any east TN area pigeon keepers, willing to teach a interested newbie?

[laughingdog]

im interested in aquiring some of the acrobatic pigeons as love watching them fly and do acrobatics, but want to learn alot more, and cant seem to find local resourses. also cannot seem to find out which type im interested in as size of american or birmingham rollers by print descriptions, but cant find comparative pics, and these might be mixes as do more than the one thing described, but like described oriental rollers. anyone in my area with any to teach aboutm or eggs to adults to try to acquire???

 

[Lofty Dreams]

I have A few files you might like About Birmingham Rollers[do the backward Summersaults]

Birmingham Rollers

• Neat looking
• Medium size larger then a dove
• Developed in Birmingham, England from Russian Crack Tumblers and oriental rollers who both tumble
• Breed for their backwards somersaults
• When breeding for performance color doesn't mater
• Some will roll when they are 4-8 months old but some might not roll.
• Fly them in kits of 11 or 20 but you probably will want more in case of rolldowns who don't stop to pull up in time and predators
• When flying remove pigeons who don't roll


The Birmingham Roller Standard
[Might be accepted]
National Pigeon Assn.
Book Of Pigeon Standereds
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 gracefull 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

True Spinng Rollers
David Koalski

What you want in a roll
Strong flying -
 Want the bird to love to fly for and the full time
Tight Kitting -
 The birds should fly tightly together
 Go no more then 10 feet away from the kit[group] unless it's rolling
Speed of Rotation -
 head back at tail while flapping wings
 want to see a hole in the middle
Cleanness and Style-
 want to see the hole in the side
 want emphasis on rolling speed
Speed of Descent -
 wing beats should contribute to the speed,
 faster falling birds are better
 don't want them to roll in place .
Depth of Roll -
 Determined mentally and physically
Duration of the Roll -
 Want them to roll deep long
Performance Regularity -
 Want them to roll a lot
 5-10 foot rolls two times per minute
 want to see a hole in the middle
Performance Stability-
 At the proper time and height
Roll Termination -
 Repeat the roll
o Returning to the Kit -
 Return quickly to the loft


The Velocity Spectrum [how fast they roll]
• 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

 

[Towman72gmc]

check with the NPA. http://npausa.com/

 

[laughingdog]

think i have oriental rollers, as they all have thirteen tail feathers, and look just like the orientals im seeing in pics and videos from other countries.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

They probably are then. Do they hold their wings below the tail?

 

[laughingdog]

they lately have been holding above, even, out upward, and before that for longest time down or under, but the one with more of fantail just always holds oddly. just noticed aside from some small feathers on feet to all covered, the legs are covered with feathers, on all i think, but one female has no foot feathering, and one sqweaker has minimal to non on feet. they dont do any tricks unless on ground then fliparound if cornered, but my racer out with them started doing all sorts of tricks and manouvers, but no maybe werent exact flips with them. they got tired out flying around just a bit, were my racer would fly circles around them and the stunts, while they were seeming to struggle to stay in air. two are young, but still they look older my lack of left over fluff strings that mine has with pins and such, so figure theyd be better flyers, as mine first time out to train it to home and fly, it was perfect in form and everything zooming straight back to cage and me when id toss.
im confused by my birds now again, but happy and amused non the less. is there an age were pelvic testing is better method or when pelvic seperates more? i thought my racer was girl, but pelvic spacing is so small, even though it doesnt squabble with the one know is male, but the one younger of two sqweakers, has in between spacing between the male and the one guessing female by really wide spacing and nesting, and other slightly older guessing sqweaker that has wide space, but not quite as much space as the one. the learning abut this is fun, though maybe not those experianced now having to try to help.. lol