Parkinson L.J.
Do we think too much of the pigeons we buy now, are we being too selective, do we go overboard on our selection of what we have in the loft by out-thinking ourselves. Racing pigeons has changed tremendously since I first had them in the 50’s but did not start racing them until the late 60’s. Fanciers are very picky on what they have in their loft and if they don’t fit the profile a fancier has in their mind then they don’t like them no matter how well-bred they may be. We have all done it, looked at a pigeon and said to ourselves, “I don’t like that” before the pigeon has even had a chance to prove itself one way or another. I have the type of pigeon in mind that I like and when I hold it in my hand I like the tail to go slightly down. So why do I like that, well, I prefer the longer races and all the pigeons I have had that have done well in the longer races have been like that. Their tail drops slightly down when they are in my hand and to me that shows they have that bit more strength in the back, after all the tail of the pigeon is a directional tool when they are in flight. I have of course had others that have done well at the distance that this has not been the same with but they have always been that bit further down the list but still done a good job. The distance pigeons have also had the bigger back wing which is what Bill always pointed out; this helps to keep them in the air with ease for longer periods of time. I learnt a lot about pigeons from Bill and he was always there to discuss all sorts of things to do with pigeons. These conversations over the years helped me to look at pigeons in a different light and at the end of the day his views on what should and should not be were generally right. What does cross my mind when we see so many pigeons coming over from the continent is, are they just sending what they don’t want for their own team to the UK or do they send some real nice ones over to make their name. This is where the individual’s selection comes into place because I have handled some pigeons that I would not have in the loft and they have done well for others. So is our selection right or should we go on the breeding of pigeons and work them down the road, find the best racers and put them to stock when they have finished. That is how the vast majority of fanciers used to race and form the stock loft so why the change. Belgium has always been the Mecca of pigeon racing and in the early year of my racing we did not see so many over here. However, things have changed and the continentals are now sending pigeons over faster than they can all be sold so they are not the special pigeons that they used to be.
I have only really dealt with two fanciers when we have been over there and they are Ferdi Vandersanden and Frans Rigole. Over the years, I had some good pigeons off these two and so have others. I knew by going to them I could go and select my own from good teams that they had in their lofts and aviaries with no quibble from them at all. I know from experience that I could not go to most other continental lofts and do the same, they would not even consider letting me do that. I was at one loft in Belgium to be told, “Those are for the Chinese market, those for other parts of the world outside Europe, those for mainland Europe and those for the UK” That is a fact, it did happen many years ago, I am told others work on the same basis. There are of course lofts on the continent that treat everyone the same but as with everything else you have to live and learn. What I have noticed is many fanciers on the continent keep a different type of pigeon. I think that is down to the distance their pigeons cover in comparison to racing North of where we are here in Cheshire. It is almost 700mls from Tarbes to here and they have the channel to cross so I don’t think there are many birds that will do that type of distance in good time. Many of course will and have covered the distance but when you look at the results they are that yard or two off the pace. By pure coincidence I have just had a call from PR who is after certain lines that I used to have. He was telling me about the Vandersanden/Vanneste-Rigole pigeons that he had either direct from me or by another source. Last year he had an outstanding season with them and now he has established a good team he is looking forward to a few more years of winning. As we know we are never always going to please everyone with our own theories, I say theories because at the end of the day everyone is not going to agree. Having said that I am sure that the general pigeon fancier will not be far off the mark with what other’s think about racing pigeons and the system’s we use. Everyone tweaks the system that they have at some time or another, the main thing is if you have a winning way do not make big changes all at the same time because getting everything back to normal is not always easy. While I was searching for a couple of pigeons for PR and this led me to the Vanneste-Rigole pigeons and then to the Ferdi Vandersanden pigeons. I have to be honest I was really itching to buy a few when I saw them on line, they are really good pigeons but as we all know we don't have pigeons anymore. I came across a pigeon I called "The 161" which is a direct son of "Red Barcelona" and at the time he was one of several direct off the National winner. The best about the breeding of "The 161" is spot on being off a winner of 1st National 4th International with the dam being the great breeding hen "Mooioogje" a pigeon that the late Brian Long bought. "The 161" was one of those pigeons that when you saw you want it and I made an offer of £1000 straight away but was turned down. I thought about it and went up to £1500 and the £2000 before finishing on £3000 but Ferdi was not going to budge. It was obvious the Ferdi had made up his mind that "The 161" was going to be his number one breeder off the "Red Barcelona". From what I could gather this cock was the choice of Ferdi after an agreement that he could have one direct child of the "Red Barcelona" because he had bred quite a few off the cock on the AI system. For me the story of the "Red Barcelona" was when I visited Ferdi on one of our trips to Belgium and saw quite a number of young birds in a couple of sections. I stood looking at them and they were all reds and mealys, about 40 in all, they were a real picture of health. I asked Ferdi if they were for sale and was told that Brian had asked him to breed a team of young birds off the "Red Barcelona" & another 1st National winner "Vale Cahors" that Brian had also purchased. A couple of years later I was talking to Brian about another job and it ended with me going over to Brian's to select 3prs of direct children of the "Red Barcelona" and I came away with 7 in all. The downfall of the "Red Barcelona" offspring was that there were far too many bred off him and therefore a higher than normal percentage of children that neither won or bred winners. With having the 3prs I did breed quite a few young birds in the first couple of years and they all went to other fanciers but as has nearly always been the case I was not getting much feedback whether good or bad. The problem is with such pigeons is that they take a few years before they produce the results that all fanciers are aiming for. Also think the main problem is fanciers are not patient enough they find out what they have when it is too late.
A number of years ago, I wrote a lot about one loft racing because that is where I see we can test our birds on an even playing field, they are all treated the same and all on the same feeding system. Some of the top winners don’t believe in these races so I ask myself “Why don’t they” It is down to the fact that some fanciers have a wide knowledge of the sport and they certainly know how to get their pigeons right at the right time. But with OLR that knowledge goes out of the door because the breeders do not have the same control over the pigeons. Some of these OLR are going from strength to strength while others don’t appear to last very long before they hit problems. There have been quite a few appear but not lasted the course. The Gran Canaria Race organisers are extending their lofts and they are looking to house in the region of 6,000 birds next year so for some it is getting better and better. I suppose if you invest the money then you get the support to continue to grow. If you get the foundation right with anything then it will grow and grow, as Lizzie said recently when we were on about our work, “You cannot stop growth if you have a good product”. I very often wonder what the cost of such races is, it certainly is not cheap we all know what it costs to have a team of racing pigeons. It’s an added bonus know with the GCOLR where they have the video going to keep you interested over the winter months when we here in the UK cannot do much with the birds. I have just been looking at the GCOLR site and they have had the bird sin 15 tosses and have so far lost only 176 which is not bad at all. When choosing a one loft race, you must look at the source and the people involved. Don't get me wrong everyone is not perfect but if a team of people put everything into a race for the fanciers it's not hard to figure out that teamwork is essential to the successful running of a race. There is a 24/7 camera at this loft so it's transparent to all. There are a few really good well operated OL Races about and I think they have become essential to keep people interested in the sport especially when they are not racing themselves.
Les J Parkinson.
11 Rushton Drive,
Middlewich, Cheshire,
CW10 0NJ.
01606836036 Mobile 07871701585.
Email
web site www.elimarpigeons.com
