PAULINE & NORMAN ACKERS
of Liverpool
Whilst I was off work early this year I was invited to take a trip along the motorway with Bill Carney to the Liverpool loft of Pauline Ackers. Bill was going to have a look at these pigeons in relation to there eye sign quality i.e. racing breeding etc. It was interesting to note Pauline’s comment on the subject which were “ I didn’t think there was anything in the eye sign theories until Bill Carney visited our loft where he was 100% correct in picking out our top breeders and racers strictly on the eye sign, this mans knowledge with the eye sign is unbelievable” Before going any further I must point out that Pauline does receive a certain amount of help from husband Norman who is always prepared to help out and in fact make sure the lofts are up to standard.
Pauline is Liverpool born and bred with none of her family taking any interest in pigeons whatsoever. With coming from this area she could not help but notice the great performances of such fanciers as Les Kilshaw who I rate not only as a ace pigeon flyer but also one of the best administrators of pigeon racers in the country. He is a man who speaks a great lot of common sense and when on panels his opinions are first class. Another fancier who one could not miss on Merseyside is Albert Tarleton who must rate as one of the best ever to fly in the Liverpool area. Two other fanciers who took Pauline’s eye were the Spring and Wynne partnership and ace Roy Humphries. The first three mentioned are still rated as the best in the area as there is not really a great deal to divide them, it would be unfair to single one out. Pauline was 31 years of age when she took up pigeon racing, The pigeons were Normans Uncle Les who on retirement from work wanted to fly pigeons again after a number of years absent from the sport, so Norman built him a loft and bought a few birds. At that particular time Pauline was not interested in the pigeons but as the weeks went by and the first race approaching a lot of hard work was put into the pigeons, which unfortunately told on Les who was not in the best of health and suffering from heart trouble. On the day of the first race he suffered a heart attack and sadly died. With Norman not being that interested in the pigeon racing he decided to dispose of the birds but before he got that far Pauline stepped in pointing out that now they were there she would race them after such a lot of hard work had been put into them and the building of the lofts. So for the next 2 years Pauline flew the birds on her own but as time went on Norman began to take more of an interest and eventfully began to help with the management of the birds. The first pair of stock that were purchased were from the lofts of Eric Lodge and son of Barnsley, these pigeons immediately proved to excel at stock as the first 2 youngsters a nest pair both went on to win the Liverpool Amal. The best pigeon that Pauline has ever raced is “21” cock out of the Lodge stock pair, this being of the Van Den Bosche family. There were also other pigeons introduced from various strains that were winning regular prizes in the Heyton Midweek F.C but were not performing as well in the Liverpool Amal. So in 1978 it was decided dispose of all the pigeons in the loft with the exception of the Lodge pair plus a couple of pairs to see them through racing whilst new stock was being brought in to form a new race team. The first race that was actually won gave Pauline a great deal of satisfaction not because she had won here first race with the Childwall Valley H.S but more so because this performance also gave her a Liverpool Amal winner. Even so the best performance must be when she won the Liverpool Amal with the “21” cock at Sartilly 327 miles 1st Liverpool Continental 3rd North West Combine. Even though they have won so many races Pauline looks at this one as these best performance to date. By the way other clubs flown in are Lyme Grove HS, Roby F C and the National FC however the first membership to a racing pigeon club come with the Huyton Inv. The present day lofts consist of one being 36ft long, which is built some 10ft off the ground a loft that only houses 20 widowhood cocks. The second loft is also 36ft long and houses the y/b racers which consists of about 40 with a section of about 10 hens which are intended for the widowhood system in 1984 they also have a 8ft x 6ft stock loft with a large aviary which houses 6 stock pairs. These stock are paired up on the 18th of January which is also the time when half the widowhood cocks are paired these being for the inland programme whilst the rest are paired up on the 14th February in preparation for the channel racing, Going back to the lofts I must say are extremely neat and tidy with a floor dressing of granules. The main thing in loft design is dryness correct ventilation and warmth. On the actual racing system they say they race widowhood right through to the last race which is 500 miles. These widowhood cocks are split into two teams and all widowhood cocks go to all races up to the coast approx 200 miles then they are split into two teams going alternative weeks. All widowhood cocks are allowed to rear a round of youngsters while they are still with there y/b’s and sitting there second round of eggs they are given as many training tosses as possible between 5 and 30 miles. The y/b’s are weaned off after 24 days when they are taken away the hens are also removed. They continue with the training tosses of the cocks until they leave there eggs after which all nest bowls are removed and replaced with a clean bowl that is turned upside down and the pigeons are now on full widowhood. For the next few days the pigeons are exercised one hour in the morning and are fed with the 1/4oz of barley again in the evening they are exercised for one hour. They are then fed in with 3/4oz barley after three days they are give a 10 mile toss being allowed to see there hens before and on return from these training tosses this is continued for three days with no treading allowed. Then for the next 3 days they are exercised for one hour morning and evening until day of basketing for the first race. Then all training is stopped the only basket the birds see is the day of the basket for the race. The barley feed is fed up until three days before basketing on these three days they are fed 1/4oz red band morning 3/4oz good carbohydrate mixture used in the Dufky Elite. Honey and Glucose are added to the water on Saturday and Sunday while a multi vit is used on Tuesday and Wednesday while on Thursday and Friday vit B12 is added to the water. To get the best out of our old birds they must be raced on the widowhood system, as it is the only way to race pigeons if you want to continually win prizes. When they did race on the natural system we liked them to be sitting 8 – 10 days on eggs day of basketing. To get the best out of the y/b’s they must be trained every day at 30 miles weather permitting right through the programme. You must be very careful not to over feed, 1/4 oz red band in the mornings with 3/4 oz to be fed ½ hour to be fed after the 30 mile training toss. The yearlings are raced to the coast, while the old birds must race on the widowhood system to 500 miles, y/b’s must go to every available race right down to the coast.They have no pet theories regarding old bird racing other than good quality feeding taking care not to over feed just honest pigeons and 100% commitment by the fancier himself. The same applies to the y/b racing but y/b’s must be trained weather permitting every day from the 30 mile toss that is except for the day of basketing and day after return from race right through till last race. To Pauline some fancier will not visit the prize table because they over feed, have a lack of patience and are flying the natural system. If they were to make a few alterations to the loft and fly the widowhood system they would see 100% improvement in their performances. A big mistake by many fanciers is not buying the best corn and over feeding what they do use, the wrong loft design, if they close there lofts in and feed as they do at this loft on the widowhood system they would soon see a change in there results.Pigeons raced are mostly the Busschaert’s which have won up to Rennes 369 miles, various strains have been tried over the few years but these have been quickly eliminated as they did not come up to the standard of there own Busschaert’s. The Leen Boars pigeons were introduced an but at present they are only on trial therefore only time will tell if they stay in the lofts. These Boars pigeons were introduced with the intention of crossing them into the Busschaert’s if they come up to standard. The no 1 stock pair were purchased from Georges Bucharest and are responsible for at least 18 first prize winners in only 4 seasons breeding the direct youngsters from this pair are also excelling at stock and are responsible of many 1st prize winners. Here is a bit of advice for the new starter in the sport “My advice to the new starter in the sport would be to go to the top flyer outside the area and buy three pairs of late breds off his top stock and breed as many y/b’s as possible off these three pairs. Send all the y/bus to every race in the programme, then the following year put all the cocks on widowhood and race them to 200 mile only. Read as much as you can on the widowhood system and pick out a method to suit you and more important stick to it. Do not be in too much of a hurry and take your time in building up a good widowhood team. By going to the top fancier outside your own area you are more likely to get a fair deal and genuine advice. You must have 100% patience and dedication if one is to get to the top of pigeon racing. During the moult we think that the pigeons have got to be well fed with high protein moulting mixture with as much linseed as they can eat. An additional bit of advice for the new starter is to join all clubs while you are a novice because if you prove to be successful in future years you will not get in certain clubs” On to the political and management side of the sport. “The change I would like to see in the sport are that all application’s to join clubs should be made through the Amalgamation or Federation. Your Fed or Amal should place you in the most suitable club available in your area as I don’t think that any club should have the right to refuse any application with no grounds for it other than being successful in the sport. I would also like to see more protection from the RPRA council for successful lofts after all the RPRA was formed for the protection of its members and have rules to this effect but sadly they don’t seem to give these lofts the protection they are entitled to under there own rules”
During this visit I had the chance to hear Bill Carney talking about the birds of Pauline and Norman Ackers with his opinion being that they certainly have a great deal of breeding and racing in the loft for quite a few years to come. There are definitely quality pigeons housed but I cannot see the new introduction of Bores pigeons being as good as the Busschaert’s that are winning so well these last 2 year. No doubt we shall see a lot more winning in the Liverpool Amal from this highly successful Huyton Loft where the lady of the house has quite a bit to say in the pigeon loft as well as the house all the best to Pauline and Norman for future racing.
