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Chalmers Baird

 

Tom Corrie Jnr reports on

CHALMERS BAIRD

Lanarkshire Federation Centre Section Young Bird Average Winner 2013

 

This report takes me a short trip over to the village of Glenmavis, a village in the North Lanarkshire area of Scotland. It is situated about 2 miles north-west of Airdrie and has a recorded a population of 2286. Formerly a pit village, there are no longer any active coal mines in the area. There is a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage depot to the north of the village. From the local church gate it is possible to see the island of Arran on a fine day.

Chalmers

Chalmer Baird lives in a red stone house on the Condorrat road just outside the village of Glenmavis. He was born and bred into pigeons, from the age of five serving his apprenticeship with his father as J Baird & Son. His father was a founder member of the Border club that still competes in the Scottish Midland Federation. He moved to his present address 26yrs ago with his wife and raised one daughter and has two granddaughters. Chalmers specifically purchased the house with his pigeons in mind. He has worked as a joiner all his working days either with different firms or self employed and still works away at the age of 68yrs.

Since this time he has been a member of Glenmavis club, initially racing as J Baird & Son Loft 1 & 2 as he didn't wish to leave his Dad after all those years in partnership. Poor health struck him three years ago in the form of cancer but he has battled through this difficult period that saw him give up most of his pigeons at that time. He only managed to keep a handful of birds, which his wife and daughter lovingly looked after. This gave him the determination and willpower to carry on. Thankfully he has been in good health and is reaping the rewards of his pigeon husbandry.

South facing loft

West facing loft

Last season’s young bird programme was truly outstanding with the loft outperforming the best in the section which includes the Lanarkshire Champion loft of GWP Macaloney. Club wins included 6 races from 7 and 3rd place in the one he didn't win, with multiple club positions most weeks. His federation consistency was excellent, topping the federation longest young bird race which included winning the first three in the section.

Section & Open Federation positions flying in the Lanarkshire Fed 2013 - Young birds only.

Otterburn 1: 4th, 8th, 10th Centre section, 6th Open 5545 birds

Otterburn 2: 8th Section, 24th Open 6365 birds

Appleby 1: 12th, 13th Sect, 1358 birds in section

Ingleton: 11th, 12th, 15th sect, 25th Open 3284 birds

Ingleton Open: 11th, 12th, 14th 1145 birds

Charnock Richard: 1st, 2nd, 3rd sect, 1st Open 1996 birds

Otterburn comeback: 5th, 13th sect 575 birds, 20th Open 1654 birds

Flashing light to deter raptors

 

When starting racing again he obtained pigeons from Alan Pollard from Uddingston. These were Van Loon, Busschaerts and Vandeeele lines and clicked straight away with some fine pigeons from the late fellow club member Davie Rankin; these are cross bred and make up the winning lines within his loft. They generally handle small to medium in size and feel like a good all round family of birds.

The lofts are self built and sit nicely in his large back garden. They are very well ventilated facing south and west. The west facing loft is where the winning birds are raced. The south facing loft holds the stock pigeons and small team of racers.

In the 2013 season he raced around 25 old birds and 54 young birds with 5 pairs of stock pigeons. The youngsters are raced on the darkness system, and old birds being paired around the end of January to accommodate the system being flown. Old birds are fed VL All Round and Gerry Plus supplemented by Hormoform, which he feels is an excellent product. The birds have access to Kilpatrick grit and minerals. A blow torch is used to keep the mites at bay.

Birds in boxes for pairing

Young birds are vaccinated altogether in June and also receive a 3 in 1 Harkers tablet. They also are treated for respiratory with Dac Linco Spectrum tablets two weeks before racing and on occasions through the season. These youngsters are raced to the perch but within the section there are nest boxes to provide motivation and eventually some go to nest. He has never had the dreaded young bird syndrome and puts this down to giving them a small measure of thin bleach in the water ever Monday. Yes bleach. He swears by it every week in the year. He also doesn't feed the youngsters maize as he feels this can carry isease (he learned this from one of the best fanciers in the area). They are fed Countrywide Concorde mix obtained from Carluke Flying Club. He feels this is an excellent mixture and they are fed 1 oz per day. They are trained hard from around the thirty five mile mark from the south, usually with pigeon transporters or occasionally by himself from the east at least three times per week right through the season.

A prominent stock pair

Daily Programme

Saturday - Fed trapping seed mix and Hormoform on return from race with electrolytes in water; these are Dioralyte from the chemist.

Sunday - Normal feed of Concorde 1oz, fresh water in drinker.

Monday -Normal feed, small measure of thin bleach added to water.

Tuesday - Normal feed, garlic cloves or cinder vinegar in the water from the supermarket.

Wednesday - Normal feed, garlic or cider vinegar in water.

Thursday - Normal feed, fresh water.

Friday - Normal feed before noon.

Trophies won with 2013 young birds

When training on return they are fed all their mix, and when not trained are fed 1/2 mix morning and evening.

The birds are not loft exercised because of the raptor problem. If out the flashing light is switched on to protect the birds.

Ambitions? He has always been a club and federation flyer but would like to have a go at 500mls.

Chalmers rates GWP Macaloney loft the best in the Federation with great consistency over the years.

He feels its only a matter of time that the small clubs in the area will amalgamate for the better, and also thinks the Lanarkshire Federation is moving in the right direction.

Pigeons have always been a way of life for Chalmers and he is really enjoying his pigeons. I wish him all the best in the future. A cracking loft at the top of the game. Special thanks to his wife for the lovely lunch.

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Elimar - February 2014