THE RACING PIGEON 27 OCTOBER 2023
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stock birds. He said he was going to race eighteen widow cocks, so I suggested he started with sixty young birds which surprised him. I told him it’s not like it used to be when you could breed thirty young birds, go through the season, and be left with a couple of dozen. Those days have gone, unfortunately. Well, that’s about it for the moment Enjoy the show but most of all enjoy your pigeons.
pings are not right, then send for a test kit and find out what the problem is – the sooner the better. An old fried of mine who has just retired is coming back into the game, so he came up to see me to chat about the fancy as it is today. He’d heard about young bird sickness and all the other obstacles we have to nego- tiate with the birds today but he’s determined to have a go and so I’ve promised him some youngsters from the second round of my
look the same. It’s obviously a trick of the camera to make them look good. This time of the year and the birds drop- ping should be perfect. Apart from moulting they are not under any stress at all. Nice round droppings with some little down feathers should be on the perches every morning. If you have the odd pigeon where this is not the case, then a three in one tablet on alternate days should put the matter right. If you’ve more than one bird where the drop-
Doncaster is the locations, it’s got good access for everyone and fantastic parking facilities, right opposite the show, which enables fanciers to purchase their require- ments, take them to the car and go back into the show to meet friends and have another walk around. I see that there are plenty of live auctions too, which is a big plus. You can’t beat handling the pigeons you fancy. Many of the photos of online pigeons make all the birds
WITHOUT LIMITS
Lee’s main interest has always been pigeon management, health and well being. Lee has been manufacturing a successful and natural product range since 1999 marketing a range of vitamin products specifically aimed at the racing pigeon fraternity.This range has been developed over the years and was the inspiration and driving force behind Pigeon Health, UK Animal Products Ltd. Global newspaper publishing is another aspect of Lee's enterprise where his operation began in 2007 when he became the owner and chief editor of The Racing Pigeon Weekly, first published in 1898 and also the Pictorial International worldwide specialist racing pigeon magazine. Lee has taken a step back from racing and has found some time to bring some of his diary extracts and his main racing methods for hens in to the book ‘Without Limits – Racing Hens’, and cocks in ‘Without Limits – Racing Cocks’. Lee has had some of the best performances in his region with racing hens and has written 'Without Limits’ as an honest in depth account of Lee’s own diaries and practices to race to win.
Phone 01206 250880 or order online at www.racingpigeon.co.uk UK £22.95 EACH INCLUDING P&P
serves as the perfect reminder as to the amount of energy a pigeon uses during this time and so we must do all we can to support them. After any demanding task such as the moult during which our birds undergo an immense physiological change, it is vital they are give sufficient rest in order to recuperate after all a pigeon is a living breathing organism and not a battery oper- ated robot or at least that’s how I look at it. Which perhaps explains why I find it so hard to get my head around the fact that in certain quarters fanciers are already discussing pairing! Please don’t get me wrong dear reader, I am as keen as the next pigeon man to get the ball rolling again but surely it is better to let nature take its course, oh well to each his own. At our lofts my dad Steve and I are more than content with the progress of the moult, and many of the birds are developing into lovely specimens, with one or two starting to show themselves as really strong charac- ters. This is something which we both like to see as it makes spending time in the loft much more enjoyable because lets face it there is nothing worst than wild pigeons. Some might say they can be too tame, however for me pigeons cannot be tame enough, as I feel the whole thing is about creating a strong attachment between myself and the birds in a calm and coopera- tive environment. After all we must treasure and enjoy every single moment of being a fancier. So instead of counting the days of winter why not make the winter days count and enjoy getting to know your pigeons that little bit more,it could make all the difference. Right I’m off up the loft.
From The Chair by Chris Williams
where I make a mental note of each pigeon’s character and do all I can to cement the trust between us. Time spent in the loft observing the day to day behaviour of our feathered friends is never wasted as in my view it forms a central part of the bonding process between bird and fancier. Here in their natural environment each pigeon can be individually monitored and its unique personality and idiosyncrasies noted. Thus giving fancier a valuable insight into the psyche of his or her winged athletes which can be later utilized to attain race performance at the appropriate time. In the pigeon world among fanciers the wintertime is often best described as a season of discontent. It’s a pity that more organisations cannot find a more proactive way of working together, but as a wise man once said to me “a still tongue keeps a wise head” and so with this in mind I now keep out of pigeon politics and devote my time to the pigeons because without them every- thing else is irrelevant! In the blink of an eye the all-important moulting period is now upon us, an event that is an essential element in the life cycle of our feathered friends. The whole process takes approximately 160-170 days to complete. It is little wonder then that this
“Failure is not fatal. It’s the courage to continue that counts” – Winston Churchill. The same to can be said about the sport of pigeon racing as at some time or another each fancier will experience a season during which for a wide array of factors things will not turn out as we may have wished, often such factors are beyond our individual control but on reflection there is always room for self-improvement. Reflecting in the mirror at one’s own actions on a daily basis is no easy task, because let’s face facts as human beings we seldom like what we discover in the process and yet in order to grow, each of us must honestly ask ourselves the all-important questions. “Am I doing enough/how can I improve?” Often it is the simple little attention to details that can make the biggest difference. Time and again we hear about the importance of observation. Of course we all know that this is a skill which takes time to develop, when the weather permits me at this time of the year, there is nothing I enjoy more than being in the loft among the birds, for me it is the perfect tonic for breaking up the monotony of the mundane winter months and help me to maintain a level of motiva- tion as we prepare for the advent of the 2024 breeding and racing season. Here is
Getting to know each other.
natural phenomenon is regarded by astute fanciers as perhaps the toughest period of the year for our racing pigeons. So contrary to popular belief now is not the time for the fancier to sit back. Constant vigilance is the order of the day to ensure our birds experi- ence a good moult in order that they are on the right path toward attaining top perform- ances in the season to come, in short, work now or pay the price later. Entering the loft at this time of year I am always amazed at the number of feathers there are, which
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