NORTH LIVERPOOL FED
NEWS FROM DARREN SMITH
Loft Profile on W Pearman, Son & Duffy
Season 2013 Highlights: 5x1st, 3x3rd, 4x4th Crosby & Blundellsands HS; 1st Club, 1st North Liverpool Federation, 5th North West Combine Carentan 2
Can you tell me a little about yourself and how you became involved in the sport?
Me dad Wilfred, used to fly in partnership with his brother Hughie Chambers, who no doubt the older fliers will remember and me Dad used to take me down to Hughie’s when I was about 5 years old. From the first moment I set eyes on the pigeons I was in love. Hughie gave me a pair not long after because I was always getting into mither trying to find my own and I’ve had them ever since, which is 51 years.
I have always flown in partnership with me Dad and when he sadly passed away in 2003, I kept his name on in the partnership. The Duffy in the name is me uncle who was added at the request of me Dad but he never really took an active role in the day to day stuff, but he would take me up the club of a Friday and grab a scraper every now and again. He just used to love coming down and watching them go about their business.
Me Dad was a lovely pigeon man in the way he cared for and regarded his pigeons, but he didn’t know how to fly them. He thought 3 ounces of corn a day was good for them! He was one of the old school though and he hated widowhood from the day we took it up, to the day he passed away as he liked to sit out there all day with them.
Now when we started the widowhood, I’d come down and feed them and as soon as I left, he’d go in again and feed them as he felt it wasn’t enough and if he seen what I feed them now, he’d give me a right kick up the bottom! We had a lot of pigeons from uncle Hughie which were a mixture of Irish bloodlines and those of a fella called Micky Bridge of Southport who was a good pigeon man with good pigeons.
Things changed for us around 1970, I was about 11 or 12 at the time. We got a young bird in and it had the name of Freddie Laws and a phone number stamped on every one of its flights. Me Dad recognised that he was a champion flier and we rang him up to report it and on the following Sunday we took the young’un up to Freddie who I always referred to as Mr Laws, at his home in Banks, near Southport.
Well everything changed in pigeons for me that day. We were flying in a tiny little loft containing both our old and young birds and here’s Freddie’s with a lovely garden and lofts raised high from the ground which you accessed via a spiral staircase and the walls of the staircase were adorned with oil paintings of his combine winners and I turned to me Dad and said ’What are we doing?’
His pigeons were magnificent, all blues and chequers with the odd white flight and they would fill both of your hands. He had young birds in the nest that were bigger than our two year olds, they were huge. Freddie was an absolute gent it has to be said and from then on, I would rush down every Sunday for the sheet and see how he got on. Southport at the time housed the cream and were almost unbeatable in the combine. Freddie would often take the first 6-8 in the fed.
One weekend we went up and I asked how he had got on and he said ‘No good this week son, but it won’t happen again next week’ I’ll never forget looking up at the trapping board on the front of the loft and all his birds look rotten eyed, they couldn’t stand up. I asked what he had given them but he wouldn’t say.
The next week he came out and took the first 15 in the fed so whatever it was it was the business. The older generation will remember Freddie well as he was a top, top pigeon fancier and a thorough gent.
Cliff with the Soontjen cock, winner of 4 x 1st club and 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th North Liverpool Fed.
What was your first club and what club/s do you fly in now?
I have flown in the Crosby & Blundellsands since 1967 and sadly this will be the last season as we have agreed to join forces with the Litherland HS next year. There are currently only 7 or 8 members left and what makes me really sad is that the Crosby & Blundellsands, which was formed 104 years ago and the Seaforth club, formed the North Liverpool Federation 40 years ago. I joined forces with Joey Rooney back in the summer of 2013 and we are also members of the Liverpool Classic Club and the Midlands National Flying Club.
Who were your mentors in your early years in the sport?
Me uncle Tom was the apple of my eye and between him and me Dad I learned a lot. I’d also say Tommy Berry who flew in the Waterloo in partnership with Derek Spencer. They were fantastic pigeon men who topped the fed more times than I care to remember. Tommy is also Ted Davin’s uncle and a former president of the North Liverpool Federation, in my opinion the best president we have ever had.
Have they taught you anything which you still practise today?
Nothing that I would say I still practice today, but when I first started when I was aged 8 or 9, the Crosby was a top club, you literally had to top the fed to win it was that competitive. There were 8 fliers who flew on the same road by the Elmers Hotel pub and one of them was Harold Iveson. Harold was a character but a good pigeon man and I remember asking him at the time what was the best bit of advice he could give me and he replied ‘Listen and learn and when you stop learning, pack in’. I will take that with me to the grave as I have never stopped learning in all the time I have been in the sport.
Can you tell me what preparation goes into your breeders prior to pairing up?
November every single pigeon in my loft goes on a 10 day treatment with Baytril. A lot of people think it is too strong to use but I think it is one of the best things ever to come out providing you don’t overdo the dosage of 1ml to 1 litre. Following that I administer a good probiotic for 7 days. I don’t do anything else after that and as soon as they lay I canker them.
However for next season I am going to change tack slightly after having watched a DVD on MNFC winner Richard Turner of Nottingham which I found quite enlightening. His idea is to administer medication when the babies in the nest are 15 days old so that they too get the treatment. I don’t use water treatments as so much is thrown away. Instead I use Spartrix tablets as you know every pigeon has had a full treatment.
Joe with a Soontjen cock which has 2 x 1st club and 6th & 8th North Liverpooled Fed.
How do you fly your old birds?
Since 1990 it has been widowhood with cocks only and had me Dad not been so opposed it would have been a lot earlier. I read a lot of books on the system and couldn’t wait to try it with our own pigeons as our club-mates Chambers & Rooney had been flying it since around 1982 and in that same year racing just 8 widowhood cocks, they topped the fed 4 times into Crosby which takes some doing.
So I was at me Dad saying we’ve got to try it and he was like ‘No I’m not having it’ and we argued about it for years and years and eventually he relented, but was still going in after I’d been and feeding them like naturals.
But in my opinion you have to race widowhood be it cocks or both sexes and all the way through. I don’t believe in re-pairing pigeons, I think you take the form out of them and I know people will say ‘I won this and that by re-pairing them’ but it’s not the game for me. In my opinion they lose their edge from an aspect of condition and also mentally.
The only thing I do different is when we come to Niort and I give them their hen for the day and I’ll fill the boxes and loft floor up with straw. When it’s a straight forward race my pigeons see their hens for about ten minutes and then I get them away.
Something I’m going to try this year after speaking to a fella who took the first 3 in the Up North Combine from over 36,000 pigeons when using this very same method, is firstly lock the cock up in the closed half of his nest box with a bowl, then place another bowl in the open half of the box and then introduce the hen and leave them like that for up to 4 hours and when you come in to basket them they’ll be nice and calm.
You go in the shed lifting excited cocks from their boxes and placing them in the basket and the next thing you know they are at each other’s throats and it can’t be right. But this way, they’re relaxed to a point and I’m certain it helps.
Can you outline your system from the time you pair up, to once racing commences?
I never rear off me widowhood cocks. I just pair up in January, get them sitting and when the eggs are about 14 days old they are parted and are not re-paired at all. I know a lot of people get them on a second nest but it’s not my system. I just get them right in the loft so they know their job, get them right physically through flying.
You’ll find when widowhood cocks rear a second nest they start to cast flights. My pigeons have still got 9 flights to go at Niort. For years I haven’t raced young birds and as I don‘t drive they don‘t get any training of any note either, so the yearling cocks have had no schooling whatsoever. But what I’ll do is ask my friend Paul to take them to Stoke when he’s on his way back and that will be their one and only toss prior to the start of the racing season.
My opinion is a racing pigeon is just that, you cannot make it into something it is genetically programmed for already. It can be conditioned by the way you manage it, but it has been bred to perform that task over many years of selective breeding. If you ensure the pigeon is in the best possible physical shape and that it is happy in its home, it will do the rest providing it is up to the job.
Good pigeons are freaks of nature. You’ve got brothers who will win a few cards and then the good pigeon same way bred who will go out and win 8, 9, even 10 firsts, there’s just something different about them. So I don’t think, in fact I know, you don’t have to train young birds. There are pigeons out there I’ve shown you which are multiple first prize winners that have never been raced or trained as young birds and bar the one toss as yearlings from about 25 miles have gone out and performed from the word go, right out to 500 miles.
I find the first couple of races the 2 year olds will be the first pigeons, but there’s no better pigeon in your loft than a yearling when it’s on the job, it will go through a brick wall for you. You hit a rainstorm a yearling will go right through but your older widowhood cocks are a bit wiser and will go round and for this reason I think widowers are finished after 3 year olds, though there will always be the exception to the rule.
Cliff Smith holding a son of the National Cock, winner of 4 x 1st and 2nd North Liverpool Fed Frome.
Do you believe you must stick rigidly to your management routine once your racing season kicks into swing, or do you adapt it as situations arise?
I think with regards to feeding yes, but as I said I like to play about with me widowhood system. I always used to exercise the cocks at 7.30am, but over the last few years I’ve taken too much on and they only get out once a day at 2pm and they will do an hour and a half, I feed them to fly. You’ll speak to people who’ll say my widowhood cocks are wanting to come down after 15 minutes.
It’s because there’s nothing in them. I always give me pigeons quarter of an ounce of diat, which will come off their total daily feed total, half an hour before I let them out. You’re never going to get to London on a fiver’s juice are you? Same with the pigeons, you fuel them up, they will fly and mine motor. If they are not flying, something is wrong. They are racing pigeons, they should be wanting to fly the skies out.
Describe in as much detail as possible your Friday preparations, from feeding and at what time, through to basketing for the club?
I feed the cocks at 8am. I’ve always found if you have fed them right, they won’t eat very much on a Friday morning, mine rarely do, though there a couple out there that if you gave them 8 ounces they’d eat it as they’re just gannets! But in general you’ll find they’ll just eat the bits they want.
You’ve got a lot of people now feeding them right up of a Thursday night and giving them nothing on a Friday. I couldn’t do that to a pigeon so they will be offered food and if they don’t want it, they don’t have to have it. But I think it should be there for them.
Can you describe to me one motivational trick that usually brings about a good racing result?
Observation is a tremendous thing in pigeon racing. People will say stay out of your widowhood loft, keep them calm. I like to see what’s going on and who‘s doing what. I had a Soontjen cock who used to spin upside down in his box when he was right and whenever he did this, he would win on a Saturday. So I used to sit in there watching and waiting for him to spin upside down!
When it comes to the motivation I’ll basically try something different every week, some weeks they’ll get the hen, other weeks just the bowl and other times I’ll get a 10-bird basket with one hen in and I’ll place one in each section and leave them to it. When I come back down the loft, more often than not I’ve found the cock that has claimed the basket will be first to the loft that week.
I call widowhood beans on toast in so much, if you came home from work to beans on toast every night your Mrs wouldn’t last long would she and it’s the same with them cocks. If you’re doing the same thing every week, they’re going to get bored, but you give them a bit of variety it keeps their heads switched on.
You’ve got to have good pigeons first and foremost and down the years I’ve had my share of the bad type but if you have found yourself good pigeons motivation is the key to success and it’s finding what makes them pigeons tick and using it at the right time. It won’t always work as there are so many things that can cause a pigeon to go over, but more often than not, if the pigeon is right, finding the right method to motivate them will prove to be the icing on the cake.
Joe with a Soontjen x Van Reet cock, winner of 5 x 1st club, 6th NW Combine Messac, 18th NW Combine Fougeres for clubmate Joe Lysaght.
Do you prefer sprint racing, the channel or do you enjoy racing at all distances?
Channel all the way. I wish there were 21 channel races, there isn’t enough in my opinion. That is the only thing that will make me pack in pigeons, if they start cutting the channel out. If pigeon racing was all about winning sprints, I’d walk away.
What is your criteria for getting another season at your lofts?
I have high standards and if a yearling hasn’t won or taken good positions in the fed it won’t stop over another season. They have to show you something as yearlings. I wouldn’t have a 2 year old that hadn’t won anything in my team. You have to keep the blood young. Me Dad used to say beware the up and coming champion, he’s far more hungry than the fella who has been top for years.
In what way do you adapt your management in terms of feeding, the levels of exercise, as in trainers or the amount of loft flying per day and how often a pigeon races when channel racing commences?
Feeding wise I increase the fats. The way it goes, you need to feed 28 grams of fat for every hour on the wing. So say the race is from Carentan which is about 300 miles and they are going to be doing about 50 miles an hour this equates to 6 hours, I adjust my feeding accordingly.
For racing in England I will use fats once we get to about Wincanton and usually it will just be hemp, but come the channel I will use a mixture rich in fats which includes hemp, canary seed, sunflower hearts and I’m a big believer in rape.
You can get the long range forecast in the week which gives you an idea for Saturday and feed according to the wind. South west, more maize, north east more fats. The maize will be burned off within the first hour, but it’s the fats that they race on.
Can you tell me your health schedule during the race season?
During racing I canker my cocks every 3 weeks, canker is the one thing you have to keep total control of. I also treat for respiratory and a tip I was given by my good friend Paul Stokes was to follow up this treatment with Robitussin which is meant for humans and you can buy this from any chemists.
The respiratory treatment I use for pigeons does the bronchial system but the Robitussin does the head. The dosage is a capful to a 2 pint drinker for 4 days.
With regards to wormers I haven’t wormed a pigeon for 12 years. I use tons of garlic though and my new partner Joey is going off his head because of the smell and to be fair the smell does almost blow your head off at times! I put a full bulb in the drinker and leave it there a week and just keep topping the water up each day providing the water hasn’t been soiled.
Do you use supplements, if so, are they specific to pigeons or do you use natural products or both?
The only supplements I use are Force 12. I used to use Blitzform but I found it a nuisance what it does to the drinkers and having to spend ages scrubbing them clean. I also use tea a lot in the week, Tuesday and Wednesday.
I don’t think it makes much difference to be honest. It came to a point one year where I was buying this and that and I raced one section on supplements and one on clean water. The pigeons racing on clean water were me first pigeons every week.
Joey uses Virkon-S to spray the lofts with. I’ve heard a lot of fanciers saying they use it in the drinking water but I don’t think I fancy that to be honest.
Joe holding the National Cock, sire of over 30 x 1st, sire & g.sire of 1st North Liverpool.
What corns / feedstuffs do you use?
I mix a bag of Versele Laga Super-Widowhood, Versele-Laga Superstar Plus and Marimans Variamax. The diat I feed is Diat-200. For protein I use maple peas.
Can you provide me with a breakdown of how and when in the week you feed regarding the different corns?
I feed diat every day of the week, even on their return from the race. I will hit them up with protein when I get back from the club to help them recover what they have lost and then it’s back to diat every day. On a Thursday I feed a measure of red maize first, then a measure of yellow maize, say cribbs, then I finish them with the strong mixture and they never get any more than an ounce and a quarter a day, including the quarter of an ounce they receive before they go out.
Is there any difference in the way you feed old and young birds when racing?
I’ll always wean the babies onto maple peas as they have to get used to eating the bigger grains and it helps build them up and then I would change the diet to a 50/50 mixture of diat and Gerry Plus, again an ounce and a quarter once they were training and racing.
Do you feed your cocks the same as you feed your hens, if not what are the differences?
I feed the hens the exact same as the cocks but they only get an ounce a day per pigeon.
How much time do you devote to your pigeons both at the loft and while away from the loft?
Every minute that I can. Because of the nature of the work that I do, I get a 2 to 3 hour window per day and I spend every minute of that time with the pigeons, but when I’m off work, I’ll be down here at 7am every day and leave at 5pm.
What are your aims for the future as a pigeon fancier?
I want to win the North West Combine, that’s the number 1 priority for me. We race in the Midland National, but you’ve go to remember, we’re only racing yearlings this year and it’s a different type of animal needed because we’re corridor racing in Liverpool to an area 9 miles in length, but you need pigeons that can go out and break if you want to do well in the National. We’ll have a couple of goes but not too much as we haven’t got the team for it this year.
What do you look for when introducing new stock?
I look for a small team fancier with about 12 or 14 pigeons banging them in and knocking on the door in his fed every week and I‘d go about purchasing young birds from the stock birds only. I believe you should only ever introduce pigeons from a man’s best, that being his stock birds, even if it is only eggs. I would never buy young birds bred from racers with the intention of introducing them into my own bloodlines.
But in contradiction of that, some years back I noticed the results of the ‘Magician’ Gary Daykin when he started racing his Jos Soontjens. Now Gary is a big team flier but this year he took the first three positions in the Midlands National and nobody had ever done it before. Then he took the first four, then 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th, then he took the first 6 and I thought I’ve got to have some of these.
Now Gary doesn’t just sell pigeons to mere mortals and when I spoke to him he told me I’d be waiting 2 years for them and I said I might be dead by then! So in the meantime I noticed a young bird in an auction that Gary had donated and I went out of me way to get it, paying £190. He bred me some super pigeons and his blood runs through my loft today.
Does the balance and impression of/feel for the pigeon in your hand play more of a factor in your selection than the performance or bloodline of the pigeons you introduce, or are they of equal importance?
Very much so, I don’t use me eyes, I use me hands. I like a nice balanced pigeon. Me Dad loved eye sign, I don’t know anything about it apart from they have two of them. I’m a leg theory man, first one through them doors!
Do you tend to introduce good cocks or hens more?
Whatever I think I need at the time I’ll try and get and if I can’t get what I want, I won’t bring in anything lesser. If I have to wait 2 years to get them, I’ll wait. Patience is a virtue, but sadly it seems to be a commodity in very short supply amongst pigeon fanciers. Everybody wants to win immediately, which is why it is so disheartening for the younger or novice fanciers coming into the game.
Paul Stokes holding a Soontjen x Van Reet cock, winner of 7 x 1st club and 10 fed cards racing from France.
How many old birds / young birds do you race?
The most I’ve ever raced is 18 but usually it would be around 12 to 14 cocks and they will go right through to 500 miles. However, having gone into partnership with Joey Rooney, we will be flying widowhood hens and cocks and with our commitments as members of the Liverpool Classic Club and the Midlands National, the race team will end up being in the region of about 25 pairs to see us compete at the right level on all fronts. With young birds, we would hope to get to the first race with a team of around 50.
How do you train your young birds and how often before and once racing starts?
The first toss will be the end of the motorway until they are arriving en masse and then they will go on one of the local training wagons out to 25 miles. They will be trained about 12-15 times prior to the first race and then they will go twice a week. Sunday will be a day of rest where they will be given a bath, either in the aviary or in front of the loft if we want them to have a spin.
What are your thoughts on loft ventilation?
I think a good air flow is vitally important. The old loft I have may look a little rickety but it has got the best airflow of any shed you could ever have. It is an old Kidby loft and it has vents running the length of the front, in the sides and a 6 inch gap running the entire length of the top of the back wall. I wouldn’t buy a new loft from a manufacturer because it wouldn’t have the ventilation I have in that loft and the proof of the pudding is in the results me pigeons have achieved over many years racing from it.
What are your thoughts on heating the loft?
I think it could bring in phoney form if I’m being honest. Maybe it would be a good thing in the winter, but in the summer I don’t think you need it and I wouldn’t use it myself.
What has been your best achievement in the pigeon sport?
This is my best and worst achievement all in one. We were racing from Avranches a few years back and we had this red hen, she was a class pigeon. We were only racing to the little loft in them days and I went down to wait. We had these pound traps on at the time to stop the cats getting in and I remembered there was a cock that needed locking up before I opened the doors and as I went in, there was the red hen sitting on her eggs. Now I’d been down there 15 minutes and we ended up 1st club, 2nd North Liverpool Fed beaten on a decimal and 4th North West Combine. It turns out we needed 8 seconds to top the combine and I vowed there and then I would never be caught out waiting for pigeons again.
Can you tell me about your best pigeon/s?
I think the best pigeon I’ve ever owned was 25, a Soontjen cock via JS Lofts bloodlines crossed with a daughter of me National Cock. He had 8 positions in the first 10 of the fed including 2nd beaten on a decimal. He also won bird of the year in the club the three years I raced him and of course, me being me, every pigeon I own goes across the channel but I loved this pigeon more than I’ve ever loved a pigeon in me life. I sent him to Messac as a 4 year old and I never seen him again. I was devastated but that is the game and you just have to go again and try and breed something better.
What advice can you give that would help improve the management/results for a novice/new starter?
I give away roughly 30 pigeons a year and I believe that if you can’t give of your best you shouldn’t be giving anything at all. Whether they are experienced fliers or just starting up, if they are no good for you, they are no good for anybody else. I get more enjoyment out of other people winning with my pigeons than I do when I win myself. But for kids coming into the game now it is very hard as it is professional now. It’s not like it was when I was a kid and everyone has access to buying good pigeons, it’s what you do with them when you’ve got them.
It is made even harder by these people who want to time in 15 widowhood cocks in 10 seconds, what encouragement is that for a young kid? You’re breaking their heart before they’ve had na chance to get established and they’re going to leave the sport. I think the 4 birds per member rule the fed has is a good rule. I know they all want their 15 cocks on the fed sheet, but what about the lads who make up the large part of the sport who aren’t up there all the time and then get a handy one, it’s denying them a fed position and I think it all boils down to greed. That is what is killing the sport now, greedy people.
Who do you admire in the pigeon sport?
Teddy Davin junior, a great man and without any doubt a top, top pigeon fancier. I also have a lot of respect for his Dad, Teddy senior, who is in his 80’s and still holding his corner.
I’ve also got a lot of time for Charlie McCardle who is a great fancier. Charlie has flown at the top for ages no matter who he is in partnership with and he will always be at the top of the sport because that is where he wants to be.
Other fanciers I admire are Kenny Simpson, what a channel flier he’s been throughout his lifetime and I still remember his white flight cock which topped the fed 6 times. Brian Maguire is another great channel man.
Alan Halsall has been flying a tremendous pigeon the last few years and will be the one to stop this year, believe you me. Anyone who tops the combine into Liverpool, the performance should be lauded as you are flying against the cream. I was 5th this year from Carentan and I think that Southport lot should be banned! (everybody laughs).
I admire Noel Quarless and I think he has the hardest job in pigeon racing, one I wouldn’t do for a million pound. You have 20 good races, great. You have one bad race and you’re the worst in the world. Anybody who is responsible for the liberation of pigeons should be thanked unreservedly.
Also I’d like to mention my new partner Joey Rooney who I have been flying against for years. He really is a tremendous competitor and I am looking forward to racing with him over the next few years.
What is it you love about the pigeon sport that keeps you involved?
Standing out there of a Saturday, I still get the same buzz I got when I was 6 years old. I still can’t eat on race day before I clock in, I’m wound up like a cork screw, pacing the garden until I time in and then the world is at peace and I can eat anything you put in front of me. But nothing compares to the adrenalin rush I get when I see pigeons tearing in and going straight in the loft, I could knock Mike Tyson out the rush I get when I see that!
What drives you mad about the pigeon sport?
Bad losers. If I shake someone’s hand when they win I mean it. We all send to win and the best pigeon on the day wins the race and you have to give the man credit for getting his pigeons right and only one pigeon can win on the day. I just want people to enjoy their racing win or lose, because that is part of the buzz we as pigeon fanciers should be getting out of it.
What is racing in your club like?
It used to be brilliant. Going back a few years there were around 30 members in the Crosby. Not many people have left the club, they’ve just all passed away. I’m the longest flyin g member in the club and there’s only Lee Colquitt who’s younger than me. The current gang are a good bunch of lads though I have to say.
Do you have a message for your club-mates?
Just enjoy your pigeons as you’re a long time looking at the lid. Can I also say thank you to Mike Lysaght who looked after my pigeons while I was getting over the accident I had while on holiday in Egypt not so long ago.
FINISH
I would like to thank Joe, not only for allowing us to visit him for the loft profile but for all his support since I took on the role as fed scribe. Joe is a larger than life character but he is also a brilliant and very knowledgeable pigeon fancier with performances that demonstrate he has a mastery of the fundamentals of the sport that we all strive to achieve. He is also as genuine as they come.
Joe’s passion for pigeons has always shone through from the first time we spoke and none more-so than when the discussions turns to his beloved channel racing, once a barometer for the prowess of any pigeon fancier worth his salt in these parts. But at club and federation level, a discipline now facing up to some very testing times indeed.
I wish the very best of luck to both you and your new partner Joe and I hope that thus far elusive North West Combine victory is not too far around the corner.
Thanks for reading,
Darren
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Elimar - February 2014
