when handling pigeon is seen.

His birds where all Blues/Pieds/Cheqs, never really had reds or mealy pigeons. Because of the family of birds he kept, not decrying reds and mealy birds.

Jim with one of his favourites in the 90s

Jim when he was around 60yrs of age ,showing one of his favourites that had scored 3 times from the channel.

They have good strong eye colouring, don't pair two same coloured eyes together you will weaken colour. Jim won many an eye sign show but gave all his winners to good friend Wullie Gilchrist.

He went on to explain his theory of the feathers that sit under the tail.

Tail flight feathers, the ones underneath the tail, should be like two sleepers (Wooden planks) the further down the tip of the tail and parallel to each other the better. As if someone had drawn a ruler across them.

A rule of thought short distance pigeons don't sit well in hand, feel all front, bigger shoulders and fall away at back.

Wee Amy 1st club 2nd sect 8th Amalgamation 1996 for Jim MacLean

Wee Amy 1st club,2nd E/S Sartilly 1996

Crossing of two inbred families-This came about when Jim had a very good team of Busschaert base pigeons but after 30 yrs of breeding needed a cross. So he purchased 3 pairs of House of Aarden bred pigeons who were closely related. The first year he kept the Jan Aardens pure but they weren't lasting as YBs. The following year he paired one Busschaert to one Jan Aarden and had an outstanding team of birds that went on as yearlings to win Leicester ,Huntington and Eastbourne that year.

He bred one pied cock out of this that came out of a race known as the  "Fareham Smash" winning 3rd club only four birds home in club that night and went on to score three times from 500mls.A lovely tame pigeon that always  wanted Jim's attention when entering loft.

I had left that family of Busschaerts too long together!

He was very friendly with the great Jock Alan of Symington, they worked together. Jim said that Jock was always inviting him down but Jim said I felt as if I would be poaching birds from him ,anyway he was down that way getting a training flight from  a friend and decided to call in to say hello.

As they arrived another fancier was leaving with a pigeon. Jock invited them in and on leaving handed him a late bred cheq pigeon. It was only off 9 times 500 miles diploma winners No Surrender and Mill Queen.

Unfortunately it didn't leave its mark in the MacLean loft.  

He also Visited Robert McLean of Lanark who won the National and remember him having 3 fountains in the loft full of Winalot dog biscuits.

He was presented that day with a youngster the same way bred as the National winner.

Jim also liked to see two of the same sex in a nest, there was always a good one turned up he said. Many a good pigeon came out of a nest with two hens hatched.

Rab and Ian agreed that this was also a good theory.

I took over three hens from my own loft for Jim to handle and really just for some conversation and focus on Jim's expertise. The good news for me was he liked them.

Jim was full of wonderful stories in the sport and he was well known for his expertise in the showing of racing pigeons.

In those days the fanciers would run a bus to all the top shows in the country. Jim had an exception powder blue hen that was winning out of turn but the judges got to know the bird .So one shows at Musselburgh near Edinburgh he decided to turn the blue hen into a blue w/f .This was achieved by cutting out a couple of flights from a blue w/f hen.

He hadn't told his friends and off the hen went to the show.

After the birds were in the pen they made off to the local hotel for a meal and pint and were greeted at the the door by the manager. He asked are you the pigeon lads to which they replied yes. They were shown a table and drinks and food was supplied. Jim thought this is a bit strange as he had asked for no money .A short time later a number of persons arrived You have guessed it ,it was the show judges who had arrived for their post-show hospitality. a quick apology was given and they all made their way to the show.   

When Jim arrived at the show he was told that one of his birds was on the top table with a number of rosettes on the pen. Yes it was the blue w/f hen she won Best opposite Sex beaten by a lovely Silver Mealy of Mr & Mrs Peuw of London.

Jordyn Blue hen 5 x in clock from Channel

Jordyn 5 times timed from Sartilly ,winning 1st club when 9yrs old.
 

Jim said he never revealed to his friends for some time the goings on of that days winner.   

There was many a laugh at the table when Jim got into flow about his incredibly enjoyable time in the sport.

Well for me and those present it truly was a night to remember. Thanks to Jim and all present for a cracking night of Jim's memories and achievements in the sport.

Tom Corrie jnr

Lanarkshire Federation Press Officer

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