ROB BEBBINGTON
of Winsford
chats to Les Parkinson
The 2013 season saw Rob Bebbington have a real good set of results in the Acton Bridge club winning all the young bird races. That is not the only reason why I am doing this report however because Rob has been around for a good few years and had some good results along the way. He is a fancier who likes to have a go at them all. Rob is a self-employed joiner by trade but also works with his brother Geoff who has his own building business. I suppose the advantage of working for yourself is you can fit a bit of training in as and when required. I put a few questions to Rob and here is what he had to say.
Please introduce yourself and tell us how you got started in the sport.
My name is Rob Bebbington and I live if Winsford a central part of Cheshire where I have spent more or less all of my life. In my younger days we lived at Lostock and my dad competed against the likes of the Mainwaring family who have been a big part of pigeon racing in the area since I can remember. My dad raced pigeons for a couple of years when I was about 8 years old then my brother started with them about 20 years ago. I used to go and watch them on a Saturday and that was it, I got the bug and started racing in year 2000. Geoff had a good team but due to health problems packed up. His fingers are twitching now though, so he might start again with a change of loft and the way he does things.
Do you have a silent partner?
I prefer to race my own pigeons so everything is down to me and if something goes wrong I can only blame myself. I suppose it is much easier if there is more than one but in my case I do the lot. I must add that my wife Jo does like the National racing where she can watch on the internet the birds coming up country and she does keep me informed of their progress. I am not sure if I could race pigeons with anyone else because I have my own ways and like to stick to them.
What organisations do you race with?
I used to race in the Winsford club but when ETS came out I was the only one on this modern day system so I moved to the Acton Bridge club which is an ETS friendly club. I like to compete in all types of competition so I also send to the National FC where the pigeons are really tested. The other club where I lie to send is the North West Classic Club. It has been through a slump but with the committee working so hard they are bringing the club back bit by bit. Then of course I do like to send to the open races, so there are a good few races for me to compete in.
What are your lofts made of?
My loft space in total is just 34ft for stock, w/hood cocks, their hens and the young birds. I am a joiner by trade so they are self built with a good standard of plywood, sectional and are cladded in pvc. Although I have one tiled roof and one pent roof I don’t think tiled roofs or pent roofs make much difference as both can be well ventilated if done right. I have a heater on in the loft if the birds are coming back from a hard race on a cold day or nose ender and leave the heater on overnight. I have found that this brings the pigeons back to condition much faster and it helps to take the stress away from them. Ventilation is always important and the way I think it should be done is by having sliding panels in the ceiling so I can control the airflow through the loft.
Rob's set-up
What families of pigeons do you keep?
I don’t keep any particular family as I have pigeons from various families including the Janssens that have been used by fanciers since long before I started in the sport. I do like to look for good pigeons to bring into the loft so have a real mixed bag. These include Van Dykes, Van Loons and some very good Willy Thas stock and the excellent Snake lines from Mr & Mrs Geoff Kirkland that have won well since they were introduced. More recently I have brought in the Albrechts and a few others. I do like to cross them all and if you look at most pedigrees they are all crossed, especially when they come from the continent, which is why I wonder why fanciers go for what they consider are strains; even the most recent modern day pigeons are mostly crosses. When I buy new birds I won’t buy birds that I don’t like the look of, or don’t handle right no matter how full of champions the pedigree is. They have to suit what I want in the loft. I do like to buy closely related to national winners. These are pigeons that can find their own way home and not follow the flock. I like to think they have the intelligence to set off with the only thought in their head to be back at their loft where their mates are waiting for them. I would say that 75% of my pigeons are based on National winning lines.
Do you line-breed or use a first cross or just pair winners to winners?
With the exception of the odd pair I do like to let them choose their own mates and on reflection I bet 90% of the time the pairings are similar to what I would have chosen myself. Some fanciers spend no end of time working out their pairings and do not end up with anything better than if they had left them to their own devices. Natural selection works in the wild and has always worked successfully so why not let them do their own selection in the pigeon loft?
When do you pair your pigeons and why then?
I pair up when the weather starts to warm up as I don’t like young in the nest when it’s cold; I don’t think it gives them a good start in life. I think big losses are partly down to breeding early while the weather is cold and the pigeons do not have a good start in life.
How many stock birds do you keep?
At the moment I have 16 pairs of stock birds which I consider is 8 pairs too many as I only breed as many as I have room for and that comfortably is about 30ybs. I don’t usually breed off my racers but I did breed off one of my best widowhood cocks and he is now in the stock loft with his hen as my number one stock pair. I don’t have many from the Camphius lines but he is one and a good one at that and is the Dancer line. The method I use for pairing up is my widowhood cocks are paired so I can float the first eggs from the stock and the cocks are left to finish one young bird on their own from 14 day old then racing begins.
What is the farthest distance that you would train your old birds or young birds?
I start them at 10 miles and take them to 30 miles twice then back to 10 miles until the first race, then they are just trained at home around the loft. That’s for both old and young birds.
How do you race your pigeons?
My chosen racing system is with the widowhood cocks and there are between 10/16 of those, which is easily manageable. I don’t breed early young birds so they are raced to the perch but I do let them make a nest if they wish. There are generally about 30 ybs in all and like the old birds they are a handy manageable team. For the first five races I send them every week and they are sent on selection. I like to see the widowhood cocks be able to compete in the sprint to middle distance races but for the longer races we need a different type of pigeon. If I am going to be competitive in all the races then I need to have two different teams and they also need to be fed differently. What the aim is for the season is to prepare the pigeons for the channel races and that is what I prepare them for during the land races.
Inside the widowhood loft
Do you use any floor dressing?
I use floor white mixed with sand and my young birds don’t get cleaned out from when they are weaned until the morning of the first race, then they are cleaned out every morning before I go to work. I use the same system with the widowhood cocks.
How do you feed the cocks?
I buy a couple of different mixes and some straights because I do like to mix my own and I do use a lot of barley. I let my birds eat as much as they want feeding them a handful between them at a time until they leave some barley then that’s it. I would also give my birds only barley for one week if they went off form as I believe this grain is most beneficial to them.
Do the pigeons need any special treatment on their return from the race to help them relax?
Every fancier has their own idea about what to give their birds. On return my birds get the conditioner with brewer’s yeast and honey with marmite in the water.
If you could pass on one piece of advice or tip, what would it be?
When any new starter comes into the sport there are certain things that they should do to help to keep the pigeons healthy. So firstly you have to get your loft right starting with the ventilation because it is so important to have a healthy loft. Make sure that you have the sections right for both the young and old birds before you get the birds to go in it. Be very selective and speak to fanciers who are prepared to help you stock the loft right. Then when you have everything right work on the pigeons and don’t give up if you are not winning from the start. Just keep learning and one day the penny will drop.
Have you had YBS and if so what have you treated them with?
I don't get young bird sickness. My young birds from when they hatch to when they finish racing are fed colostrums mixed on their food 3 times a week and it’s free from the farmer. This is what I put not having young bird sickness down to and with having a system that works why change it? I see it every week down the club, fanciers with young bird sickness and missing races because they cannot get free from this major problem for young birds. I race my young birds right through the full programme and any still in good feather at the time of channel racing have to go to a chosen specialist race.
Do you use any preventative medication?
What I do is mix cayenne pepper on the corn for 3 or 4 feeds in a day and it will turn them around in 24hrs. It’s fantastic stuff at £1.75 from your local supermarket. There is no need to pay big sums when there are such products about and easy to purchase.
Some fanciers go out and purchase good quality winning pigeons but never appear to make the grade. Why do you consider that this happens?
You need stability in the loft and if things are not going right no amount of chopping and changing throughout the season will change that. The loft environment in which they are kept has to be right and the pigeons settled and if not you are not going to win. A happy and contented loft is what you need to have a winning loft so observe your pigeons and you will pick up any problems that affect the way that they perform.
Do you give any special treatments when the pigeons return from the race as a precaution against anything that they may have picked up in the basket?
There are some things that are cheap and easy to use so you don’t have to pay a fortune to keep your pigeons healthy. The products that I use are cider vinegar plus cayenne pepper and manuka honey 15 plus.
Rob's aviary for stock birds
Do you use the darkness system for the young birds?
I don’t like to pair up early when it is cold so I use the darkness system and in all the years that I have been using it I have not seen any ill effects in later life. I think it is one of those systems that you have to get right and if you do then there are no detrimental effects on the pigeons. I must admit I do enjoy breeding and racing the young birds. That is a part of the sport that I enjoy the most. With regard to YBs, I don’t go getting all sorts of feeds for this and that and I don’t break them down. They are all fed the same as w/hood cocks and with the way they fly I see no point in making any changes. This is what pigeon racing is all about - get your pigeons content and they will win because they are happy around the lofts.
What criteria do you set down for the pigeons you winter with your thoughts on the following season’s racing and breeding?
The only criteria I set is the pigeons that are wintered have to have been consistent throughout the race season. All pigeons have to work for their place and I like to stick to the system so that the birds kept each year are of the better quality and a team that I can be confident with when I start the following season. With them being performance pigeons I soon become aware of which stock birds are the best to breed off and which I can use as feeders if they are needed.
Irrespective of how your pigeons have flown, what are your views on the past season?
The sport is shrinking and the alternatives are few so we need to get the clubs and feds to join together to fill the transporters going to the coast. There are too many small organisations about that in the long run are costing the sport money. There are a few clubs that have opened their radius to allow others in but how far will this go before members get into the position where they will have to go to another town to race their pigeons? There are limited options in the sport so joining together is what is needed to take the sport forward.
Which fancier has influenced you most?
I have seen and met many fanciers since I started racing pigeons but the partnership who stand out is that of Mr & Mrs Geoff Kirkland who have won 11 Nationals. Even though they have had so much success they are still selling pigeons at a working man’s price and for that you have to admire them.
Fancier or pigeon?
Everyone will have their own view on this question but in my opinion it’s 80% management because the loft ventilation needs to be spot on to get the right environment and everything needs to be done on time. So with this in mind I feel that the management side is very important and well ahead of anything else that we do with the pigeons.
What past mistakes have you learned from?
A fault with most fanciers and one that rarely changes and that is we overcrowd our lofts and this causes all sorts of problems. So I hope that I have now learnt and I don’t overcrowd and also I don’t pay silly prices for potions with a pigeon on the bottle. I now stick to my tried and tested methods and products that are not made for pigeon racing but are as good as anything else.
A close up of Rob's loft
Is pigeon racing as a hobby going beyond the average working man?
There is no doubt that technology is now with us and the sport is becoming more technical and complicated but we can of course keep everything simple and still win with the pigeons.
How do you consider that the British sport is going compared to the continentals?
I think the UK have ideas that would benefit the continentals and if people got together more and shared their ideas we might start to improve what we are doing in the sport. We need to fill transporters and have bigger amals and combines, also more needs to be done to attract new and young starters to the hobby. There is plenty of money made at Blackpool to subsidise young starters. Charity now needs to start at home and we need to look after the sport.
Do you have any further comments about anything that we may have missed in any area of the sport?
I try to steer clear of any medications at all and buy most of my supplements and things to combat illness from the supermarket, except for a couple of things. Keep things cheap and simple it’s only a hobby so enjoy it.
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Elimar October 2013
