Although I use only peas and wheat for flying, for trapping purposes and before they went away for a race, I did use a special mixture which had been given to me at one time by an old pigeon flyer.

I remember him well and the story he told me about how he received this recipe. He went away from Australia in the 1914-18 war.

While over in Europe he eventually arrived in Belgium where he decided to stop for a few years. He became an apprentice to one of the top Belgian flyers. This Belgian flyer always used this recipe.

After he finished his apprenticeship and came back to Adelaide, he decided to use it himself and found it immediately to be very successful. For many years he made it up and supplied it to me, but I could never find out what the ingredients were.

When he stopped flying he said "Bill, I'm going to give you that recipe", and he did so here it is for what it is worth.

1/2 kilo nigra
1 kilo milo
1 kilo rice
1 kg linseed
1 kg rolled oats (whole oats)
1 kg canary seed
1/2 kg rape
12 eggs
3 tablespoons of Parish's chemical food or an equivalent iron compound
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 glass sweet sherry
3 tablespoons of calcium

Mix the Parish's chemical, sugar, eggs, sweet sherry and calcium together. When it is well mixed, pour it over the seeds which have been well mixed Put it out in the sun to dry. It will be quite lumpy to start with, butjust keep breaking the lumps up until eventually it looks like an ordinary seed with a sweet sherry type smell. When it is dry put it in a bag which can be aerated I prefer a bag to a drum as it allows the air to go through the seed.

I remember asking this old flyer just what the seed did. He said it did two things. (I can only take his word for this, but it seemed to work). He said firstly before they went it toned the blood up in the pigeons. The second thing was when they came home it removed the toxins from the body. I believe it did a third thing - they liked it and because they liked it they trapped well.

Another thing that I believe helped them to trap well was by keeping them calm. I always set out each year to train the youngsters to be very quiet and tame. I could put out my hand and they would land on my shoulder or arm.