“ON THE ROAD” WITH KEITH MOTT.
Billy Looker of Mitcham.
I first became aware of Billy Looker and his wonderful team of pigeons when he won the Three Borders Federation from Messac in the 2015 season, after which I invite him to my home to have some birds photographed for this article. He came to Claygate in February and on seeing his six pigeons and their race performances it was clear to me that his great performance started long before his Messac success. His 2015 Federation winner was his yearling blue cock, now named ‘The Fed Topper’, and he is a son of Bill’s champion stock cock, ‘Lenny the Lion’. The blue cock was raced on the roundabout system and recorded from Messac (258 miles) 1st club, 1st Three Borders Federation, 3rd SMT Combine (1,164 birds).
Billy has raced his old birds on the roundabout, with outstanding results for several years and tells me, he can accommodate 24 pairs, and finds the system very enjoyable. During the racing season the cocks are in with the nest boxes and the racing hens are on perches. The racers are let together on the marking day and on their return from the race they are left together for one hour, before going back on the system. Bill’s loft is 20ft long, with four section and the young bird section has a 5ft aviary so the inmates can enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. The structure is fitted through out with roof lights, for nature light and vents at the bottom and at roof level for good ventilation. Deep litter is not used in the racing loft, as Bill like to keep an eye on the birds dropping at all times. He has eight stock pairs which are housed in a 8ft breeding loft and he uses deep litter in this loft, which he says has never been a problem to the birds. The race birds are paired up in January and normally they single rear a youngster and then the hens and their youngsters are removed at around 16 days, and then they are on the roundabout system to start racing. They then start to get regular exercise around the loft and once they are going well at home, Billy starts to train them for about eight tosses up to 30 miles before the first Federation race. As previously stated, the racers see their mates on the marking, and they are never broken down with their feeding. Training tosses along the south coast are preferred and Billy tells me that he never trains during the racing season, unless their form drops and then he will give them a toss or two to bring them back. He has started enjoying channel racing in recent seasons and likes to pick his races for certain pigeons. The old birds are fed on Mariman’s Varimax and Super Power 50/50 mixture, and he has found there is no wastage, and they fly well on this feeding.
The main racers in the loft today are: The blue hen, ‘The Combine Hen’, winner of 2010: 2nd club, 3rd Three Borders Federation, 3rd SMT Combine (1,557 birds) Yelverton and her nest sister ‘28106’ winner of 1st club, 2nd Three Borders Federation Exeter, the blue chequer pied hen, ‘Mason’, winner of: 2014: 21st section, 40th open BICC Falaise (old hens), 6th section, 27th open BICC Guernsey (old hens), the handsome blue pied cock, ‘The Flash Cock’, the winner of: 1st club (234 birds), 1st Three Borders Federation (1,424 birds) Blandford (92 miles), the blue chequer WF hen, ‘The Alencon Hen’ winner of 1st club, 2nd Three Borders Federation, 3rd SMT Combine (749 birds) Alencon, 23rd section, 45th open BICC Falaise, 3rd club Fougeres, 3rd club Falaise and of cause the 2015 Messac Federation winner, ‘The Fed Topper’. A very impressive team of racers!
Billy is a heating engineer and has been self-employed for eight year. He tells me his wife isn’t interested in the pigeons, but his two children, Crystal aged seven and Billy junior aged one, love them and like them to fly and feed them. They both have their favourites and Billy’s nephew, Mason, helps him with the cleaning out and feeding. Mason is five years old and he sometimes goes to the pigeon club with his uncle Bill for marking. Bill has always been interested in ‘Country Sports’ and fishing, which he has had a lot success at. He likes Ferreting and shooting and has done a lot of Clay Pigeon shooting. Billy says his most thrilling thing in his time in pigeon racing was winning the Three Borders Federation from Messac in 2015. He has several premier positions at the top end of the Combine result, including 2nd open and says his main aim now is to win the Combine! The families in keeps are good at short and long-distance racing, but he enjoys the long distance events best and his best performance to date was winning the Three Borders Federation from Messac (258 miles) in 2015. Billy says it is a big ‘thanks’ to Lenny Jenkins for his help and advice over the past few years and thanks also to his mum, who helps him out with the pigeons when he away working and can’t get to the loft.
The main family kept at the Mitcham loft are: Staf Van Reets from Lenny Jenkins of Dagenham in Essex, plus some of Lenny’s own family of pigeons and the very successful Muller / Aarden pigeons from the Padfield Brothers in Wales. Billy pairs the stock birds up in Mid-January, the same time as the race team, so he can under lay the first round of eggs from the stock birds in the racing loft and he feeds the stock birds on Versa Laga ‘Breeding’ mixture, with extra Maple Peas added. Billy’s number one breeding cock is the blue Staf Van Reet, ‘Lenny The Lion’ and he was purchased from Lenny Jenkins in 2011, and he has bred many premier racers for the Looker loft from the outset. The nest pair, ‘The Combine Hen’ and ‘28105’ are his daughters, the 2015 Messac Federation winner, ‘The Fed Topper’ is a son and ‘Mason’ is a granddaughter. A fantastic breeding cock! Billy tells me he has six direct from ‘Lenny the Lion’ currently in the race team and all have done well at Federation and National level. He breeds about 30 youngsters each season to race and these are put on the Dark System as soon as they are weaned. When they are flying strong around the loft, he starts their training at 10 miles and then they progress up to the 30 miles stage and once they get there, he keeps them at 30 miles until the first Federation race. The young birds are fed on Versa Laga ‘Breed and Wean’ and Gerry Plus 50/50 mixture. They are not split during the racing season and Billy is not to bothered if they pair up and have eggs or youngsters, in fact he tells me, he has had some good performances with his young birds sitting. He likes them to race the whole young bird programme if possible and enjoys the longer races best. He is not adverse to sending his babies across the English Channel. To educate the young birds is Bill’s main aim every season and maintains the more training the better for them in later life. Once racing has finished the birds are parted ready for the moult period, which Billy maintains is a very important time of the year. He feeds a good moulting mixture, with a lot of oil seeds and gives them plenty of warm baths. He thinks a good moult is key to good performances the following season! He is not into the eye sign theory, but says he shows his birds at the local club’s winter events. Billy maintains it is a good thing to keep the members in touch in the winter months and it is a good excuse to go down the pub!
Billy Looker was born in London in 1984 and has lived in Mitcham all his life. His dad has always been a Fancy Pigeon fancier, starting many years before Bill was born, so pigeons have always been a big part of the Looker’s life. Billy has had Fantails and Tumblers all his life and had his first race birds in 1998, when he formed a racing partnership with Wayne Gardiner. Billy told me, sadly the partnership only lasted a few seasons, but he really caught the racing bug! He started racing again on his own in 2007, with a few gift late breds and in 2008 he had his first team of racing young birds. He purchased some youngsters from the Breeding Station, which were Soontjen and one of them won two firsts in the Mitcham club. Bill has still got that hen and she has bred some real quality youngsters over the years. He can remember racing in the very strong Mitcham FC back in 1998 and one of the best flyers then was Frank & Sue Carson and says they still are today. His biggest mistake in his novice days was overcrowding and over feeding, but since meeting Lenny ‘the lion’ Jenkins in 2009, he has looked back. Billy has learnt a lot about feeding and conditioning the birds in recent years. In his early days the young Billy was gifted pigeons from everyone, which performed ok, but soon realised that if he wanted to really compete against the best he needed to invest in good pigeons that were winners. His first club was the Mitcham FC, which was then based at the Bull PH in Church Road and his first loft was nothing fancy, just a 12ft structure with two sections and open-door trapping. He remembered at that time everyone was talking about the new thing, the ‘darkness’ system and he taped black bin liners over the young bird section windows, but it worked, because he won races.
Billy was quite adamant when we spoke, that the big problem in our sport today is the birds of prey. They are everywhere and he thinks if it allowed to continue it will be the death of the pigeon racing sport. When talking to starters in the sport, he tells them the most important things are a well-ventilated loft and don’t over crowd it. Billy has never paid attention to inbreeding in the stock loft and has always paired the best to the best, which has worked well for him. He has bred a few late breds in past seasons and has found them to be a waste of time, so never bothers now. Bill’s pigeons are kept tame because his two children enjoy them and one of his tamest is the blue stock cock, ‘Lenny the Lion’, and he is a bit of a character.
Congratulation to Billy on his wonderful success in recent seasons! That’s it for this week. I can be contacted with any pigeon news on telephone number: 01372 463480 or email me on:
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (www.keithmott.com)
