How I Spoilt My Birds

By: John Hickinbottom Bentley, Walsall UK
Date: Unknown
Category: General

Here as promised is the article on how I spoilt my birds -- three clay cocks
and three clay silver hens.

I bred these birds in 1981. These were amongst the twenty I bred and broke
(settled), not losing one bird. I spoilt these birds really easy not having
any real interest in flying competition because of my interest in playing
darts in our Walsall Sunday morning Darts league. My birds were always put
second, darts came first every time. At the time, I was K.O secretary and
had to do a lot of running about and this took up a lot of time. I've got up
at the crack of dawn and let out a kit and then about nine thirty have gone
out and left them, on returning I'd find they were on the roof. This
happened with every kit I had then, I began to use a feed that was put in
the newsletter by Tom Dilks. I fed each kit up in turn and put them out,
they flew a few more hours, but the clay cocks went on until dark and
eventually dropped on the roof and spent the night out. That was the first
of many that they have had out. Well, I really got fed up with it all and
didn't fly any young birds. I resigned from the club I was in and flew all
my birds in one kit. I had made my mind up to get more birds to add to those
I already had. I was finally talked out of this by one or two lads and I
then applied to join Walsall Tippler Club and was accepted. I sorted out
what birds I was going to keep and finished up with five pairs of stock and
twelve of my young birds. I then began the task of getting the remaining
birds out of the habit of dropping on the roof which I had some success, but
no way could I break the clay cocks. Every time I had them out, it was the
roof where they dropped, whether it was day or night. I then began to fly
them in two kits of six, three cocks and three hens, but it didn't make much
difference, the clay cocks took the hens to the roof with them. The kit of
six I had broke of the roofing habit I lost in a sudden snow storm, I've
never heard or seen them since. I split my remaining six into two kits once
more and I got the hens (these are three clay silvers) dropping to my pen
once more but it was a waste of

The first club fly this year, I flew three yearling hens, they looked in
great shape, out they went and flew well. I was a bit doubtful about one, a
clay print, I'd had her paired up and sitting eggs and only got her out the
stock pen ten days before the fly, and as I thought, down they came after
five forty four. It wasn't the print hen, it was a clay silver hen that came
down first. Why I didn't know. When I went into the pen at nine p.m. to feed
them, there it was, she had laid, this was something I'd never checked for
but I do now. I gave these hens a week's rest and then put them back in
training for the first NTU fly. On that fly, we also start the club loft
K.O.

I was down against Dave Gardiner and it was said at the meeting that he was
as good as through to the next round because I said at the beginning of the
year I wasn't going to break my novice status this year. I'd only got the
one kit to fly, but when I heard that said , I said that Dave would have a
challenge because I was going to take my time on nine fifty-nine. Well, I
didn't, my kit of hens flew thirteen forty four. I waited to hear Dave's
time only to find out that he had overslept and didn't fly so I'd broke my
novice status for nothing. Well that was it, I'd broke it and now I'd get to
try even harder then. The next fly was three weeks away. I rested my kit for
a week again and put them back into training, the second time out in
training I had a blue hen go gammy. This left me with only ten days before
the Easter fly so into the stock pen I went and got my three clay cocks out.
at the time, all three were feeding youngsters a week to ten days old. I
boxed the cocks up and left them until two p.m. the next day which was a
Saturday and I put them up at seven p.m. I let out the droppers to drop them
but for all the notice those cocks took I might as well have had a dozen
cats on top of the pen. They wouldn't even look, it began to get dark, I put
the lights on, still they took no notice. I began to lose my temper. I
grabbed the line-prop

Well, that's about the lot, I hope reading this will help others who are or
have just joined in the sport not to treat their birds the way I have. After
the next two old bird flys, I'll never fly anymore spoilt birds. I will
either give them away, stock them or put them in the ground. I ought to have
done that to these clay cocks ages ago but they have proved they have got
the will to fly. Since I fled these cocks, they have gone back into the
stock pen.

I've only got four pairs of stock counting them. I will be interested to
read of any comments on this article.
//