The Widowhood Book - A Complete Guide to the Best Methods of Racing Pigeons on the Widowhood System as Described by the Foremost Experts in Britain, B

By C. A. E. Osman

Widowhood is not easy, as those who decry it are only too willing to say, but neither is it hard. Those who are willing to study the methods set out here will find that even if they only possess one small loft, and even if they cannot give much time to their birds, they will be able to achieve success by this method, for the tremendous successes in past years in Belgium and in England have not all been won by the men with three or four lofts and 300 to 400 birds.
Reading through this book, you will see not only articles by the famous names of Britain and Belgium, but also the methods of working men Fanciers who have gained successes by this method. There is only one thing more which needs to be said, and that is if you try this System, give it a fair trial, because not only may it take two or three years for birds to reach their peak under this System, but it should never be forgotten that without condition, stamina and good-quality birds, no system can help you to win.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Mar 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9781446546710

Book preview

win.

PART ONE

ONE

W. S. PEARSON

THIS CHAPTER IS A COMPLETE REVISION AND SLIGHT ABRIDGMENT of W. S. Pearson’s booklet The Widowhood System of Pigeon Racing. The need for revision has become necessary in these changing times. Few these days, for example, would be able to give their pigeons this tonic he recommends:

2lbs. each of rice, groats, hemp, canary, rape and millet, 1 cupful of sherry, 2 tablespoonful of Parrish’s Food, 2 tablespoonsful of sugar and 12 eggs. Beat the eggs well up, mix well with the Parrish’s, sherry and sugar, again beat up the lot, pour over the seeds and stir well in, then put in the sun to dry. If the liquid is not wholly absorbed, place in a very slow oven until it is dry. Dose: One egg-cupful to one pair of birds per day when required.

The booklet did not originally have an introduction, because his name and his successes were so well known. Today a new generation of fanciers is growing up in the dales of Yorkshire, who in some cases have forgotten his performances. When Lt. Col. A. H. Osman visited the lofts in 1924, the name of W. S. Pearson was a household word after the magnificent series of successes up to 1923. This is what he said then: —

"It was a real pigeon treat for me to visit the Lawkholme Lofts, and go through the very fine team in them. Mr. Pearson has gone very far along the successful road, but he will go very much farther yet, as he has the stuff with a sting in it which can do it. He is a really clever fancier, one of the very best either in Yorkshire or out of it, and aims always to shine at the long distances, and gets there. His birds have successfully flown Nantes, Marennes, Bordeaux, Mirande, Paris, Troyes, Nevers and Marseilles, to name a few of the long French races he has successfully accomplished.

"The base of his lofts can be divided into three families, and representatives of each I had the pleasure of handling. ‘The Barkers’ are the old original blood which he and M. Whitehead imported from N. Barker. ‘The Mealies’ are a family which are responsible for winning twenty-four average prizes. But the ‘East Wind Strain’ is, perhaps, most renowned, and no wonder, for no less than seven birds of this strain have each won over £100. I liked the type of pigeon throughout these lofts. The birds are well kept and look fit.

Here, also, I handled as fine a lot of Gurnays as I have seen for a long time, very typical. Mr. Pearson has had some good wins out of his Gurnay family, which include seven bred by Gurnay from his best Bonamis direct and Chadwick’s. Perhaps the most interesting section of these lofts are the ‘Lemmens’, direct from M. Lemmens, of Antwerp — a grand type, direct from this very successful Belgian fancier — these are the real old Wegges. Also to be found in the loft are Jurions, the old Moss blood, and some Logans. No man is more respected in the sport than Mr. W. S. Pearson, of Keighley, and he has won over 500 prizes during the last three years.

The Lawkholme Lofts were one of the most consistent winning lofts in the fancy. For thirty years he won all along the line and all the time. The things he always wanted in a racer were: SENSE, SPEED and PLUCK, without which he said they were useless.

From Cross-Channel he successfully flew Guernsey, Jersey, Cherbourg, St. Lo, Dol, Granville, Rennes, Nantes, Marennes, Bordeaux, Mirande, Amiens, Arras, Paris, Troyes, Nevers, Marseilles. During 1919-1920 he won over £100 each year.

Here is the list of his wins just for the three years 1921-22-23: In 1921 — In Keighley and Craven District H.S. and Bradford F.C. he won 16 firsts, 16 seconds, 16 thirds, 13 fourths, 14 fifths, 9 sixths, 41 pools, 12 specials, 1st Produce, etc.

The next year, 1922 — In the above Clubs and Bradford Mid-week Club he won 26 firsts, 21 seconds, 21 thirds, 21 fourths, 14 fifths, 14 sixths, gold medal, 13 specials, 1st Produce 1st and 2nd Two-bird Nomination (nominated before first race), two knock-out competitions, 56 pool prizes, top prize winner all three Clubs.

1923 was a peak year. Here is the result of every race competed in: Keighley and Craven District H.S., 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th Essendine; 1st, 2nd 3rd, 5th Huntingdon; 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th Chelmsford; 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th Folkestone; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Folkestone; 2nd, 4th Amiens; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th Paris; 1st, 2nd Nevers.

Bradford Mid-week F.C. — 10th and 11th Essendine; 9th, 11th Amiens; special, 1st, 4th, 5th, 16th Paris; 1st, 5th Nevers; Young Birds, Chelmsford (Championship race), 1st. 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 14th, 15th, 16th.

Bradford F.C. — Western Section — Old Birds: Special, 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, 11th, 14th Essendine; special, 1st, 4th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 13th Huntingdon; 10th, 13th, 18th, 20th Huntingdon open race; 5th, 7th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th Folkestone; 8th, 11th, 13th, 17th, 18th open; 18th Amiens, all sections; special, loft pool, 3rd, 6th, 8th Paris, all sections; special, loft pool, 1st, 8th Nevers, all sections. Young Birds: Special, loft pool, 1st, 2nd, 11th, 12th, 17th Newark; 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 15th, 16th Essendine; loft pool, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 20th Essendine; loft pool, two specials, 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 16th Huntingdon; two specials, 1st 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th Chelmsford, Federation results not known. 5th Huntingdon Federation Charity race.

Great Yorkshire Amalgamation — Paris, 14th, 20th, 31st; Nevers, 4th; Chelmsford, Y.B., 23rd, 49th. Won over 30 average prizes. Some of the best pigeons raced in this country, 1923, were of his strains. In all, he won over 500 prizes in pen during these three years.

He continued to be highly successful throughout the years, and from 1921-1931 had won 182 first prizes, 142 second prizes and 132 third prizes, not to mention all the Specials, Medals, Trophies and Pool prizes. He was equally successful in the Show Pen and won about 2,000 prizes in all. He kept a large stud of pigeons, not so much because he believed in quantity, but because he did not have the heart to get rid of them. He was known as the bachelor wedded to his pigeons. In spite of this large quantity — in 1931 it was over 150 — he kept detailed pedigrees and breeding records of all his pigeons and was noted for the conscientious way in which he kept them.

He was not, however, content to busy himself with his own birds. He will always be remembered as the President of the North Yorkshire Federation, for which he spent a great deal of time, organising and arranging. The same willing service was given to the Great Yorkshire Amalgamation, and in particular to their Show, where he exerted himself continuously in all directions to make it more successful than it had been the previous year. In addition, he also used to act as convoyer.

It was work like this that made him one of the best loved fanciers in the sport. When he died in 1931 at the age of 57 and his birds were sold, the huge gathering in the sale room was as much a tribute to him as a person as they were there as potential buyers. In view of his activity, the most surprising thing about him was that throughout the latter part of his life he was incessantly troubled by diabetes, but he fought his illness with everything in his power and would never allow it to beat him. It was not until he caught the ’flu and was thus weakened, that he could no longer fight it off. He was that rare combination, a great and a successful fancier.

First of all is the arrangement of the loft for the job. It must be so fitted that each pair have a nest box, complete with a set of bob wires that will swing either way, and a cross wire so that on race days a bird can get in but not out. The bob hole in the nest front must be large enough to get your hand through to catch the bird, but don’t have the nest box so large that you cannot get your hand on the back of the pigeon to catch it easily. The size recommended is 20-inch wide, 18-inch high, 16-inch back to front, with bob hole in centre 9-inch high, 6-inch wide, and landing board hinged to lift up and close the opening.

For trapping purposes have either open door, open windows, or a good big hole for entry to loft, then the birds will soon accustom themselves to flying clean though and on to the landing board of the nest box. I have found that any strain will fly on the Widowhood system. I used to let my birds have free access to nest boxes (without bobs) during the first round, but then found they would not face bob wires on race days during the first few races, and so that is the reason the bobs must always be on from the start, and thus cut out any time wasting on race days.

It is essential one should have fairly regular laying throughout the loft, and this is brought about by getting them all in as near the same condition as possible immediately prior to mating, on the following lines: —

THREE WIDOWHOOD EXPERTS

DR. M. E. TRESIDDER

See page 141

W. S. PEARSON

See page 11

H. MARTENS

See page 76

Two weeks previous to mating up, I prepare my birds by giving them a thorough dosing of Glauber salts, having them rather on the light side at the time. After having thoroughly cleaned them out, I then give them a dose of citrate of iron, as much as I can lift on a shilling, in one quart of water, and make sure that they get a good drink. After having built them up into nice condition, not too fat, I mate up about nine weeks before first race; let the birds go on naturally with their duties, and rear sometimes one, sometimes two, youngsters, using my own discretion about this.

When the youngsters are about 14 days old, which will be roughly about three weeks before the first race, I give the cocks their first toss about 10 miles, then, say, every other day 20, 30, 40 miles. I then take the hens away out of hearing of the cocks and let the cocks, if they have not already done so, finish the rearing of the youngsters.

Two or three days previous to the first race, I send the cocks 30 or 40 miles and put the hens into nest boxes so that the cocks find them there on their arrival home. This toss must be so arranged that on the arrival home of the birds, each pair are watered and fed with seed in nest box. Immediately after this, hens are again taken away, cocks not being exercised again that day. During the time the sexes are together (breeding) they have open loft.

After the hens are taken away, the cocks are exercised entirely on their own (otherwise they will not trap) morning and evening, and will generally fly half-an-hour, which I consider quite sufficient. The lofts are cleaned out while the birds are at exercise and fresh water given.

Birds are then fed in and given a feed of, first, a few beans, then tares or peas, wheat, maize and, lastly, seed. All grain fed separately; the idea being to make the birds get a full crop. If all the food is put down at once, it will be found that they sort out the grains they like the best and leave the rest. The order of feeding therefore is reversed; give them the food they like least first, and so on, then you will get them to fill themselves. The seed feed is equal parts rice, groats, hemp, canary, millet and rape. The greatest trouble in Widowhood racing is that the birds, after a few weeks, get on the light side if care is not taken in the management of them. After the training, preparation for racing is as follows: On the basketing night, I first of all get the hens into the basket in which I am going to send the cocks to the race, then let the cocks out for their usual exercise, take the basket of hens into the loft and put them into nest boxes with the bobs fixed, so that they cannot get out and let the cocks trap up to them.

It will be found that they very soon learn the game and also when the hens are likely to be in the nest boxes; in fact, on basketing nights, they will very often have to be fastened out until the hens are got into the nest boxes, particularly so if there are one or two who have flown on the system in previous years. When the cocks have all trapped they are watched, and as soon as one of them is feeding his hen he is basketed, and this continues until all those that are going to the race are basketed. None of them are allowed to tread before going to the race.

The hens may be left in the nest boxes, but if there are other cocks loose in the loft, it is better to take the hens away and return them to their nest boxes before cocks are due to arrive from the race. On race days, previous to the arrival of the birds, I put into the loft sufficient small pots to allow two to each nest box — one for water, milk or linseed tea, and one for seed. These are not, however, put into the nest box until after the timing in of the bird, as the waiting hen would soil the water, etc.

After timing in, watering and feeding, that box is then closed for the day, leaving both birds together until the following day, unless a bird should be particularly tired on arrival home, and in that case the hen is only left with him about half-an-hour, after which she is taken away until the following morning, this being done to allow the cock to have a good rest; when she is brought back, and as early as possible, both sexes are let out together for a fly and a bath. They are then fed in and the hens taken away until the following basketing night — unless I think fit to have a mid-week toss at 30 or 40 miles, and in that case the method as previously mentioned on race basketing nights is adopted, with the exception that the hens are taken out on arrival of cocks and not left until the following day.

This can be carried out for the whole of the old bird programme, or, if preferred, after the inland races. The birds can be allowed to go together and the cocks sent to the cross-Channel races, sitting or with youngsters. I have tried both methods, and although there is not much between the two, I think the Widowhood method is to be preferred.

It will be found that it is not every bird that will fly successfully on Widowhood, but if one or two can be found that will, they last for years and fly consistently and well the whole of the time. There is one great thing Widowhood soon does, and that is, it brings out the intelligent pigeon, and this, to my mind, is a great feature, having been on the look-out for the sensible ones ever since I took up pigeon racing. So far, I have only flown cocks (nine years) on these lines, but I wanted to try a few hens. Apart from the laying dangers, I see no reason why hens should not do equally as well, and perhaps better than cocks, and particularly in the longer races.

YOUNG BIRD RACING

I also work my young birds on similar lines to Widowhood and find it a great success.

I have two young bird lofts adjoining each other, with a small sliding door between the two. I give my youngsters, as soon as they are strong on