Mr & Mrs Nigel Shaw of Shavington
Nigel with grandchild and his 1st section Bordeaux
There are some fanciers you see appearing on results year after year and for some reason they do not appear to stand out all that much. Fanciers who quietly go about their business without making a great deal of how well they have done in any one year. Nigel & Wendy have flown a good pigeon and through my weekly articles I have reported on their wins for many years. Nigel is a dedicated fancier and puts in whatever time he can to get the best out of the pigeons. He has just managed to build up a good team and looking forward to improving what are already very good results but a mighty big obstacle has been put in the way. The HS2 train is going right through the property and therefore the whole lot is being purchased and Nigel & Wendy are looking for somewhere else to live and race their pigeons and partly retire if they can. No doubt there will be a suitable place because Nigel is looking at spending more time with the pigeons in preference to spending so much time with his building business. Most of the long-time fanciers who I know are not far from how I started with pigeons being young enough to have an interest in something that stays with you.
As we know today it is all about computers and all that is related to them which I see as no good long term for youngsters, many are missing out on growing up. Yes, computers are the way forward and we use them in pigeon racing but on the other side the problem is there are many youngsters who know nothing else and stuck in front of a screen for hours on end cannot be all that good for them. They are not living like we did in the 50’s and 60’s we went out to play and that was our interest and we did an awful lot. Today there are far too many parents who stick their children in front of the TV as an easy option to spending time with them. I am all for modern day technology but let children enjoy something other than the TV and games on computers. Pigeons are not in favour with many parents because they see them as vermin now so they don’t know what they are missing; at least if they were in a loft in the back garden they would know where they are. Anyway, Nigel is now on the half century mark and has had pigeons since he was 15yrs when he caught 2 red pigeons on a farm belonging to the Dobsons. On taking these 2 pigeons home he made a box on the side of the shed for them to go in then he was introduced to Marshall Kendrick who took him under his wing so to speak. Marshall was a well-known fancier of the day and the next thing Nigel knew he was joining the Shavington H S. Not only was he now a member of the local club his father was buying him a small team of Dordins from a local fancier. That was the start for Nigel and he has had pigeons ever since. Not only was Nigel lucky with his father helping him with the pigeons he then married Wendy and they formed the Mr & Mrs Nigel Shaw partnership. Nigel said about a partner in pigeons, “I have a partner but I wouldn’t call her silent my wife Wendy does the training when need be especially with young birds not so much the old birds unless we think they need some. Wendy is always there when there is a bit extra to be done with the pigeons” Elizabeth used to train my pigeons a lot at one time and clean them out so I know how good a help it is and Nigel was saying it is a definite advantage having someone to help you and not have to do it all yourself. Wendy take’s the young birds for a toss each night while Nigel cleans them out and awaits their arrival. Training does take up a lot of time and those who train put in just as much work as those who stay behind. Training is very important if you are going to win races and if you do not have the time to go up the road no matter how short or long to toss them the pigeons will not perform as well. One thing about having a partner like Wendy, Nigel knows there is not going to be a dispute about the pigeons. Wendy does leave the main running of the pigeons to Nigel but at the same time is a great help. It also helps if you can sit down at night and talk to your partner about the pigeons and with Wendy being the wife it is easy because they are not going to fall out. As I found out it is easier to work together and when it is the other half it is so much better. As the saying goes, many hands make light work, having said that it’s no good if someone does not know what they are doing.
Nigel's racing loft
Anyway, let’s get back to the report and the lofts are fitted with ETS which is the best system especially from the pigeon’s point of view, no more being caught and stressed out after a hard day flying home. Nigel also likes the lofts to be fitted with heaters in the widowhood lofts but they race no better than a section that has no heat in at all, maybe if you wanted to race early in the year when the weather is cold it could be a benefit. The pigeons need a stable temperature for maximum performances and a heating system does help in that area of the sport. Nigel has the ventilation system right for his birds and has an extractor fan but he did say that most of the airflow is through the eaves. There must be a steady airflow and not a continual draft in the loft that does not help the pigeons at all. If you get the ventilation/air flow right the pigeons are going to benefit in the long run and in theory you should get improved results. If the widowhood cocks are right the droppings are more or less in the same place, a little pile so there is a minimum amount to remove in a very short time and Easybed is used on the floor now instead of cleaning out. There have been some very good pigeons raced to these lofts and the current day master at racing is the “Battenburgh Cock”. Bred in 2014 out of a pair of direct Hugo Battenburgh’s that Terry Williams bought in a 2005 sale. In 2016 he flew Messac with the NFC a distance of 363mls where he finished up 5th section J 278th open 6,440 birds when there was no wind about recording a vel of 1202ypm. Two weeks later he was sent to Ancencis again with the NFC 398mlswhere he was again 5th section J ending up a very good 18th open against 5,120 birds again with no wind and a vel of 1113ypm. Another two weeks went by and he was Nigel’s only entry in the NFC Saintes race 512mls arriving at 5.11am to be 41st section J436th open 3,302 birds in a light north west wind recording a vel of 1111ypm. His next race was with the MNFC Bordeaux 570mls arriving at 6.57pm in no wind to be 3rd North West section 14th Open 1,559 birds on 976ypm. 4 days later he was again sent to Bordeaux and that was because he was showing no signs of tiredness and Nigel saw this as his retirement race because of the pending move when HS2 moves into the property. For this last race the birds were liberated at 6.30am in a west wind and there were no birds into the North West on the day. The “Battenburgh Cock” arrived next afternoon but was not put in the clock because the clock was stripped down after Nigel had topped the section with a hen in the morning. That made it a total of 2,413mls in these races for 2016. This cock was put in for a Meritorious Award where he is 2nd 415mls and over plus 3rd Meritorious award best overall performance beaten by Micky Locke’s Tarbes winner. This loft does well because of carefully selected introductions and when Nigel does bring in a new family he wants results from the word go because there is no time to mess about with new pigeons that do not work with the system, time is to short. If the pigeons are bred right and from a good family, there is no reason why they need time to acclimatise to your loft. Nigel has brought in youngsters from the continent and other lofts outside the area that have won straight away as young birds and continued in later life but as with any loft there have also been failures. If a new line does not acclimatise straight away, you could see a season go by without achieving your goal. Years ago, Nigel used to buy pigeons for club racing but now he only buy’s pigeons with National and Classic racing in mind and he did stress that the name doesn’t bother him. There are a lot of good club flyers about who you never see on the National results that’s why they now go for a National winning line in preference to a family that are winning 1st prizes in the club week after week. Nigel has found that some club winners will do well in your own club but are out of their depth in National races. Pigeons that are going to be out on their own are what Nigel wants and that has been the case with a few of his performances when the winners have been in a more favourable position in the National races. When it comes to his own breeding loft Nigel does like a first cross and breed off pigeons that he considers should be good together based on his own judgement. No matter how many pairs they breed from they are never always going to breed winners but if we select to a type that has done well for them they we are never far away. Nigel was saying that many fanciers don’t realise what they have got until it is too late because they think that they can do better with a new breed and then they struggle to get the results they have experienced before instead of sitting back and thinking it out. If they had taken their time with a few new introductions and tested them from the word go they may have done better instead of ruining their team. Nigel does generally have good judgement when it comes to selecting his breeders and many pigeons that he buys are inbred so he out cross’s them to race as soon as they go into the stock loft. He is very critical of pigeons and those that he likes mostly do what is required of them which is good selection. Many of the pigeons that are raced at this loft are what they have bought in as young birds or what friends have given them to race. Then when they do well Nigel will go in search of the parents and try to purchase so that he can then breed and race from then in his own loft. The stock pigeons are normally paired in December but the racers are paired in mid- February because the main aim is for the National races from across the channel. Nigel has cut back on the number of race birds having 20 widowhood cocks and about half their hens are also raced.
Having seen the results there are some really good hens at these lofts that perform well in the National and Classic races. Nigel went on to say that he has more stock birds now than ever before but as he has said apart from the odd ones he does not breed off his race team for himself. They do rear a nest off the racers but they are nearly all given away to friends, only the odd ones are kept and put in the race team. Let’s move on to the race preparation and especially the training. The old birds are trained from 38 miles with the young birds being on the same programme starting at a place known to many pigeon fanciers, the Strawberry fields which is about 8 miles and then they go to the 38-mile toss. They are never overworked down the road but Nigel does like to fine-tune them in preparation for any races that they want to send them to. The club races are not what Nigel looks at now because his preference is competing in the National and Classic races. Nigel has the same view on club racing that many have and that is, they don’t do anything for him anymore even though he competes in a few as preparation for the channel events. So he now compete’ in as many National races as he can and that is where most of the enjoyment comes from. The only problem with National racing is you have to travel to enter them in the races so it does take more time than someone like Nigel who is self-employed really wants to do. When it comes to racing Even though he likes to race the pigeons as often as possible Nigel does not put all his eggs in one basket as he does like to make sure there are always some at home for the racers to come back to. Years ago, did say he couldn’t wait for the first race but now he doesn’t bother with them as he like many more channel minded fanciers has learnt to be more patient. The channel pigeons go every other week and whenever there is a National race on but if a pigeon is spot on and showing good sign’s they are kept going.
Nigel & LJP discussing one of his winners
The old birds don’t win that much in the club because they are prepared for the National races. Going back to racing the hen’s the latest good hen is “Wendy” who has only had about 8 races in the club in 5yrs because she is always prepared for the National races where she has repaid Nigel’s confidence in her. We have mentioned the club racing but I must add that when the young birds are in full swing they do well and last year they won 5 consecutive races. Feeding is straight forward they are fed on the Bordeaux mix from Vanroabeys plus they have grit & minerals that are always in front of the pigeons. Many say their pigeons can get enough of those outside but Nigel does not really let the pigeons forage outside the loft as once they have exercised they should be back in the loft. One thing that is used well and that is Matrix and he uses a tub in about 2 weeks. Pigeons let you know in different ways if they are right, this is sometimes inside the loft or outside and you will pick it up through observation. When they are exercising these pigeons will fly the village when they are right and coming into form. Nigel watches every move they make to look out for his pooler. He said that one time he had to go to work at 8 o’clock and the “BICC Cock” wouldn’t go into the loft he had been out since 5.30am. Nigel had to leave him out and called back to let him in, it was around 10 am but he couldn’t see him anywhere so while he was waiting he made a brew. He then spotted him like a dot on his own clapping across the village that week he went on to win £1100. These are the exciting moments that capture the imagination of the pigeon fancier, many come good but other times they do not, all part of the game. We have all seen some of our pigeons flying the sky and thinking about the next race, this is what makes it all worthwhile and that’s before we enter the race. Over the years, I have heard a few fanciers hand bathing their pigeons which is something that I have never done but Nigel does it, I wonder if it does do them any good or whether a warm bath would do the same for the pigeons. It could be a case that such things go a long way to relaxing the pigeon and help them get through a series of races. Nigel has normally found around five weeks are as long as they can keep in form for racing that is if they are looked after correctly. Then some years the cocks win early season and have still scored well in the section and open later in the season. If they are in the right condition and frame of mind they can go on for most of the season. As mentioned the Battengurg cock lasted 7 weeks and did well right the way through and were all channel races, having said that this is an exceptional cock. I was looking at the world record priced pigeon at 360,000 Euros that went to Mark Kitchenbrand and Samual loft in South Africa and was sold by the very nice Gino Clicque from Belgium. The question I have to ask myself is a pigeon worth that amount of money, I suppose if you have plenty to spare it might be but such fanciers are not common place especially in the UK. If I was buying a pigeon, then I would go for the Battenburg cock every time ahead of the highest priced bird anyway that’s another story for another day. Getting back to racing and the preparation, the art of winning in the Nationals is how and when to move them along and Nigel has now got that off to a fine art. They are not treated any differently but he does like to step the pigeons up another gear when the time is right and he appears to know when that time is. As he said when competing in the National and Classic races we do have to change because the competition is much stronger and from a wider area.
The pigeons here all have to work and if fit and healthy get as many channel races as possible and after the season is over it is not so hard to pick pigeons that are reliable for next seasons distance races that are to Nigel around 500 miles and over, they are the ones he aims for. As he said for many years he was not patient but now his motto is, “Be Patient and you will achieve your goal whatever you do in life not just racing pigeons”. Yearlings here are treated rather hard in some fancier’s eyes but if the system works for you then why change it. That is the case for yearlings at these lofts they need to go to 512mls with the odd one going to Bordeaux 570mls. It is more a case of the fancier being observant and taking notice of what the birds are doing and are they fit enough for the job and if they are they will do it. I must admit that I like this idea if you are going to race the distance and I, like Nigel have sent yearlings to 520mls and those that have had a good race go on to better things as 2yo’s. The young birds are also trained and raced hard and they will go over the channel if fit and well and some will go twice. The young birds are also raced on the darkness so that they can be managed for the channel races. There are always some interesting points put forward when visiting any loft and that is the case with this report. I will be watching to see how the “Battenburg Cock” goes on this year after such a good sequence of results in 2016. I think the only thing left for Nigel to do now is win a National race.
Les J Parkinson
