CRAIG CHAMBERS TALKS TO JIM
Q1 Please tell us about yourself Craig?
A1 My name is Craig Chambers and I’m the youngest member of the Chamber’s Family partnership racing into Cannock in Staffordshire. For several years now I have been the partner who performs the day to day management, racing and breeding of the pigeons. I work in Education where I’m Head of the Business, Economics and Accounting at a high school in Lichfield and I’m now a proud dad to my two beautiful twin babies Theo and Remi who are now 13 months old.
Q2 What was the start of your love affair with pigeons?
A2 I started racing pigeons aged 11 when my brother Ricard asked me to help make him a box that he could keep some pigeons in to try and race from. The box we made would have been a death trap for any animal to live in and so my dad took pity on us and allowed us to keep some racing pigeons in the corridor of his stock loft which is where myself and my brother formed the partnership R&C Chambers. At the time my dad raced at a different location under the partnership Massey and Chambers. We started racing as R&C Chambers 1999 where we won our second ever club race. The year after we were allowed a section in the stock loft to race from and in that year (2000) we won the YB averages in the club and also topped the Dudly Federation from Weymouth as well as clocking the only bird on the day from a difficult YB Guernsey race. Two years later we were the highest prize winners in what was considered one of the strongest clubs in the West Midlands, the Bloxwich Memorial 4 Bird racing against some of the best fanciers in the area including Arther Beardsmore who was like a celebrity to me and someone I admired greatly as a child. When I was 15 years old myself and my brother won a new Car racing in the Midland Continental Classic Flying Club (the MCC) I remember as a child one of my proudest moments was receiving a phone call from Aurther Beardsmore and a congratulations card from Colin Lloyd for this performance, that card is something that I have kept to this very day over 20 years later. Aged 17 we sent two hens to the MNFC Bergerac race flying 553miles along with a few cocks where we managed to secure 1st and 2nd Hens National whilst also winning the diploma of distinction for our Bergerac Hen as this was her fourth time placing in the result from that race point. With each of these early successes my interest in pigeon racing grew more into something of an obsession (especially for the long distance races) which remains with me to this day.
Q3 Who inspired you to race pigeons?
A3 My brother, at first I was only interested in making the box with him as I enjoyed making things as a child, after that it was the ambition to beat my dad and grandad every week which really motivated me to work hard with the pigeons and to try and improve my performances.
Q4 How does it feel to have won at the extreme distance i.e. Barcelona?
A4 Clocking from any long-distance race is always an incredible experience whether it be 550 miles , 660 miles or now 800 miles seeing them come home from such huge distances is something I will never grow tired of. Our whole life me and my brother have talked about getting birds from Barcelona however it always felt just a bit too far up here into the Midlands especially with them having to navigate around the Pyrenees Mountains. It was only last year that I decided to have ago for the first time after a conversation with a friend of mine at the BICC presentation evening when expressed that he wanted to be the first person in our area to clock in from Barcelona, This sparked my competitive side and so there and then I decided that I would try and get there first. That year I entered a team to test the water however I knew deep down that these were not my strongest team and so I was absolutely thrilled when we had one arrive just outside of race time, our first ever bird home from Barcelona at our first attempt. That pigeon gave me the confidence to send a stronger team this year with the expectation that we would clock in the result despite the extremely difficult conditions this years race presented.
Q5 Tell us all about how you fed and raced your birds in such a severe test?
A5 These days I like to keep the weight off my birds as much as possible and so for the vast majority of the year they are fed a very light mix consisting of up to 80% barley where they have to eat every grin. This changes as the racing progresses where breeding mix and diet are added. In the two weeks before Barcelona / Tarbes the Barley was completely removed and they were on fed 50:50 diet mix as much as they could eat, then in the final 5 days this went to 50:50 breeding mix and high fat energy corn.
Q6 Have you created a family of racers, and from what origins?
A6 All of our long distance birds relate back to my dad’s 1997 Midland National Winner from Bergerac the Dutch Cock who flew 15 hours on the day to complete the 553 miles journey flying into a steady North West wind the entire way. My 1st and 2nd hens national winners that were mentioned earlier were a g.daughter and daughter respectively of the Dutch Cock with the nest mate of the first national winner, a cock we called The Don also scoring 18th National in the same race. These became the main base of our Dutch Family and almost every pigeon we have ever timed in from 600+ miles races relets back to those. In 2014 we secured what we believe to be our best ever performance with a cock called Dutch Thunder, he won 1st Section, 7th Open NFC Tarbes 660 miles flying against the wind and in torrential thunder storms with heavy rain, I will never understand how he managed that performance as all six birds that beat him were flying at least 90 miles less and it was hours before another bird made it home over 600 miles in that race. Dutch Thunder is a g.son of our Bergerac hen the daughter of the Dutch Cock. Our Barcelona bird this year now called Dutch Courage is himself a g.son of Dutch Thunder and so the line continues.
Q7 Have you read pigeon books and seen the films?
A7 Yes, lots of them. Although if you listen to everyone you can end up more confused than before you started. I now think every loft is different and unique, its best to listen to those you respect, admire and want to emulate but more importantly observe the impact of your own actions and adjust accordingly. This was a lesson taught to me by the man who I consider to be the best pigeon flyer in the UK.
Q8 Do you use supplements like cest pharma?
A8 The vast majority of the supplements I use are from Quill they are cheap, effective and come in bulk as they mainly target the chicken industry. I think their products are excellent and great value for money, especially the liquid calcium which I use a lot and would not be without especially before and during the breeding period. I also like some of the Vet Tolisan and Schrauder products and I use their vaccinations and medicines when required, however I think they are far too expensive and I would like to move away from these because of this.
Q9 Is it a hobby shared by your family?
A9 Yes, as already stated I raced for several years with my brother and he is still named on our partnership despite having his own loft now and living several miles away. My Dad and Grandad and also part of the Chambers Family with dad helping with the training of the ybs and getting the old birds in for me on a morning if they are still flying when I have to leave for work. Pigeons is all that we as a family ever talk about, we would l be lost without them.
Q10 Do you hold posts within organisations?
A10 I always help out with marking and in recent years I was formally the secretary of my local club Pelsall 5 bird however with work commitments and a young family I simply don’t have the time required to commit to formal positions. To be honest I also hate all of the paperwork and admin that now surrounds the sport, I do however accept that this is necessary and I appreciate and respect all of those people who make pigeon racing possible.
Q11 Are you aware of my BICC Barcelona Trophies?
A11 Yes, what a wonderful achievement it would be to win these one-day racing from Barcelona
Q12 Do you have a feel for and empathy with your birds?
A12 If you would have asked me that when I was younger I would have said yes, back then I used to think as a fancier I understood my birds and that I knew what I was doing. I now realise that I was totally wrong. There are some people who are real masters with racing pigeons they understand them as individuals and they know how to make them tick, these people are few and far between but I’m lucky enough to race against one of them every week. Unfortunately I’ve come to realise that I’m not one of those people and I don’t feel this is something that can be learnt no matter however hard you try. I’ve now come to accept this and I now realise that I have been luck enough to own and occasionally breed some top quality pigeons who can perform in the long distance races despite me rather than because of me. This is a good thing as I now know that I need to focus upon breeding better quality pigeons with a higher success rate rather than constantly changing systems and methods every year in an attempt to improve as a fancier.
Q13 How can we improve the sport?
A13 I’ll leave that one to the powers that be and to the keyboard worriers, my brother spent years trying to answer that question and trying to implement real change but if truth be told all he got in return was a load of abuse for his efforts. I would however love to see more people sending to the long distance races, thousands of distance birds are brought and sold on websites and from studs across the UK each year however the numbers of people sending to these races remains stubbornly low, I would love to see this change.
Q14 Please comment on any other facets of the sport- and pics to me?
A14 I think that’s probably too much already from me 🙂
Kind Regards
Craig Chambers
