Two boys brought me a youngster with a deformed leg. Splayed out almost at right-angles to its body. Short of surgery there isn’t much that can be done once things are at that stage, but it is worth pointing out that this condition occurs most often in single-reared youngsters. And in nests a bit short of nesting materials. It is my practice to always place a solid heavy dummy egg in the nest so that the single occupant has something to push against. And will hold its legs under it. If it is always seeking a solid purchase when getting comfortable and the nest is too sparse, the legs will splay out. Seen early enough the nest can be refilled and the legs taped loosely, apart from each other at the correct spacing, and the fault will rectify itself .Once the bird has fledged however it is too late.

"Angel Wing" is another deformity that sometimes occurs in single-reared youngsters. This is a condition where the outer halves of the wings twist away from the body. It happens at the time when the growing quills are heavy and unopened. If they are unsupported by not having a nest-mate alongside it, the developing muscles, not strong enough to hold them to the body, will fail and that bit of the wing will fall outwards. Once the quills have burst and the feathers appeared it does not present a problem to a double- reared youngsters. But if allowed to happen unchecked, on a single-reared youngster, you finish up with an angel-winged pigeon. Of no use to anyone. High protein diets have also been implicated in this condition, although I don’t see how healthy youngsters can be reared without an adequate protein intake. Fortunately these two deformities are unusual occurrences in most pigeon lofts.

We only have three clubs in our federation. At one time my friend was a member of all three. Nobody else is in all three clubs. It came about like this. He had an allotment behind his house, which was within the boundaries of the club he flew in, but due to a dispute with the local council about him keeping pigeons on that particular site he was somewhat unsettled. He then more or less exchanged houses with another fancier. Some five miles west of his old site and outside of his club and our Federation boundaries. And the nearest club to his new site had refused to accept the previous owner of his new house in their club!

So, desperate for a club with which to send his birds to the Nationals races, he applied to join all three of our clubs in the hope that one of them might accept him. All three did! One subject to a few understandable conditions. The other two unconditionally. He happily paid all three sets of subscriptions etc. and did his turn on whatever rotas require his presence. But flew only in the one.

In these days of petty disputes and exclusions, from what is after all a shrinking sport, I am proud of the members in all three clubs. And pleased to be competing with and against them. Mind you getting into the clubs is the easy bit! Winning them takes some doing. Nobody gives you any races for free in our Federation. You have to get them the hard way. Like the man said when his friend asked him who gave him his black eye. "Nobody gives you one of these, you have to fight for them!"

Pigeon men like nothing better than to hear of another pigeon man who is worse off than them. Especially when they have taken a beating with their birds. A typical example of this occurred a few years ago. Which we still talk about and puzzle over. It all took place on the same day. At different times. And from different places. I took my old birds for a 15 mile training flight, had several out all night, one missing for a day, and was feeling very sorry for myself.

Then one of my fellow club members turned up and said he had been for a 40 mile toss and was a good few birds short. This made me feel much better, as he was worse off than me. Then two more fanciers arrived and they had been to the same place as the previous man, but at a different time, and they were something like six Federation winners short between them. Plus others. This cheered him up enormously, as they were worse off than him!

Then we heard from the club chairman that he had been training as well and he was lots of pigeons short. This, naturally, cheered up the last person down the line. Then one of my oldest friends rang to say he had gone on a longer training flight than any of us and only had a handful home. Which of course made us all feel better! The Germans call this sort of thing Schadenfreude. Malicious enjoyment of the misfortunes of others! Incidentally, the weather was beautiful that day.

Pigeon racing never was a science. Which I guess is part of its attraction. A fancier friend, back in form after a difficult struggle with the health of his birds, remarked to me that "you had to be a Veterinarian these days to race pigeons." And that "in the old days we never had these problems." But we did you know. We just didn’t recognise them and killed or lost the affected birds. If everybody at that time was flying "sick" pigeons then obviously a "sick" bird would win the race. Nowadays the management of pigeons is so much better that "sick" pigeons win nothing.

My Scottish friends used to tell me that they had pigeons in Scotland which could win at 80 miles and also at 600 miles. This was very true, because at that time most of the birds in Scotland were 600 milers! And if everyone is racing 600 milers at 80 miles one of them is bound to win! The true sprint men soon put paid to that idea. In England as well as in Scotland!

Watched by an assortment of visitor I set up my microscope and demonstrated how to do simple things like cocci counts etc. And what you would normally see when you looked at some pigeon droppings. This is the best way to learn! Much, much, easier than attempting to learn from a book. If you have never seen chalk and you have never seen cheese how do you know which one to eat and which one to write with? The hardest thing about using a monocular microscope is learning to keep both eyes open when you’re using it. I was a Histologist once and was taught to do this. The choice was simple. It was that or eyestrain. A thought for today. Anglers are noted for exaggeration. Leek men outdo them easily. But pigeon men are the worst of the lot. You doubt me? Ask any leek grower what size his leeks are. Then ask a pigeon man what time he is in or how many birds he is short of and you will get some idea what a paragon of truth an angler is. Take into consideration the fact that some pigeon men grow leeks as well, and you finish up with a group of men who could make the world’s best liars blush!

ROD ADAMS.