Les J Parkinson
What’s on my mind.
I have been too busy to put my thoughts down in recent weeks which is something that I have missed. We don’t go far nowadays with 162yrs between the two of us, the people in the pigeon world who I communicate with are generally not from this area during the off season which is a shame. But I talk a lot to fanciers further afield, mainly because we are running short of pigeon fanciers the world over, so they are more spread out. There was a time when we had regular callers, but we are all getting on in years so are probably of the same opinion, they don’t like to travel much past their own back garden. That’s all part of life and we must get on with it, some are more fortunate than others and keep going no matter what, I have always thought pigeon fanciers go longer because they have an interest in the back garden or on allotments.
Visits
Lizzie from the office, with hubby Alan in tow goes to see their Aunty Ann twice a week at the care home in Winsford and recently saw a new person had joined the ranks to be looked after. Lizzie said she looked and then when he “I know you” she realized it was now ex Winsford pigeon fancier Kenny Lamb. We know Kenny very well he was as keen as Elizabeth at going to the shows over the winter months. The days when nearly every club had a series of shows held on different days/nights of the week. There was a time when you could go to the shows any day of the week and there was strong competition with as many as 220 birds in a show and they were single classes, therefore a big job for the judges. In those days we like Kenny had some good Dordins that were winning mostly wherever we took them. Plus, we had a good team of Krauths that stood well in a show pen and did well on the road during the racing season. Anyway, that was what Kenny liked best, showing the pigeons and they were good social events.
Losses
As I recall in one of my last notes, I was talking about having so many losses in the races and pigeons not turning up after the season had finished. We always used to see a few turn up but not many nowadays. Every time I went next door to the lofts, I scanned the area to see if any had turned up. I was saying to Elizabeth that it is unusual for us not to see a few turn up out of all those that are lost and there are a lot lost now, far more than there used to be. Probably down to the latest fashion instead of a good winning family. Anyway, I went out one morning and there was a Chequer hen sitting on the landing board looking at me. When I stepped into the garden, she stretched her neck and turned towards the trap as if to say “Come on I made it home” I let her into an empty section and gave her a bit of corn and let her have a drink before picking her up. When I handled her, I was surprised how well she was, a good body, no fret marks to show she had been living in the wild, What I did notice was that she had dried mud on her ring, so I had to clean her up to see who she was. I did have an idea where she was bred when I first saw her, but we have a lot of Chequer’s I need to make sure, and yes, my first thoughts were right, she was bred in 24 by Ray Lunt. Normally when they have so much time out, they must go but when I picked her up, I could feel that there was something about her and her best was yet to come. When I phoned Ray and told him, he said she deserves a second chance if she was that well after so much time out.
When am I going to pair the birds.
Big question that one, I suppose it all depends on when I have the urge to spend more time with the pigeons and when the workload has gone down. In the 70’s I was so keen, no matter what the weather was like I was always out with the pigeons, that was probably the case through the 80’s and into the 90’s. I would go as far as to say the point was made that I should have a bed in the loft. I still like to clean that out every day, I hate walking into the loft without a scraper in front of me. Every time I go out of the loft, I look at them and they look in fine condition as if they are ready to pair up. So far, I have been lucky with only two eggs appearing on the floor and yes, they were in the hen’s section. How many young birds do I need, one thing is for certain not as many in the last two seasons. I say last two seasons because we are in the process of building our team up. They all must be raced and if we were back to normal channel racing, they would all have to have a couple of channel races.
Max Bids
I had a lengthy conversation on the phone a few days ago about Max Bids on the Elimar auction site. Then the following day the subject came up again with another fancier, which I thought was odd. I asked our IT to block them so that no one could see them. I was asked to place a bid on a pigeon which was not enough, I asked if he wanted to go again and said no that was it, which was an odd price to stop at. Never thought any more about this until the subject popped up out of the blue, this was when the penny dropped, I had been used by someone I expected better of at the time. Anyway, the upshot of it is action has been taken to hide Max Bids to protect both buyer and the Elimar Auction site. The following day Craig called, and he said he would never place a max bid and having thought about it I don’t think anyone should.
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
