Joe Murphy Article 8th April 2023

[sapper756]

The Joe Murphy Column

I start off this week’s column with the sad news that Jim Sanderson of Pathhead in Midlothian;
recently passed away. I had the greatest respect for Jim as he was a proper gentleman and someone, I
got on very well with. He and Bobby Caruthers were the ‘Superstars’ in the 1970’s and if you were
lucky enough to beat them in a national race then you would not be far from being at the top of the
result. Jim was a farmer and a hard worker, so his pigeons were his hobby and a pastime to him. To
his wife and family, I send my heartfelt condolences at their loss and may Jim rest in peace.
Jim joined the elite in the SNFC by winning Scotland’s longest distance race 2 years in succession,
he is the only fanciers within the club to win 2 consecutive SNFC Nantes races. John McGillivray &
son of Forth won the SNFC from this race point in 1956 & 1958. The only other fancier to pull of the
double was John Robertson of Jedburgh who won in 1970 and 1972. Jim Sanderson won 1 st open
SNFC Nantes in 1976 with ‘Lady Jane’ and the following year he won 1 st open SNFC Nantes with
‘Loan Frill Lady’. So as a reverence to this wonderful fancier I’m going to reprint his 2 articles on
his national wins for fanciers to read, as some readers of my column may not know of Jim or his
achievements. His knowledge as a farmer and pigeon fancier may help someone in today’s sport (I
hope so).
In the 1982 BHW Stud Book Jim wrote an article; ‘Do Not Interfere With A Pigeon’s Natural
Instincts’. In the 1983 BHW Stud Book his article was called, ‘Winning Is Sweeter- The Second
Time Around’. Jim wrote the following articles; ‘I would like to than the Editor of the BHW for
acknowledging my performance in the SNFC Nantes race by asking me through Joe Murphy, BHW
Scribe for Fife, to contribute this article. It was for me a thrill of a lifetime to win Scotland’s longest
national race. Having come close to winning – 4 th open Avranches in 1976, and 7 th open Nantes in
1980, I thought I knew the excitement of doing well in a national race. In fact, nothing can compare
to the feeling of actually winning and I consider myself extremely fortunate indeed to experience
this.
‘Lady Jane’ is a 1976 late bred. As a yearling she was given 5 races to a distance of 150 miles, and
then stopped. Then as a 2-year-old she went out to Dorchester 350 miles, and then onto 500 miles for
Avranches. In this race she finished just out of the prize money. Liberated at 06-15am into a west
wind, I timed her in at 22-30 in very good condition for 16 ¼ hours on the wing. Her full sister won
91 st open in this race. On now to 1979 when I decided to prepare ‘Lady Jane’ for Rennes, in this race
she gained 116 th open at a velocity of 824 for the 540 miles. The following year, in the same race she
was my nominated pigeon, and I gained 41 st , 98 th , 146 th & 314 th open, all on the day. But ‘Lady Jane’
was not one of these. This I could not understand, until the following morning, at 06-00 she arrived
home with all the feathers missing out of her back and blood everywhere. She had I think she had
been attacked by a hawk, but whatever happened she had shown great courage in getting home. The
following season in 1981, I decided to prepare her for Nantes, and watched her carefully on her
arrival back from club races, to make sure she was suffering no after affects, from her expedience at
Rennes the previous year. All seemed well, so along with the other 4 in my team, she was prepared
for Nantes, with club races of 150, 200, & 250 miles. After having settled on her eggs, she was given
as many 40-mile tosses as time allowed. On the day of basketing she had been sitting 15 days. The
Nantes birds were liberated at 09-15am, ‘Lady Jane’ was timed at 21-13 with a velocity of 1469 ypm
for 600 miles. (to win the race JM) Another of the team, took 22 nd open and the rest of the 5 birds
were home by 9-30 the following morning, having taken 43 rd & 61 st open Rennes the previous
weekend. This concluded a very exciting week for me.

2

Lady Jane’s’ sire, is a red chequer cock, which I have always kept for stock, he was kindly given to
me by my cousin Alec Allison of Carnwath, who is one of Lanarkshire’s top national fliers. ‘Young
Scalpy’ has proved to be an outstanding stock bird directly responsible for 8 SNFC certificates so
far. His unusual names come from his mother, as a nestling, she was badly pecked about the head by
an intruder in the nest box. Beryl- Alec’s wife, nursed her back to heath, and christened her ‘Scalpy’.
She went on to take many prominent positions, in national races, and was an outstanding stock bird.
‘Lady Jane’s’ dam had only one race from France taking 175 th open Rennes in 1973, and then
because of her breeding she was then retired to stock. Her bloodlines go back to J McGilvery of the
Forth, a previous double winner of the Nantes race. My loft is 18 feet by 7 feet with 24 pairs
including the stock pairs. After the 1980 racing season I put down for the first time a deep litter of
Spanish Clay granules; the birds took to it immediately, in fact a lot quicker than their owners, after
being a scraper man for 19 years, I still find it difficult to get used to the deep litter, but if the pigeons
like it then that is all the matters. My feeding methods are very simple, I give the birds a mixture,
maize and wheat, 3 times each day, and there are always some beans in the hoppers. I believe one
should vary the contents of the mixture with regard to the work the pigeons are doing, since muzzle
require energy for sustained work. As far as exercise is concerned, I am very fortunate being able to
give my birds an open loft all day. I feel the benefit of this is not so much, the exercise but the fact
that it is a more natural state for the pigeons to live in. They are very content flying out and in as they
please. One danger of this system can be poisoning in the fields at certain times of the year. Being a
farmer, I know these times and I keep the birds shut in. The management of my loft is geared
completely towards the National races. With my system of always breeding ONLY from PRIZE
WINNERS, in these National races. I now feel that I have a family that gives me more than a
reasonable chance of scoring. I do enjoy young bird racing but use it only as a means of weeding out
and giving experience to the babies. They are given every race through to our last federation open
race, which is about 200 miles. Unfortunately; I have not often been able to fly the yb national race;
this is due to the fact the it takes place around harvest time, and then the farm takes precedence over
the pigeons.
Finally, to sum up, I would like to say, that I feel we should always remember that the pigeons have
natural instincts and responses. To try and interfere with these is courting disaster, I feel we are more
than half way to success if we use these instincts and responses intelligently, gaining the complete
confidence of the birds. While compiling my article for the 1981 year book, I never imagined I
would be doing the same in 1982. To win Nantes again, and thus create a record for the first person
do this in consecutive years, seems quite unbelievable to me. I have been asked by many fanciers
how this feel, but I find it hard to put into words. Last year I had a feeling of excitement for many
weeks on winning my first national, this year, it was still very exciting, but I have more a sense of
satisfaction in that it was a completely different type of race. In 1981, it was a fast race with many
birds’ home on the day, 1982 was quite opposite, with no bird’s home on the day. In fact, very few
birds homed before lunchtime the second day. ‘Loan Frill Lady’ landed at 05-51am to win with 30
minutes to spare flying 599 miles. ‘Loan Frill Lady’ is a small to medium hen, with a little frill on
her chest. She was bred in 1976 and raced to 212 miles as a young bird. In 1977 after a very bad race
from Worchester, 250 miles, she took 2 weeks to return, but that was her last mistake. In 1978 she
flew Rennes but was just out of the clock. In 1979, I put her to Nantes where she took 35 th open, then
Nantes again in 1980, where she was even better winning 6 th section 7 th open. In 1981 the year ‘Lady
Jane’ won; ‘Loan Frill Lady’ just missed the prizes. Then this year she wins 1 st open. For me her
performances over the last 4 years make her one of Scotland’s Nantes birds.
Last year I wrote about my management and methods in the loft, this year I would like to make a few
comments and observations on breeding. While racing takes dedication, hard work and time,

3

breeding takes constant study of the birds and their pedigrees. There are many champion racing
pigeon fanciers, but like good breeding pigeons, champion breeders are THIN ON THE GROUND.
The reason for this I feel, is that the top breeder has a kind of sixth sense when it comes to pairing
birds. He cannot explain it, but I would put it down to ‘stock sense’ on the other hand being a
successful breeder does not always result in being a successful racer. In this case perhaps the man
with the stock sense lacks the dedication of the racer. One hears many arguments about inbreeding or
line breeding verses cross breeding, with each exponent convinced his way is right. Personally, I
prefer to take a middle road. Being extreme in anything seldom gets you anywhere, and especially
not in the world of pigeon racing. Obviously, to establish a family of consistent racers you have to
inbreed. I do this, but only with the best of specimens, and with pigeons that have flown 500 miles
more than once. I only go really close to get my stock birds. I do a bit of crossing as well. Whenever
I feel my family needs an injection of fresh blood, to give it extra vigour and stamina, or I need to
correct a fault that is creeping in, I cross breed. The cross MUST BE a similar type to my own and
come from a family consistently winning at 500/600 miles. The young of the first cross MUST WIN-
I do not wait until the next generation. The whole idea of a cross is to give your family a lift, and if it
cannot do it immediately then out it goes. My really outstanding racers such as Loan Frill Lady are
from a first cross. Her sire was bred by W Brown of Peebles, while her dam is my 1298 hen, who is
the mother and great dam of my whole loft, and closely inbred to my original stock. This would
suggest that one should inbreed for stock and outcross for good racers. In last year’s article, I also
said I only keep 4 pairs of stock birds. Good stock birds are both hard to breed and to find. My own
requirements in a bird under consideration for stock are as follows – It must come from a long line of
pigeons that have won at 500/600 miles, and conform to my standard of physique. This includes a
strong back and rump but not too deep in the keel, and showing an abundance of pectoral muscles. I
like a pigeon to have a nice supple wing with the last 4 primaries narrower than the others, thus
showing gaps between them similar to the 4 fingers of your hand. The secondaries should be broad
and of medium length, and, is the case with all top pigeons, the feathers should be smooth and feel
like velvet. The pigeon must come into my hand every easily, immediately feeling both balanced and
buoyant in them. This feeling is difficult to describe with words, but I know instinctively whenever I
handle a pigeon, if it is of the type I like and think ‘should win’. Lastly, I like to see my stock birds
with eyes of rich pigmentation, whatever the colour. Even after passing all the above requirements,
in the end, a top stock cock is judged by how many winners it breeds. Some of you after reading this,
will say ‘But they breed and race in ALL shapes and sizes. This to a point is correct. However, we
must remember that this sport of ours is supposed to be a hobby giving lots of pleasure. With this in
mind, I decided many years ago that if I was going to win it would be with the type of pigeon I
LIKED. I am sure you will agree with me that I say, it gives TWICE THE PLEASURE, TO WIN
WITH A PIGEON WE FANCY, as opposed to one we do not.
Before finishing, I would like to illustrate a point I made last year. I stated that it was very important
to gain the confidence of your pigeons. An example of this is ‘Loan Frill Lady’. During the racing
season, after their evening meal, I give them a few seeds in their nest boxes. Now, whenever I go for
the tin of seeds, which I keep, just beside the bucket where I sit to watch my pigeons, along come
‘Lady’. Even if she is sitting, she still comes, and I give her a few seeds, stroking her chest at the
same time. To me, she is a little friend, but more importantly, I think I am HER FRIEND.

Joe’s Joke

The Sensitive Man
A woman meets a man in a bar; they talk; they connect; they end up leaving together. They get back
to his place, and as he shows her around his apartment. She notices that one wall of his Bedroom is
completely filled with soft, sweet, cuddly teddy bears. There are three shelves in the bedroom, with

4

hundreds and hundreds of cute, cuddly Teddy bears carefully placed in rows, covering the entire
wall!
It was obvious that he had taken quite some time to lovingly arrange them and she was immediately
touched by the amount of thought he had put into organizing the display. There were small bears all
along the bottom shelf, Medium-sized bears covering the length of the middle shelf, and huge,
enormous bears running all the way along the top shelf. She found it strange for an obviously
masculine guy to have such a large collection of Teddy Bears, she is quite impressed by his Sensitive
side. But doesn't mention this to him they share a bottle of wine and continue talking and, after a
while, she finds herself thinking, "Oh my God! Maybe, this guy could be the one! Maybe he could be
the future ‘Father of my children?" She turns to him and kisses him lightly on the lips and he
responds warmly. They continue to kiss, the passion builds and he romantically lifts her in his arms
and carries her into his bedroom where they rip off each other's clothes and make hot, steamy love.
She is so overwhelmed that she responds with more passion, more creativity, more heat than she has
ever known. After an intense, explosive night of raw passion with this sensitive guy, they are lying
there together in the afterglow. The woman rolls over, gently strokes his chest and asks coyly,
"Well, how was it?" The guy gently smiles at her, strokes her cheek, looks deeply into her eyes,
And says: "Help yourself to any prize from the middle shelf"

Please continue to keep the news flowing; to Joe Murphy Mystical Rose Cottage 2 Flutorum Avenue
Thornton by Kirkcaldy KY1 4BD or phone 01592 770331 or Email to joejmurphy1@gmail.com
REMEMBER THE J IN THE MIDDLE or log onto www.elimarpigeons.com www.fancierchat.co.uk
www.pigeon-chat.co.uk who wish my weekly contribution portfolio on pigeon topics from Scotland