Having given a great deal of thought as to what fanciers like you as a reader of Feathered World, and maybe even other fanciers, would be really interested in reading, seeing photos of and comparing your own lofts with, is it the little ideas that we as a Fancy come up with in the loft?
I know our expectations change and we all tend to modify our lofts continually with what we have seen and bought from the pigeon catalogues or a modification just simply to make life easier; we even change it because we have seen an idea that we like very much from another fancier's loft. So to make a short story long and give the Fancy the benefit of my pigeon jaunts to other fanciers' lofts from near and far, I set to and ploughed through my colossal box of pigeon photos from the past 40 years of lofts and fanciers from around the globe that I have had the pleasure of visiting and also the privilege knowing.
The enjoyment I got was from the pure pleasure of just talking and seeing their birds, their lofts and their particular breeding set-up or system. I will try and get at least one article printed by Bob Batty in Feathered World bi-monthly if I cannot get the time to do one monthly, so that you can enjoy the lofts and features that some of these guys have engineered and put together in their lofts, gardens or even roof tops just to keep the bundle of feathers we all enjoy - the pigeon.
The first loft in the roll of honour is that of the partnership of Jimmy Zerbo and Bill Burnside. I did put in a small piece in the FW as to the passing of Jimmy so this is a little memorial to the man. The first photo is of the man himself, Jimmy, at the Pageant of Pigeons show in California. Many fanciers will remember Jimmy and the hat, as I have never seen him without it. Jimmy was indeed a great ambassador for our English Short Faced Tumbler in the USA, and has sent pigeons back to Europe for various fanciers in Holland, Germany and the UK over the years. The last batch Scott Sharp brought back I have not seen yet but I know some were destined for James Ellison in the North East and others I cannot remember, although Bill said he had sent them for the UK fanciers. I know his bloodline is in quite a few lofts in England, Ireland and Scotland, maybe not pure but definitely as a cross to our own stock.
Some time ago Jimmy and Bill Burnside started a partnership with the English Short Faced Tumblers and they are now being kept at Bill's home in Florida not far from the beautiful Clearwater beach on the Gulf of Mexico side of the Florida peninsula.
Photo 2 is of the other half of the partnership, Bill Burnside with my son Jamie and of course myself. You can just see the loft in the background covered with the green trellis work to mask the view of the birds from any onlookers over the fence. Bill is trying to keep the birds on a low profile, as some of the state laws are crazy in that part of the USA.
Photo 3 is of the loft of spare cocks, as you can see the lofts are fully plumbed in with an automatic watering system, and photo 3A of the same loft shows an almost pure white ESFT with a tinge of red on the tips of the secondaries.
Photo 4 shows the ESFT breeding loft. You will see that Bill does not use permanent breeding boxes in this section, he gets the cardboard ones from the supermarket and cuts a hole in the side with a craft knife. At the end of the season he has a fire and burns them all, he said it cuts down on the bugs and the stress of painting and like he said, there are no youngsters reared in the boxes so they do not get wet with the nest bowl droppings.
All the ESFT eggs are transferred to the pumper loft as Photo 4A shows. Bill has mainly crossbred birds in this section Roller/Flying Flight type of pigeons not too big and clumsy. This loft is the most important if you wish to breed English Short Faced Tumblers with any real success - your feeders need to be the best, most reliable team you can put together and if possible never rear a normal long beaked bird so that they always know how to rear the prince regent. The feeder loft is of mainly wooden construction with shelves rather than boxes and a bar across the front to keep the youngsters from falling to the floor once they become mobile. Bill does not use nest box fronts and the pairs choose where they nest and the box is big enough so it can hold two nest bowls when the season is in full swing.
Photo 5 is of Bill and us holding the International English Short Faced Tumbler Society's Banner; I have pointed out to Bill that being an English breed the English flag was missing on this fine banner he had made, he said that he did not know as he had only ever seen our troops in action with the Union Jack and thought that was the English flag and not the Cross of St George.
Photo 6 is of the computer room with Bill in the hot seat, Bill has put together a great website on the English Short Faced Tumbler and it is well worth a visit, listing fanciers and lofts in many countries.
Well my first article on loft visit details is at a close for this issue but I have many, many more from America, Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Scotland, Spain just to drop a few countries to get your interest.
All the very best for now, keep 'em fit.
JIM MULLAN
PS: If you have not purchased your new Standards book from the NPA yet it is brilliant, the line drawings are a fair example of most of the breeds and an excellent effort to bring us in line with the mainland. The next project is a real European Show - then we would be keeping the John Bull spirit alive.
Photos: J Mullan
