Birmingham Roller Thread

[Lofty Dreams]

Since Many People might have Birmingham Rollers and because they are very popular, I thought a thread could be made for Birmingham Rollers. This thread is for Birmingham Rollers only other breeds will not be alllowed [shory], if you are to put Birmingham Roller crosses please tell us what it is.

Rules
All BYC rules apply

Standered
There is a Standered but it remains unexcepted. So I plan to keep this in mind. As summarized from the NPA. Book of Pigeon Standards Revised 1984

Fanciers; [please let us know if you fly your birds and some of them Roll and what family they are from]
Lofty Dreams- Flys, John Johnson, James Turners and my own line[ in progress] Website; http://loftydreamspoultry.weebly.com/
kelliepulido- Flys, Rick Mee family
shellyd2008 - James Turner and other familys

What's Going On
The number of Birmingham Rolers we have and
Is it a cock or a hen.

Great Links
http://mnpigeonforum.freeforums.org/index.php

Helpful Posts
Page 1
Standered
What to Look for in a Spin
The Velocity Spectrum

 

[Lofty Dreams]

Standered
NPA. Book of Pigeon Standards Revised 1985

Size
• Medium to Small
• Short rather then long
• Short legs and neck
• Weights in flying condition
Cock 11 ounces
Hen 9 ounces
• Length from the nape of the neck to the tip of the tail
Cock 8 1/2"
Hen 8"

Posture and Proportion
• Need to be between horizontal or erect
• Tail should drop downward at 5-10 degrees and be approximately off the floor by 1"
• Cocks should show masculinity
• Hens should show feminity
• Unknown sex of a bird remove
• Remove
o Weak headed
o Spindle necked
o To long a tail
o To high in the legs
o Knocked-Kneed
o To large or to small

Head
• Don't want
o Round like a ball
o Conspicuously flat
o A perfect Oval
o Crested
• Viewed from the side you should start with the curvature of the head with a definite break at the base of the beak continue upwards rather abruptly until it reaches a high point just in front of the eye. Then for a short distance the curve should stimulate a straight line continue backwards and slightly downwards merging into the back neckline without any short or sudden breaks to mar its continuity. There should be more back skull then front skull and the top skull shouldn't be lacking.
• Viewed from the front the face should start to develop right behind the wattle and there should be width across the eyes appearing slightly arched instead of flat of angular. Too Narow or flat a face should be avoided.


Eyes
• All colors are acceptable including
o Pearl [not the same type of eye of the Budapest and if it is it is not desired]
o Gravel [preferred]
o Orange [preferred]
o Yellow
o Black
• Show Specimen should have even colored eyes
• The eyes should be sent a little towards the front of the skull
• Pupil should be centered perfectly
• Ceres small and unnoticeable [ avoid red Ceres]
• The Eye should be
o Bright
o Clear
o Full of sparkle
o Denoting health and Energy

Beak
• Medium short to medium long
• Not to long and slender nor to stout but stout enough to avoid a stout appearance
• Light in beak with a white head
• Otherwise light horn to dark horn color
• Preferably not stained
• The center of the beak should pass right through the eyes
• The center of the beak passes below the center of the eye the bird is too straight faced
• The center of the beak passes above the center of the eye the bird is too down faced

Wattles [part of the beak]
• smooth
• Close Fitting
• Not too prominent

Neck
• Medium length short rather then long
• Stout at the shoulders
• Tapering gradually to the head in curves

Body
• Medium sized
• Graceful
• Well proportioned
• Short rather then long
• You don't want to be too shallow or too deep in the keel
• Keel extending towards the vent bones and showing ample firmness
• Medium with in front tapering to a little at the rear
• Crop to blend into the chest in a graceful curve
• Straight back


Wings
• Tightly curve-folded against the body
• Appear integal with the body
• Rest upon the tail with secondaries and coverts overlapping the back
• Excess tail protrusion indicates
o Long Cast bird
o Insignificant wing
o Or Both


Rump
• narrow
• confirm to general symmetry of the body and tail
• Straight line with the tail
• Oil Gland

Tail
• 12 strong springy feathers
• Tightly packed
• Ending in not over 11/2" feather width
• Short rather then long
• 5/8" out of the wings
• 1" off the floor


Legs
• Sturdy and of medium length
• Short rather then long
• Don't want
o Their legs to be like a ducks
o Groused
o Long legs
o Wide-kneed
o Knock-kneed ... birds
• Lower leg should extend forward but not straight down
• A Front View should show parallel legs with a fair distance between them

Feather and Condition
General
• The entire bird should be sheltered in a firm smooth, tight fitting coat of feathers
• The feathers should show health and maturity
• There should be no looseness or protrusion of feathers on the rump or on the hock
• Feathers need to be
o Strong in quill
o Nice and springy
o Ample width
o Correct length
• Tapering gradually to the head in curves

Condition
• Involves
o Certain muscular hardness
o Firm body structure
o Complete flexibility of all wing joints without any indication of slow reflexes
o Devoid of lethargy
o The bird not being to fat
o A good molt

Tail Feathers
• 12 tail feathers
• ending in not over 1 1/2 feather width
• feathers need to be able to afford ample reinforcement
• There should be no split tail or wry trail

Wing Feathers
• The position of the primaries and secondaries should describe a convex pattern or at least straight

Expression
• Determines poise, stamina and alertness.
• A likely measure of a birds capability, stability in the air are evaluated by the eyes.
• The eyes should be pleasingly attractive
• Intrigue you into admiring it.

Disqualifications
1. Cross bred birds
2. Sick Birds
3. Wrong sex Entry
4. Odd-eyed birds
5. Cracked-eyed birds

 

[Lofty Dreams]

What to look for in a spin

What you want in a roll is really the qualities you want to breed into your line of pigeons.
o Strong flying -
 love to fly for and the full time
o Tight Kitting -
 fly tightly together
 no more then 10 feet away from the kit unless it's rolling
o Speed of Rotation -
 head back at tail while flapping wings
 want to see a hole in the middle
o Cleanness and Style-
 want to see the hole in the side
 want emphasis on rolling speed
o Speed of Descent -
 wing beats should contribute to the speed,
 faster falling birds are better
 best Velocity 16 feet per second
 in the best 1 seconds = 32 feet, 2 seconds = 64 feet, 3 seconds = 96 feet
 don't want them to roll in place .
o Depth of Roll -
 Determined mentally and physically
 For this 30-50 foot spinners
o Duration of the Roll -
 Want them to roll deep long
o Performance Regularity -
 Want them to roll a lot
 5-10 foot rolls two times per minute
 want to see a hole in the middle
o Performance Stability-
 At the proper time and height
o Roll Termination -
 Repeat the roll
o Returning to the Kit -
 Return quickly

 

[Lofty Dreams]

The Velocity Spectrum

Included as an excerpt from David Kowasski's book "True Spinning Rollers."
These traits may make the bird a faster roller or a slower roller. These factors should be evaluated in determining your parent stock and kit birds.

• Faster roll
o Short Keel
o Sharply pitched keel
o Muscle tone
o Short arm bone
o Narrow flights
o Short primaries
o Short secondaries
o Tight feather
o Sparse feather
o Narrow tail
o Short tail

• Slower roll
o Long tail
o Wide tail
o Thick feather
o Loose feather
o Long primaries
o Long secondaries
o Wide primaries
o Poor muscle tone
o Long arm bone
o No keel pitch
o Long Keel

 

[Lofty Dreams]

Hello?

 

[kelliepulido]

Lots of good info thanks.I am new to pigeons,and just figuering out what to do to get a good roller kit etc and how to train them.

i have Rick Mee family they are young birds this season,roll short but freq.but don't stay in the air long.They are all from my breeders this year the oldest in the kit is about 5m maybe hatched in March

 

[shelleyd2008]

I'm not 100% sure what family mine are from but I'm 95% sure the red mottle and qualmond hens are from James Turner. I'll have to contact the guy I got them and the reduced's from to make sure. I bought the 2 baldheads at a poultry show this spring so I have no idea about those, and the 2 dark/reds were bred here from birds bought at a local auction.

I have not flown any of my birds due to the fact that I only have 9 birds total. Maybe next year they'll have better luck hatching (only 1 baby for this year so far) so I can increase my numbers. Anyway, here's the photo-shoot

Here is what the previous owner says about the red mottle hen he gave me: "Red mottle James Turner hen.She has produced some very good rollers over different cock birds"; Qualmond just says 'James Turner hen".

Okay, pics

Baldhead cock (left) and baldhead juvenile

Baldhead juvenile

James Turner red mottle hen

Reduced cock (I think this is the cock bird anyway lol)

Reduced hen

Can't remember what color they said this one was, black something I think...maybe it was dark check?? I believe it is a male but I'm not sure since it sits on the nest all night and day

And the other 'dark' one, red something I believe they said. I have no idea what sex this one is but it looks like a hen

Turner qualmond hen (she's so pretty

)

#9 is the 'baby', about 6 weeks old. I haven't taken pics of it yet

ETA: Everyone of these birds is PURE Birmingham Roller. Just about every time I post pics someone comes around to say they are homers. So if you think they are homers, just keep it to yourself

 

[kelliepulido]

nice

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
One of these days I'll get good pics of them, maybe put them in a cage out in the sun so you can see their colors well

 

[Lofty Dreams]

Quote:
One of these days I'll get good pics of them, maybe put them in a cage out in the sun so you can see their colors well

I just take my Pictures of my Pigeons from a milk crate with blue cardstock in the back still some of them arn't the most photogenetic as they tried to get out.

Cream Fudge Khaki hen

shellyd2008 is the red pigeon you have a Red Check Self