Purebred Pigeon November/December 2022

60 – Purebred PIGEON

lde

tyle

addle

umblers

–

reed

hoice

By Barry Wilson – Round Rock, Texas

I have kept pigeons since childhood when my neighbor gave me

a pair of rollers. From that point forward I was hooked on pigeons.

I eventually moved on to other breeds settling on LF Muff Tum-

blers for many years. I lived in the upper midwest which made it

a challenge to breed and keep healthy these increasingly difficult

to raise Tumblers. At some point in the 1980’s I found and added

the Olde Style Saddle Tumblers. Upon moving to central Texas I

had high hopes for better breeding success with the muff Tumblers

and improving my stud of saddle Tumblers. After my first breeding

season and banding 130 youngsters my loft was infected with Circo

young bird virus. Every single youngster died as they turned five

months old, plus a few adults. The next year I had a short season with

old birds that survived and all seemed well. The following season

someone sent me a bird with Adeno virus which wiped out the Muff

Tumblers and a couple breeding projects. I was at least able to stop

the virus with the ‘Adeno Plus’ product but still lost most of my birds.

Now 13 years later my birds are healthy and thriving.

My primary breeds now are the Olde Style Saddle Tumblers

and muffed Chinese Owls. A few other breeds are kept just for fun. I

have always found that breeds with a lot of white in the pattern, as

with the Saddles, hold a strong attraction for me. This breed is lively

without being aggressive and makes good parents. This is a breed

that we want to keep as “Old Style” with medium-length beaks, me-

dium small size, and good parenting skills. So many breeds increase

in size over the years as well as become more difficult to raise but

this is not a goal for this breed.

Here in the Deep South I begin the breeding season in De-

cember and end in early May, which usually gives me four rounds.

Then they are separated for our long very hot summer. I do not like

to stress my birds in any way, which I believe is key to keeping them

healthy. Cocks and hens are given free flight on alternating days in

summer until the hawks migrate down in fall. Giving them free flight

helps them burn off energy and keep them in good form. They do fly

and occasionally flip once or twice but they do not kit well. I have

tried letting my Ruby Rollers raise them and then train them with

young Rollers but they do not have the endurance or ability to fly like

Rollers. The cocks, when given free flight, are especially active and

love to show off clapping wings as they fly in large circles, each bird

going in a different direction.

Because of our hot dry summer conditions the birds seldom

have body mites or worms. Droppings dry up quickly and birds gener-

ally stay healthy. We do have pigeon flies, lice and in wetter spots Pox

can be a problem but has not been for me. I prefer to cage breed my

saddles and this arrangement works very well for breeding. I usually

breed from 30 pair, many of which are color projects. At one time

I had 15 colors and continue to work on more. Achieving the face

markings on new colors is a ongoing project requiring good record

keeping. It’s easy to become frustrated and end up with too many

birds that are still not close to what you want. However I enjoy my

projects and never give up hope.

The primary focus of this breed are the markings. The saddle

pattern itself should have clean margins separating the white from

the color. The head is the real challenge. It should contain a forehead

snip of white, a white dot above each eye and a bib connecting side

to side with a colored cheek area on each side. The rump and hocks

must also be white and muffs should be at least 4” long. I have found

that getting all these features and more to standardize in a bloodline

is a huge ongoing challenge. It seems some colors are easier (black,

red, yellow) than others to abstain the best markings. Most of my

breeders are stock birds which produce show quality. Some pairs

also ‘click’ better than others at producing really well marked birds. I

make the first cull at banding time when I can clearly see mismarks.

Once a youngster is weaned I keep them until the final molt as I have

learned that they often improve with face markings as they mature.

This is a challenging but rewarding breed to raise. If interested,

join our club of friendly helpful breeders and look for this breed at

the shows. •

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