On a personal note I think most pigeon fanciers know I suffer with the dreaded pigeon fanciers lung. Although it came to a head in 1995 I think I probably had it for years but wouldn’t admit it for fear of having to pack up my beloved birds. The year 1995 was a very bad one for me. Firstly, I discovered that I had pigeon fanciers lung after twenty five years in our great sport. It was the hardest thing I have had to do in my life when I had to get rid of my team of pigeons. Not only did I feel very sorry for myself, but was shattered for my daughter, Caroline, who was a very good pigeon fancier and my partner. On giving up my birds I decided to carry on as Secretary of the Surrey Championship Club, an office I had held for none years at that time, and increase my hobby in pigeon journalism. My second bit of bad luck that year was an accident at my work as a Carpenter. I fell head first 10 feet through a rotten roof smashing my nose and right elbow on the concrete floor below. I had a stay in Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton, and had two screws inserted into my shattered elbow. This set back meant a year off work and I couldn’t write. They say when one door closes another opens and from the sale of my small team of birds I could afford to purchase a professional standard camcorder which I had always wanted, and the time off meant I could make some pigeon videos. Well, four camcorders and two cars later we have produced 18 highly successful "Many Miles with Mott" videos, which are in turn producing articles on top fanciers for the British Homing World and Gazette. Whilst I was in Scotland shooting "Many Miles with Mott" number 12, I visited Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow, home of the British Pigeon Fanciers Medical Research Unit for a one to one interview with Dr. Gavin Boyd, the pioneer of research into pigeon fanciers lung. In my interview I asked Dr. Boyd what were the symptoms and he replied, "Well, I think the classic symptoms are flu-like aches and pains with a temperature, shivering, feverishness and sweating, coming on 4-6 hours after fairly heavy contact with the birds." I then asked him if it could be cured by drugs and he said, " I think that the real treatment is to avoid heavy exposure to bloom and get exposure to the pigeons to a level below that which triggers off the clinical problem." My next question to Dr. Boyd was, "So would you be saying that fanciers should be using an open aviary type loft?" His reply was, "I’m not going to tell pigeon fanciers how to race their birds but the truth is, if you are sensitised then you have to be able to adjust the way you make contact with the birds to limit the amount of bloom that you are exposed to."

In 1997, whilst at B.H.W. Blackpool Show, I met pigeon lung sufferer Tony Grinsill of Wakefield, and I had a chat with him about the problem. In 1986 Tony built a new closed in type loft having moved to a new address and on pairing up, early February, developed a persistent cough. After approximately eight weeks of treatment by his doctor and a worsening situation, he was very breathless and had started to lose weight rapidly. He was referred to a specialist at the hospital, where he had various lung tests and X-rays, Tony admitted to keeping pigeons and had done so for some 23 years. It was now June and the doctor’s, "get rid of your pigeons" instructions were reluctantly adhered to. I have been down the same road as Tony and was told that I could not have day-to-day contact with pigeons by the chest specialist at my local hospital. Dr Philip Lynch of the British Pigeon fanciers Medical Research Unit in Glasgow is himself a pigeon fancier and says he would hate to have to tell another fancier to give up his pigeons - this is up to the person concerned. Fanciers are never told by the B.P.F.M.R. unit to leave the sport and ways are tried to suppress the allergy so fanciers can carry on with their hobby. If a fancier wears a mask, loft coat and had in the loft, quite often their count will go down. Dr Lynch maintains that an open aviary type loft is also a step in the right direction.

This did not deter Tony Grinsill as he persevered and started to plan when he could restart in the sport. It was made clear to him by the medical profession that if he removed the source of the allergy he would be OK. He, therefore, reasoned that as long as he did not enter a loft he would be fine, so why not have a loft which he didn’t need to enter? The result that a loft 7 feet long, 3 feet wide and 3 feet high was set up at waist height, almost like a rabbit hutch. The loft worked so well that in December of that year he was discharged by the specialist but had kept four pairs of pigeons since early October. It had worked!

On my return home from that Blackpool trip I was offered a pair of my old pigeons back, which had gone by their sell by date. I built two rabbit hutches (pictures in this article) so that I could have them as pets. The result was no bad effect, so I added a third section and bob-wire traps. In 1998 I obtained a few choice youngsters from some of the very best long distance lofts with the view to racing in the Pau NFC event which I think is one of the premier races in our sport. With such a small team of pigeons I cannot hope to enjoy weekly racing success as I did in the past, so it is more realistic to have a go at one good race hopefully be successful at one or two others along the way. I trained my 1998 young birds well along the south coast and entered five in the London and South East Classic Club Guernsey race, recording four, with my first bird being in the Open result.

In the winter of 1998 I decided that the stack of three sections was not practicable with the bottom one being too low and top one being too high. In the Christmas period, as predicted by many, I doubled my rabbit hutch set-up to six sections. In the space of seven days I moved out the old set-up, put down a slab patio and built the new loft on top of it. The loft is 10ft long, 2ft deep and 6ft high and has six spacious sections to house six pairs of long distance racers. It is made of ¾ ply and is set on a nice 3 inch by 2 inch timber stand. Each section has a bob-wire trap and all wire doors are fully moveable. So they don’t flap about and damage the birds as they fly out. When not in use the bob hole trap is blocked off with special "gravestone" shut off boards and the stand has a nice shelf to store the pigeon bath and nest-bowls etc. Since building the old bird rabbit hutch I constructed a new matching 4ft double to house ten young birds each season. I always wear a mask when cleaning out the loft which is a very quick job carried out at least once per day and the whole set up is kept spotlessly clean. When the birds are taken out in the car they are carried in reeded widowhood baskets in the car boot and the driver’s window is always kept open. The baskets are cleaned out every time after use and re-chipped regularly, always with a mask on.

The 1999 season saw me race 5 yearlings and 11 youngsters to my rabbit hutch loft. I won several good positions in the Pyrford Club and the 56th and 116th Open in London and South East Classic Club Guernsey Young Bird Classic, lifting £500.00. The birds are so well in the rabbit hutch type loft that I would not go back to a normal walk in-type loft even if I could. It’s a wonderful way of keeping racing pigeons and I’m thinking of building another 4ft double in the Spring. I start the 2000 racing season with a full 6 pairs of yearlings and two year old racers, looking forward to the long distance events. For the last three seasons I have been a convoyer for the London and South east Classic which may sound horrific for someone with pigeon fanciers lung, but most of the work is done in the open air and I always wear a mask and coat when watering and liberating the birds. I love driving through France to places like Bordeaux and Pau, and I have never had any ill effects from my convoying work. In the last five years I have made 300 pigeon loft visits for my video and writing work, and if I said it hadn’t affected me I would be a liar, but my pigeon lung attacks are now milder and less frequent because I don’t go into a pigeon loft every day. Not everyone who has suffered will be able to keep pigeons, but I believe that modern enclosed lofts are a major factor in encouraging the problem. Few fanciers had the allergy when racing pigeons 30 years ago to the old type dowel fronted lofts and generally fewer pigeons were housed in them. I have been amazed at the number of fanciers I have spoken to who say they have symptoms but have not been tested. However, if I’m honest, I think I had it for about 15 years before it peaked in 1994 when I was very ill. I get many phone calls from all over the UK asking me about the problem and I’m happy to have a chat about the allergy, but the person who really knows about the problem is Dr. Gavin Boyd at the Research Centre in Glasgow (0141 201 3724). I can’t praise Dr. Boyd enough for his excellent work. I am amazed at the great interest which has been shown in my new rabbit hutch lofts. I’ve had phone calls and letters from pigeon lung sufferers from as far away as New Zealand who are looking for a new start in our great sport. Dr. Philip Lynch gave me a blood test at the N.E.H.U Show, Peterlee a few months ago and the result was very low at 4mcg/ml, so it looks as if the rabbit hutch system could be one of the answers to pigeon fanciers lung.

If you wish to contact Keith Mott about matters raised in this article he can be contacted by phoning 01372 463480.