Steve Carey

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THE FEDERATION WESTERLY PROFILE

Fancier – Steve Carey

Sorry no profile last month due to other commitments and sadly this one will be the last for this year and takes me down to Kent to meet up with Steve Carey who like Damien the previous month has found the art of one word answers but persistence has paid off and I am now able to put a very interesting profile together. Steve was born in Ashford, Nr Folkstone, Kent in 1956 which makes him 47 He has been married to Julie for 24 years and they have three children Michelle 23, Martin 21 and Steven Jnr who is 14 years old. Steve’s daughter has shown an interest in the pigeons and in fact was in partnership with Steve showing at their local club The South East England Show Pigeon Society with print tipplers that were given to her by the late Harry Surridge. Steve’s two boys are not too bothered about the birds. In fact it’s Michelle that looks after Steve’s birds when he manages to get away and when not available his eldest son Martin steps into help out. Steve is the middle of three children having an older sister (Carol) and a younger brother (Rod) neither has an interest in pigeons but his brother did keep rabbits at one time. Steve is a carpet fitter by trade and has been now for 32 years he would hate to guess how many square miles of carpet he has laid in that time. His other hobby is sea and freshwater fishing but he is not as serious about fishing as he is with his birds. Steve met up with Ian Johnson in the early seventies when he was introduced to him by John Ottley and have remained friends ever since. Steve moved from Folkstone to Hawkinge in 1993. Family pets include a cat called ‘Baggy’, 3 ferrets ‘Johnny, Fergie and Jess’ Goldfish and a budgie called ‘Gandolf’

A. I have lived in Kent all my life but moved to Hawkinge in 1993 believe it or not to get a bigger gardens to put my sheds in having previously lived in Folkstone for 15 years in terraced house with a small garden.

A. I started keeping pigeons in 1968 when a school friend introduced me to pigeons having had a fantail fly into his bedroom window. When I met Ian in the early seventies he also had fantails but introduced me too tumblers. I gave up keeping birds in 1977 after meeting my wife and getting married at that time I was keeping baldheads and rollers as feeders, We would send our birds to the shows by British Rail as John used to work for British Rail in those days. I started keeping birds again in 1989 with West’s that I got from Ian Johnson and John Hadlow. John, Ian and I would go to the shows together, which is when I met up with Pete Holland who introduced me to the spangles, which I then started keeping in 1992. It was around this time that Michelle my daughter was given some Tipplers, which is how I came to keep two breeds. I now belong to the following Clubs The National Federation, Bideford &SW, Bristol TTSS London & Essex and the South East England Show Pigeon Society.

A. At present I have about 60 West’s and 20 Tipplers. The Tipplers are mostly prints and the West’s are mainly spangles in Reds, Yellow, Dun and Black. My favourite colours are Black and Yellow Spangles and dark coloured prints..

A. I have not had a very good breeding season hence I have about 20 young West’s and 10 Tipplers but as they say you only need one to be a winner.

A. I have three lofts one is 12ft x 8ft in two sections then I have a breeding loft which is 10ft x 8ft and the smallest is my young bird loft which is 6ft x 8ft. All have ‘V’ perches. I use sawdust on the floor and hopper feed. I clean out once a week, which takes about two hours. I mix my own food but the main ingredients are Buxtons VIP and Versele Laga King Pearls show mix.

Q. What do you look for in a good West?

A. What I look for in a West is exactly the same as when I am judging. How it stands, not too high on the leg, Good eye (white as possible), Good width of feather, Head broad and slightly rounded but not flat. Should carry body, so when handled the breastbone does not feel sharp. Also when handling if the bird is to long then it feels as though you have a handful of feathers and will fell unbalanced. I like my cock birds to be larger than the hens, but the hen should carry more body then cocks as they sit about rather than chase around the loft like the cocks do. The Tipplers are more or less the same as the West’s, although they seem to carry more body than the West’s.

Q. Tips for novices?

A. When starting with West’s or Tipplers, watch to see who’s winning at the shows, Talk to them most fanciers will help and give advice, ask if they will breed you some young birds or sell stock birds. Between May and October is usually the best time to approach fanciers for birds, as this is when they sort the birds ready for the winter shows that start in October.

Q. What are your future aims?

A. My future aims are to enjoy showing my pigeons and meeting the many friends I have made over the years at the shows.

Q. What are your views on flying breeds?

A. My view is that I am happy with the way flying breeds are. Size of the birds varies in different parts of the Country, mostly with the Tipplers. So in my opinion birds aren’t getting too big. It just depends on where you live and show. I don’t think the Federation could be run any better than it is, Dave and the lads in Bristol do a brilliant job, but if it moves to another part of the country I would still support it as most of the shows I support are 200+ miles from home.

Q. Are there any people you would like to thank?

A. I would like to thank all my friends who have helped me over the years with the pigeons. I wont mention any names, as I will probably miss someone out. So enjoy your pigeons and as Pete Holland would say ‘It’s only a bit of fun’

There you are Steve that was nowhere near as painful as you thought thanks for your time. As stated this is the last profile for this year so it just remains to wish you all a very successful show season and see as many of you as I can around the shows by the time this profile appears we shall already have had the Queensferry show and I have no doubt it will be a successful as with still twenty days to go I already have 150 entries. – Yours in sport – Dave Walters