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The Original All Roller Talk Discussion Board Archive >
Mr. Harris point of view on Rollers
Mr. Harris point of view on Rollers
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Mount Airy Lofts
486 posts
Feb 13, 2008
9:54 AM
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Just found this while search for some of my old Roller articles. I think it is very insightful if read carefully.
"Ollie's birds are made up of Bill Richards Harry Bellfield and Ollie's father's duns.(red bars). Ollie was born into rollers. He has had them since 1916 and his father and grandfather had them as well.
He talked about the differences in the Richard birds with Bellfields. From his descriptions, Ken Billings' family was very similar to Bill Richards.
Small pearl eyed hard fast spinning birds with a nice dainty head. The heavy blue flecking in ash red/checks and bars came from Richards birds.
Ollies family that I have still show heavy flecking. Bill Richards knew his family so well, that he would cull squabs right out of the nest... He never let a bird go out of his loft for fear of ridicule.
Bellfield's loft was on the edge of a "Sand pit", so the birds usually flew down into the pit and you could watch the birds from above. ! Now that's a good way to see the hole in the side!! He said the Bellfields were deeper and more seldom than Richards. They had bigger fuller heads.
Ollie mentioned that Bill Pensom was always interested in the red badges(comp. tumblers). Seems like Pensom was into homers before getting his rollers. Ollie said when Bill came to Harbourne was when he got into the rollers.
Ollie liked a lemon yellow eye over a rich orange eye. A rich orange eye is "too strong blooded". he liked a big pupil rather than small pin point one.
He despised wide feathered birds. Wide feathered even in the secondaries would give you a stiff bird. He also said that the feathers need to be soft and flexible. Ollie never liked to pair the same colored birds together, nor pair two pearl eyes together. Always clashing the colors. When asked why he did this, he said" Well , by my experience, I found that you get better rollers this way". Ollie also said that the speed in the roll comes from the cock. "You want a cock that comes solid for 8 yards for stock". He really believed in working several hens to the one cock and then breeding back to the cock with the progeny.
Rick S."
Enjoy,
Thor
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It's all about the friends we make :)
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Shadow
69 posts
Feb 14, 2008
12:39 AM
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Wonderful insight into how these fanciers of yesteryear judged and selected their birds,with some of their methods and findings still relevent and being practiced by to days fanciers.The one point obvious to myself is that the gap between the kit competing roller of today and what I and apparently some of these fanciers of yesteryear would term a true performing roller is obviously being widened on a regular basis and will continue as long as frequency/depth/vel are the rewarded format in that order in any fly,my own opinion being that it has got to be vel/depth/and frequency,that should be rewarded and scored accordingly,the three same ideals,but in a different order,and if the first and second are not present,the third should no matter. This is my own opinion,being that its these qualities in this order that I like in my birds,namely Quality Performers.
P.S I dont always get it,but I am always looking.
Last Edited by on Feb 14, 2008 12:43 AM
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ICEMAN710
120 posts
Feb 14, 2008
3:35 AM
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what are your thoughts on a big pupil rather than a small pin point one as mr harris described?
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Gary
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Mount Airy Lofts
492 posts
Feb 14, 2008
5:24 AM
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Ice...
I didn't under stand exactly what he meant by that. Would of love to know why he'd favor such over another myself. All tho, my wild as hell pigeons will carry a smaller than normal pupil. Don't know if he was referring to such or not. I'm not a big studier of eyes. I do preference clear ones over bulls.
What got to me most was why he'd favor a the lessor quality bred bird? Personally I like them Deep Red eyed birds, birds that are define as rich in blood. For example, here is a bird that had the deepest of Reddest eyes I have ever seen. Would of been a foundation bird but died before I had the chance to fully fly out his youngsters. Hawks favor his young over all else for some reason.
I usually archive such interesting reads for them rainy days. This was just one of those that sparked my interest... enough for me to not hit the delete button. The writer was Mr. Schoening.
If any one cares to shine in on what he meant, feel free as I would also like to hear your thoughts...
Thor
P.S. Nice strong looking photo. It sure is interesting looking at all the different matings/history behind our favorite birds :)
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It's all about the friends we make :)
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