Purebred Pigeon May/June 2024

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Helmet – Page 34 – Purebred PIGEON
Breed of the Issue - Helmet
MuffedHelmets?
ALongTime InTheWorks
By Kevin Moths- reprint from the May/June 2021 issue
I t was the early 1980s, I was out of high school and living
on my own. I met a man that learned I raised pigeons as a
boy. He happened to find a pigeon in a barn, so he caught
it, brought it to me, and asked if I would like to have it. I did
not know the breed but thought it was beautiful. I was single
and lived in a duplex with a little yard – well I could not resist
the urge – so I built a small 4' x 4' x 6' high pen and bam! I was
back in the pigeon hobby.
I found more information about the breed (Helmet) and
then I found the Helmet club (American Helmet Association)
and the American Pigeon Journal. In August of 1986, the APJ
ran a special issue devoted to Helmets. On the cover of that
issue was a drawing done by Diane Jacky in 1981 that included
a Muffed Helmet. That issue introduced
the “Muffed Helmets.” There are pictures
and articles that show the progress of
the muffed Helmet at that point. Well-
known breeders like Toni Patti, Harold
Strawniak, and Al Flinn were working
on the project. It sparked my interest in
working on the muffed Helmet.
There was enough interest by the
early 1990’s that the American Helmet
Association Board of Directors decided
to set up a committee to create the guide-
lines and a written standard for a muffed
Helmet. When complete, the Board of
Directors and the club members would
review it and decide if it could or should
be added to the standard. The committee
was set up in early 1993, with five mem-
bers: Tony Patti, Harold Strawniak, Al
Flinn, Allen Easterday and myself, Kevin Moths (Chairman).
The National Pigeon Association Grand National in 1995
was held in Oklahoma City. This was my very first NPA grand
National to attend, so I was super excited in many ways mainly
because I also entered several of my Muffed Helmets in the
“Project Class.” I was also scheduled to present the “Muffed
Helmet” proposal in the AHA club meeting. The meeting
was well attended by the membership, the proposal was well
received with lots of interest and a very open discussion. In
the end there were several sticky points the board of directors
felt they needed more time to review before it should go to the
membership for a vote.
By 1997 I had a turn of events in my personal life that
meant I needed to pick some priorities – my pigeon hobby was
not one of them, so all my birds had to find a new grain giver.
Then in 2008 I reached
a point in my personal
life that allowed me to
return to the hobby.
I did not pick
up where I left off.
Instead I picked a new
breed of pigeon with a
new direction – the Portuguese Tumbler with its new club, The
Portuguese Tumbler Club of America. I also stumbled into a
muffed breed that at that time I really took a liking to – a short
face breed, the Warsaw Butterflys. I still breed them and use
three pair each year.
It was about 2016 I raised a
Butterfly hen that had a small crest
and was almost completely white but
with a red tail. Well, that got the gears
turning in my head – is anyone still
working on the Muffed Helmet? This
could be a possibly a good cross to
work with? With the NYBS coming
up I thought I would see if there was
a muffed class. I don’t believe there
were any there that year. But I decided
to keep the bird. I got in touch with
Tony Patti who said I should use it. He
would send me a project Medium Face
Crested Helmet with grousing on its
legs.
Well, at first I really wasn’t inter-
ested but after several emails I decided
I would jump back into the Medium
Face Crested Muffed Helmet project again. That was in 2018.
In January 2021, Tony sent me more birds to work with in
both plainhead and crested. Some of them lean toward a short
face look but now I do have some nice birds to work with that
should really give me a jump start. Several of Tony’s birds have
perfect markings and are nicely booted. My F1’s and F2’s show
some promise with nice type, crest, eyes but no sign of Helmet
marking, yet. I would like to thank Tony Patti for helping me
with some very nice birds that he has years of work in, they will
push this project ahead by years, for me.
I would love to see in my lifetime, a Muffed Helmet that
looks just like Layne Bowles’ drawing he did in 1989.•
(Editor’s note: The current standard revised in 2009 has a sec-
tion for the muffed type. Go to
htm to see the standard.)