YOUNG MATURING PIGEONS By Mick Bassett

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1 SPRING - AND SOME THOUGHTS ON THE NEXT GENERATION YOUNG MATURING PIGEONS By Mick Bassett This F³ Macedonian Shield Owl baby is quite a surprise in the Colour. My first thought was it looked like a Dunn! However, less than 48 hours after these photo, I saw it is not Dunn, but Blue with Black bar, quite a change! (See photo below) It's breeding is: the Father is a Mealy F² White Arabian Trumpeter x Macedonian Cream Shield Owl x White Arabian Trumpeter x Macedonian Cream Shield Owl (all pure Mac's are Cream Shield, with Bar) X Pure Macedonian Hen The Macedonian are pure Cream Shield for so many Generations, thus the colour must have come from the White Arabian Trumpeter cross! It has a bit of colour both sides under the Wing (covered when the wings are closed) but this is quite acceptable in all Owl Breeds, otherwise seems nicely marked, so far, even the 'Thumb' Feathers are all coloured. Now I know White can hide almost anything and I know my White Arabian Trumpeter hid Dominant Red. All I can think is that the Dom' Red had Blue Atlas of Blue behind that and all I can hope now it is a Hen (short of those as always!)

2 This is the Pure thing! Cream Shield Macedonian Owls, no (or few) foul markings, all with Jabot(Frill) all constant for Type, a small breed (Arabian Trumpeter size or slightly smaller), Shield Marked, with a broad, cube shaped Head, good Dewlap and Jabot, large expressive Eye's, fairly short Beak (but feed their own young). Below: This is the Father, as you can see, he fails somewhat in Head shape (too rounded) and Beak substance. In comparison with the pure Mac's, he is also slightly larger; this is not an uncommon occurrence with 'hybrid' (Breed) crosses and causes no problems when bred back to the pure strain. Below: A pure Macedonian Shield Owl baby a few days old. Right: A Group of adult Macedonian Shield Owls.

3 A 3 day old English Show Tippler Bronze Self Baby, showing the dark pigment a Bronze baby must have. (Bronze is the only exhibition colour) Photo to the right: An English Show Tippler cock bird (6 years old) Normally they do not look as 'stocky' as this old cock bird. He is still a neat compact bird to handle and not oversized (so just 'rounder' than the average Flying Tippler) He is busy feeding the two babies. Photos to the left: This one is showing the potential to develop really good colour and Markings. Even at this age the Breed typical Markings should be evident: the black tail bar will become more distinct, the black tips to the flight feathers will develop into a 'Finching', so a black edging with a feather 'tip' marking. The Red Agate also may produce Dominant Self Red in the nest, having pale pigment from day one. The Dominant Reds produced are absolutely essential for constantly producing the correct bronze tone, purple sheen and markings in this Old English Breed. Ideally Dark Bronze (too dark for exhibition) paired to Dominant Red gives

4 the greatest percentage of correct coloured and marked Bronze offspring. Extra dark Bronze (almost a Kite Colour), when paired to the Dominant Red, can produce 100% Bronze offspring. Red x Red = 100% Red Dark Bronze x Dark Bronze = 100% Dark Bronze(Kite)( no red Gene) Dark Bronze(Kite) x Red (or vice versa) = 100% Bronze* Bronze x Bronze = 50% Bronze, 25% Dark Bronze, 25% Red Red x Bronze (or vice versa) = 50% Bronze, 50% Red Dark Bronze (Kite) x Bronze (or vice versa) = 50% Bronze, 50% Dark Bronze *The perfect bronze is 2 parts Bronze gene and 1 part Red gene. The very Dark Bronze (Kite) have no red gene. Off-course with the above matings you need to distinguish between a Bronze that is simply too dark for exhibition, and one that carries no Red Gene. A simple test mating to a Red will prove that, with the advantage that whatever the results, you will still get good Bronze colour in some of the offspring! The temperament of this breed is something special; the babies are quite content to sit on your hand all day, the Adults do not move from the nest even when inspecting the eggs or chicks. This is a breed that requires no special handling to become tame and confident. The only other breed in my experience that comes anywhere near such tameness is the Mookee. Photo to the right: This younger hen is a little dark in feather pigment, so as is often the case, shows some minimal green sheen on the neck, as sheen is caused by light refraction. This is not always evident and is a minimal problem when pairing. For exhibition however the bird would not be so valuable.

5 Photo above: A group of adults, Macedonian Owl, Elster, Vargat and a Mookee. A Black Mookee baby. Below: A young Rumanian 'Vargat' White Tail - a very small breed and very pretty. Photo to the left : A young 'Classic' Hungarian Elster (Magpie) Tumbler, not to be confused with the Modern Hungarian Elster or Magpie Tumbler that is almost twice the size! This Breed is Mookee size and looks like the Kiel Elster from the 1800 s.

6 Photo above: 'Classic' Hungarian Magpie Tumblers. Right: The F² Macedonian on the Hut roof with some of the Lucerne Gold Collars. He is now 3 years old and has proven to be a very good parent. This is the first time he has been correctly paired, to a pure Macedonian hen. Photo to the left : Two English Show Tipplers from a Bronze x bronze mating, being reared by a pair of Swiss Lucerne Gold collar; the single Lucerne baby wanders over during the day only going back to its own nest for feeding and at night. As you can see in this nest, one Bronze baby probably the correct colour, the other? maybe too dark.

7 Several weeks later Photo to the right : Two baby Mookees, still in nest feather, so dull. Below: This photo is showing the 'messy' colours some youngsters can have in nest feather! This does moult out. Below: With English Show Tipplers the tail bar does 'fade' in strong sunlight; obviously the two top (middle) feathers are the worst affected as they are the most exposed. Copyright 2011 Aviculture-Europe. All rights reserved by VBC.