Roller Ramblings…type, eye-sign, muscle, and so on.

To say that fanciers have been intrigued by why a roller rolls would be a gross understatement. Countless hours are spent observing behavior; peering deeply into the eyes of a special roller as if it were your lover; grasping the bird in your hands following the keel with outstretched fingers searching for the slightest of deviation; stretching wings to observe the quality, and quantity, of feather from primaries right down to the tertiary; plus, a host of other experiments that would hopefully help gain further insights.

 We are often fixated by one part of the roller versus another and this usually starts with eye-sign. How many times have we heard  it, “that bird has a hot eye I know it is a monster in the air.” Or, my all time favorite, “from the look in this bird’s eye it must be a champion,” as if…

Fixation, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. Reaching a level of mediocrity in the reproduction of good rollers will take fixation, plus, a maniacal will to accept high rates of simultaneous failure and success. However, fixation in isolation will lead to a long and difficult process of understanding the complexity that makes up our rollers.  The success of our birds is not determined by one solitary feature; instead, they are determined by the sum of features. While some features, like type, are arguably the cornerstone of great performance even type alone will not get you to that mountaintop without a supporting cast.

So we should remain open, share ideas, consolidate approaches, and get out to see as many good birds as possible. Try not to get stuck on one prominent feature that stands out far above the rest–that usually means that something is out of balance. Look for the points of convergence and the sum of all attributes.

-PW

Mistakes…. Or Not Mistakes..??

      Oftentimes decisions are made, or have to be made, which can impact the outcome of ones breeding program for years into the future.  I have some examples of this kind of decision which I have thought of for years after having made the decision. 

     First there was a hen, 75 Triangle band #5989, which was three quarters of my foundation hen.  This bird was exceedingly active.  One of the most frequent I have ever bred.  She would roll to the point of utter exhaustion, and barely able to fly, would glide to the wire and sit there weakly..  On one of these occasions, a crow noticed something was wrong with her and dove down trying to peck her head.  She flew to my porch where my cat was sitting.  I ran and grabbed her just as the cat was getting ready to pounce.  The cat lost a couple of its nine lives on that occasion.

5989 with Foundation Hen

     It was my practice at the time to fly my breeders between breeding seasons, and this practice led to the loss of this valuable bird.  She turned up  missing, and I found her body 2 days later on a factory rooftop adjacent to my pottery studio.  She had blood stains on the feathers around her vent. 

   The decision to fly my breeders also led to the loss of a valuable stock cock, 73 CCRC #384, a grandson of Pensom’s 119 cock.  I didn’t think that I was making the amount of progress that I should have been, and I wanted to get a look at what this bird was capable of doing in the air.  I never found out, because I lost him.  Every time a bird is released to fly, we have to remember that it can be lost.

Heart Attack and 384

    Losing 384 was probably the catalyst for the hardest decision I ever made in my years of breeding.  Some thought that Heart Attack, 77 CRS #905, was the best bird in my loft.  However, she was unrelated to my main family of birds and I had come to the realization that I had to focus on a smaller gene pool to make the progress I hoped to make.  I carefully evaluated my breeding records, and I charted the results, making my first “family trees”.  This made it clearer to me that my main family was showing progress, while other birds were less productive.  It was at this point that I decided to let  Heart Attack and the rest of her family go.

    I had ealier mated 384 to his daughter Heart Attack, and I produced a 3/4 son.  This son was bred to an almond daughter of my foundation hen and produced a “white almond” or white ticked cock which was the deepest rolling bird, with brakes. that I have evet bred.   He would always roll deep, and the pattern would always be the same.  First he would roll 50 feet with decent speed for that depth, then he would “switch wings” causing a hitch in the roll, and go another 50 feet visably much slower.  Finally, he would switch wings a second time and would flop, exhausted, another 50 feet.

79 CRS #1240

    I eventually sold this bird because of the fact that it switched wings and the way its style degenerated as it rolled.  True, the bird never had an accident and rolled about 150 feet, but I was seeing the faults rather that the positive qualities.  The person I sold the bird to, a Mr. Alexander, had a lot of success with 1240, and bred many good, deep rollers out of him.  I had never given him a chance in the stock loft.

Standard of the Birmingham Roller

    The Los Angeles Roller Club promotes the standard of the breed, forwarded by the late William H. Pensom from is’ place of origin.  The true Birmingham Roller as described by Mr. Pensom is the most highly skilled of all aerial performing pigeons.  To maintain this level of excellence, the standard of performance must always be pursued.

                                      STANDARD

1.  The bird spins backward with such a velocity that its’ features are indistinguishable, and appear as a blur.  (Blur Speed)

2.  The wings of the bird are held parellel to one another or are nearly touching at the tips.  (H Pattern)

3.  Viewed from the side and at the proper angle, a small hole can be seen around which the birds’ body is spinning.  (Shows a Hole)