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Circus Lofts
Radar Pouter
by Anthony Kellers
Over the past few years I have also developed some of my own strain of flying croppers, and for me the most successful flying cross was:
Racer (cock) x Laudino (hen) = F1- young hen only (as this will give the body to the young)
X
Gaditano
or Marchenero
Cock = below picture
(young
cock)
It
needs to be in this order/ no switching or the results change.
The birds I produce from this have tremendous flying ability and a good size crop , as you can see from the pictures, whilst being able to fly at great speed after pigeons they spot in the sky. They also possess good homing ability, which means they can go hunting for up 5 miles and still return to the loft. Its important to use the hen only from the Laudino cross, as she will give the body/muscle when putting it back to a Gaditano/Marchenero cock, whilst also straightening the tail of the young.
Well- each cross you do has its own story, and tale- however the the
principle of that cross is based on my understanding of genetics and the ability
to "hold" the flying attributes of the racer and grade back in the
sexual drive that makes these birds (croppers) unique.
I'm confident this formula will work for you if you follow it to the letter i.e.
cock and hen in the right order and progeny mated back in the right order as per
the document.
If not the formula breaks down- it need to be done in the exact order due to the
inheritance values within it.
This simple formula took me years to come to ratify and conclude on - these
birds will motor.
I have only two left since my move but I am breeding some as we speak. The two I have will and can chase a racer on route somewhere and turn it time
after time, stay air borne for very long periods, and constantly strike up/of
for hours- yes that's hours!! it is quite a buzz seeing a bird deflate his crop
at will and motor after it prey at high velocity, and then when near the bird
inflate the crop again and turn on the style.
Over the years I have made cropper crosses with tumbler, hawkers, racers, polish
orlicks, toy pigeons, garden doves, Spanish with other Spanish, breed crossing,
and although I had a feeling that this particular cross was heading in the right
direction based on my theory of how a bird holds certain qualities and
attributes, I was fortunate to come across this formula after 7 years of
crossing - when it could have taken me 25 years.
I'm glad that you are giving it a go - that's exactly why I posted it, so that
others can enjoy this cross.
3 guys can do the same cross with the same breed and come up with a gradiance of
performance - however I believe the baseline performance indicators are there
and as such in general the quality will be generally good.
The two I have - have been tossed and returned from 25 mile, same day within
good time, and that was me not pushing them too hard.
A second article
Over the past few years I have developed some of my own strains/family of flying croppers, a particular strain I like is the combination detailed below:
Racer (cock) x Laudino (hen) = F1- young hen only (as this will give the
body to young)
X
Gaditano or Marchenero
Cock = above picture (young cock)
The birds that are produced from this combination are
a very good example of a flying thief pouter, they have the ability to stay
airborne for long periods of time, they also tend to hold the homing instinct
from their grandfather, this is an important factor if they are to “ hunt “
for many miles and capture the chosen hen, birds bred this way easily find their
way back from five miles, and when they are in this kind of flying mood they
really can shift at speed on the hunt.
I can recall letting RADAR go from my hand, in the presence of Dennis Murray, one morning when Den came for a visit, and within seconds it was up at a good height, putting on the style, when suddenly two white pigeons came over at high altitude, Radar had locked onto the target and was gone, coming back over 2 mins later like a speck in the sky, on the tail of a these white pigeons, another cock that I had also let go, started to “ drag” one of the white pigeons down to roof level, but the other one , I guess it was the cock of the pair, was having none of it and circled some more to gain height and then motored off, Radar deflated his crop in an instance and sped after it and they both disappeared off in the distance.
So Radar and the single white pigeon had both
disappeared, and the other one was still hanging around with the gay pied cock,
in the meantime I cooked Dennis a sausage sandwich, which we were eating in the
garden, then some 35-40 mins later there was RADAR gliding in a circle, slowly
losing height and altitude…….. All this fun and RADAR was just 16 weeks
old!!
Now I read on average a pigeon fly’s about 30mile per hour, so if your
tipplers fly around your loft for 1 hour, it an equivalent to flying 30 miles
whether round and round or in a straight line, makes no difference, so guessed
if RADAR had stayed airborne whilst tracking the white pigeon for 35-40 mins
then, well u get an idea of the kind of mileage they can cover…….
When producing this combination it is very important to use the sexes in the
correct order as you will get the inherent additions of what I call “the
reversal effect” this is when as above, you put the racer cock bird to a Laudino
hen, the hen will hold more physical stature in line with her father (the racer
cock) and the young cock that of his mother (Laudino), I have observed this on
many occasions with various crosses of two distinct lines/breeds.
This is natures way of making sure that the hen/cock bird respectively will
produce offspring that although hold a combination of the genes from each
parent, make it easier to replicate that fathers or mothers line back, and so
ensure preservation of that dose of genes, should the young/offspring reach
maturity and the subsequent selection process determine they mate back with the
parent of the opposite sex.
E.g.
Young (cross) hen x racer cock (enabling that
inherited genetic line to replicate)
Young (cross) cock x Laudino hen( same as above)
On this basis then, when the above combination is followed, the hen from the
first cross will “hold “ a lot of her fathers( crack racer) physical
qualities, i.e. shape, stamp, muscle, brains etc, so in turn when the final part
of he combination is carried out and she is put back to a Spanish cock bird, in
this case a Gaditano, although the dose of Spanish increases in the resulting
young, giving an outwardly looking Spanish cropper type bird, the exciting bit
is the “ reversal effect “ holds true so that all the cocks produced will
hold physical traits from the mother, who has in turn inherited/ held them from
her father, and the reversal effect is almost, like color sex linkage, cock down
to hen and then down to cock, etc……
Note: the difference between this and color sex linkage is that the color will
hold true for generation after generation all the time the correct breeding
pattern is followed, where as with the reversal effect as you move away from the
original cock (racer) the influence will dilute, however I have found the
combination above will give just the right balance, and hold just the Wright
amount of genes from the “stock racer” to have a evident effect on the
flying cropper, whilst giving it a much stronger dose of Spanish blood and a
much better cosmetic appearance than just say a straight 50%/50% cross.
If you wish the hens to hold the flying trait more hen, just reverse the whole
combination.
Now within this combination I specifically chose the Coljito (Gaditano/Marchenero) cocks because firstly I wanted to lighten the body weight, from that of a typical racer, to something that is more buoyant and clap/glide in a more slower pace if needed, which you get from crossing these types of specific cropper, without necessarily losing the wing muscle, provided you are running the pure cock through the flying/cross hen. And secondly of what I call the “magnetized effect” that crosses from these birds produce when the right amount of blood is put in with the other ingredients. Too much and the birds lose the flying power, becomes too showy, to little and the “magnetized effect” is not in evidence.
The Coljito (Gaditano or Marchenero) has
proved to be the one to hold this when put through my combination.
Well what’s the “magnetized effect” well as the name of one of my pigeons
called RADAR will suggest, these combination birds, once excited and in flow,
will lock on to a bird in the sky and without the benefit of a courtship dance,
stick to that bird like a magnet and fly with her for mile after mile, out of
sight, often the bird being pursued is oblivious to what’s going on and is
simply flying home or back to a roost! The cropper is as if paralyzed by some
magnetic force, unable to pull itself away, until the moment when the hen
signals her interest, at which point the “drag” back to the loft will begin.
Some times they capture sometimes not, as often they are chasing a cock, and
will not find this out, because there was not courtships dance., until the birds
alights many miles away.
Such is the homing instinct they always find there way back.
Often with other breeds of croppers ( pure breeds) I have had, they may try to
turn the subject a few times early on, but often not commit to a blind chase out
of sight to the back of beyond for miles if the subject is not in the mood or
has not signaled any encouragement.
However when the “magnetized effect” is evident the a blind chase ensues,
and at worst if no capture, your pigeon gets to motor out for a few miles of
good exercise, with very little input or training from you.
The other benefit is that when he does lock onto an available hen, she hasn’t
much hope of getting away, as he keeps up with and turns and turns and turns, no
matter how far out the bird rakes.
There are no doubt other combinations that
have proved good and others that are yet to found, however it took me many years
of playing about, to find this balance and I hope by sharing this with you, it
can be tried by you, and enjoyed by you.
Ps if anyone has other strains/families, we would love you to share them with
us, equally if you have tried something different, a particular cross etc ,
please share it with our members.
Happy flying
Anthony
International/marketing liaison officer
All flying cropper club
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Indigo Radar |
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Qualmond Radar |
Posted by the president of the All Flying Cropper Club:
"About 18 months ago Anthony Kellers lost the original Radar doo whilst on the hant to his new address in Dorset. This is 150 miles away from his old address. On Saturday a lady rang me to say "I have found a bird with your ring on it" The lady lived in the same street that Anthony used to before he moved. She described the bird and quoted the details on the ring...it was RADAR.
The bird had flown 150 miles and survived in the wild for 18 months. The lady caught it because radar fell down her chimney.
I told her that Anthony would definitely want this bird and he would ring her. Anthony only got my answer phone message on Monday and rang the lady... she had only gone and let it go. Anthony was gutted!
Some doo though.... 150 miler...what a goer. "
