Les J Parkinson - What’s on my mind this week.
Patches.
Every year I get one or two with patches on their chests, I have no idea why it attacks my birds, but it does. I am hoping that this is not going to happen again because all the pigeons in the loft have now had a preventative against it and according to the vet in Belgium it should not appear again. Having said that we all know that with racing pigeons something is always raising its head and causes us issues, even though we think we have sorted it. I am hoping that the issue is sorted because I had 3 pigeons that only went to the first two old bird races this year before the patches appeared, so they weren’t sent again. With the treatment and the molt, I am hoping that I don’t see it again. What we need is a good water treatment for issues that crop up with the feathers, but finding such a treatment that works is another matter. I am told by an expert in treatment/preventatives in pigeon racing that the only way we can be sure that any such treatment works is by vaccination. There are vaccinations for all sorts of things on the market and from what I hear there are some good preventatives. To vaccinate against everything the pigeons would need to be out of action for 3 months so that they could all be used. If they all worked, you would have a disease-free year of breeding and racing.
Eye-sign.
I have been asked why I don’t write about eye-sign in the pigeons anymore. Over the years I have had all sorts of things said to me about the subject, which I believe is a very good and easier route to finding good pigeons. All views on anything in life are subject to the person writing or talking about it, this is their personal view and not god’s law, it is what they see and it’s amazing how your eyes can play tricks on you. I have discussed the subject with the best of fanciers with most not admitting to believing in eye-sign in racing pigeons. Considering these same fanciers do not believe in the subject they all look in the eye and when you look at their pairings and the eye you can see why they are winning. I am sure most fanciers hide their vies on eye-sign in racing pigeons because they don’t know enough about it and don’t want to air their views in case, they are wrong. Remember we can all be wrong at some point in our lives, we all do things and look back thinking, “I wish I hadn’t done that” it’s not just you it is the same most people, they don’t have to have pigeons to be wrong and make mistakes. Anyway, I like others who have looked at this subject over the years have a view that does not necessarily agree with what others think about the eyes of our pigeons. You know as well as I do that there are different ideas on this often talked about subject, what we are looking for in the ye of a racing pigeon. If you start from the basic 5 circles and work from that you will get there in the end. This is a quote from Belgium fancier Silvere Toye when I asked him about eye sign in racing pigeons. “The pigeon’s eye is a reflection of the health also the vitality of the pigeon the older they get”
I don’t just talk to pigeon fanciers about eye-sign, I once had a conversation with Dr Atherton who was my doctor many years ago. While he was looking into my eyes, I asked what he was looking for. He said, “Would it help if I told you” I then told him about studying the eyes of racing pigeons. We had quite a conversation about the benefits of studying the eye, he said that there are a lot of health issues that can be detected through studying the human eye. Brian May was a keen eye enthusiast and studied the human eye and at one time he had some photos of the human eye of people who had health issues. So, you see eye-sign is not just a subject for the pigeon fraternity it is used to see the way forward in humans. The subject of eye-sign is seen as a joke by many, but they have probably not studied the benefits of the eye in the first place and therefore are missing the point. You can have a real good gene pool in the stock loft, but it does not say that they are all going to breed winners, but I dare bet that the best breeders do have a quality in the eye that can be seen by the keen fancier who knows their own family of pigeons and where their best pigeons are coming from. Whatever subject is under discussion it is always worth taking part in because that is where we all learn from in the first place. All aspects of pigeons are worthy of discussion whether it is the eye, body, feathering, wing or any other subject that is related to the pigeons. Whatever we talk about creates an interest and that is what keeps most fanciers going, Elizabeth will tell you I used to spend a lot of time on the phone, just talking about pigeons, not so much nowadays. This is where we learn from, out of every conversation we have only a small percentage of that conversation will stick in your mind. After a meeting at work, I once said to my manager, “Most of that went over my head” and I was surprised at his answer, “It did mine, that’s why my secretary takes notes”
Notes.
I have said this before, many years ago, I used to book everything down about the races I competed in, mostly in the 70’s, and I still have those books, somewhere in the attic. Everything was detailed from basketing to where they finished in their arrival at the lofts to where they were on the club and fed results, that’s if they made it. I also detailed the conditions on the day and where the wind was blowing from. I also rated my chances when I had heard the liberation time. The late Bob Meachin called round one day and saw my book on the landing board when I had gone in to check a ring number. I came out to see him smiling at a word that appeared a few times in the book, the word was “nuts”. I went on to explain that they were the pigeons that needed or had gone. The meaning “Not up to standard” sounded like the best way to write something down if the wrong person saw my book. Nowadays, more than ever they just go.
Les Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ.
Tel: +44 (0)1606 836036. Mob: +44 (0)7871 701585.
E-mail:
Web site: http://www.elimarpigeons.com
