Rick Mee
1 post
Oct 17, 2004
8:30 PM
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First of all, I would like to say that I just found this site a few days ago, and am enjoying it immensely. I have read through most of the posts, you guys sure have had some good discussions. Here is a new question for you guys. What was the greatest depth a Roller has ever rolled that you have witnessed? The criteria being, a Roller who had control, rolled with velocity and style, and would kit 100% of the time. We are not talking about roll downs, or young birds who burned themselves out,we are talking about a bird who had the total package. Rick Mee
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
286 posts
Oct 17, 2004
10:16 PM
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Glad to see ya aboard Rick. I don't know if this is the type of answer you are looking for but last year while judging a club fly at Joe Bower's house he had a cock bird that hit a roll that was easily 150 plus, straight down, no twisting, no pivoting, just straight down and amazingly fast pretty much a no wings showing roll. About the time we all knew this bird was done for it snapped out clean and climb its way back to the kit and was never an out bird. A beautiful roll that I still remember like it was today. What was amazing was that at about 100 feet it seemed to shift into turbo mode and got even faster. Oddly enough he never did it again, only 20 footers after that.
Brian.
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Mother lode lofts
235 posts
Oct 18, 2004
6:18 AM
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Mee Mee good to see ya. For me it was a little hardball rolling hen that would hit a solid 50' maybe a tad more at times. Then she'd shoot back to the kit like she was shot out of a cannon. She could roll short to deep and was never a problem as far as stability and was no stiff either, just a super little hen that had it all as far as qaulity and speed, depth and a fantastic kitbird. I lost her in a overfly at about two years old as I was waiting till after W/C to stock her, that was a shot in the foot LOL. Now I have had deeper that had the whole package but unless they shorten it up to the 30'to maybe 40' range once the mature, sure as anything they will call a bad shot at some point and be no more.
Scott
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J_Star
45 posts
Oct 18, 2004
6:18 PM
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Welcome to this forum Rick.
I have not watched allot of other fanciers rollers to compare. But I have one bird out of the bunch that really stands out thus far. It can rip 70' with speed, control and style when it wants to. Up to now, never hit anything while rolling. When looking at it rolling I can see an H wing format style. It rolls to verious depths depending on its mood and the kit flight. It is the best one of all rushing back to the kit. It does not like to venture out away from the kit at anytime if it is not in a roll. Last time I counted 38 rolls in the 20 min flying. The majority of the rolls are at 30' depths. From reading and listening to others,I think that I have an outstanding roller, but never compared with other fanciers flyer to really know what I have. Next spring I can really form an exact opinion when it becomes one year old. It is a soft color bird (white).
Again, welcome to this site, Allot of us here at this forum respect each other opinions, comments and wisdom. I hope that you can share some of your wisdom and knowlege about the roller hoby with us, the experienced and the newbi alike.
Jay
Last Edited by J_Star on Oct 18, 2004 6:25 PM
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JUrbon
13 posts
Oct 18, 2004
7:25 PM
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Hello and welcome Rick. I have a hen that now resides in my stock loft that Dave Henderson and myself watched one day for over 2 hours and I timed her with a stopwatch and she averaged 2.5-3 seconds and she did it over and ever again with great speed and style. I only hope that she will reproduce herself because I have yet to see another bird roll with the cosistancy that she did. Joe Urbon
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Rick Mee
2 posts
Oct 19, 2004
5:36 PM
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J Star, what family was this bird from, just wondering? I have one hen who is a 2 year old, she rolls once per minute and always rolls 50' or more, sometimes she is very deep, I would say in the 100' range. Her father #38, and his nestmate #37 which is now owned by Wendell Spisak, were also able to roll once per minute with extreme depth. These are the only 3 I have ever raised that could do it with absolute regularity, and are IMHO champions. The real kicker is, they have all proven to be excellent breeders.
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Steve S.
8 posts
Oct 19, 2004
5:36 PM
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Hey Sarge,
I didn't think it would take you this long to find this site. LOL
The deepest,fastest and best quality spinner I have seen is an old 94 Joe Roe hen he called the blurr hen of which is still laying for me.
She was flown last at 9 years old.
She was a good solid 50 footer and could roll behond 80 at times.
She could ball up and look like she could roll down a drain pipe. I mean the baseball size drains.
I have raised a few about as good as her but she didn't put out the percentages and that is a shame.
Steve
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Rick Mee
3 posts
Oct 19, 2004
5:41 PM
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Steve, I just posted a message and see you are on here too. LOL I think I may have found this website a long time ago, but haven't kept up with it. I would have to say it is probably the best website I have found to date, not just in regard to Rollers either, pigeons period! Question, is this little hen you are referring to something I may already know something about, or is it a Roe bird?
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Mother lode lofts
242 posts
Oct 19, 2004
6:33 PM
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Rick another very important point that both you and Steve pointed out was that they could do this and still be alive as mature birds and do it with the ultimate of speed and qaulity. Personally I don't put much stock into such birds until they mature. And I think that it needs to be pointed out that we are not talking about nonkitting,wing switching, fight the roll coming out culls. such birds are truelly rare
Scott
Last Edited by Mother lode lofts on Oct 19, 2004 6:41 PM
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J_Star
47 posts
Oct 20, 2004
4:37 AM
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Rick,
It is a Danny Horner. Originated from Jaconette/Plano and Smith blood line.
By the way, a page back or two, there is a couple of posts called "who's who" and another "Who're we talking to". There, we all put information about ourselves so we know who are we talking to. Check it out and most likely you will see allot of your friends on it.
Jay
Last Edited by J_Star on Oct 20, 2004 4:42 AM
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Siddiqir
117 posts
Oct 20, 2004
11:04 AM
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Welcome Rick. Good to see you hear. This website is great specially the "Birmingham, Roller Talk' section and all post get archived which is really good thing.
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Rick Mee
5 posts
Oct 20, 2004
12:31 PM
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Scott, I agree wholeheartedly with what you said. I have seen, and raised lots that were exceptionally deep in their first year, but ended up having an accident eventually. This is not to say that deep birds can't, and will not be flown in competition. Anyone who says it can't be done is just short changing the breed. Don Simpson of SC once had a red check cock that upon release, would easily roll more than 100', then settle down to half that distance for the remainder of the fly. He still has this cock, I think he refers to it as his red velvet cock. Hey, I love depth, but if they can't kit, they ain't s_ _ t!
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Leo
3 posts
Oct 20, 2004
1:31 PM
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Steve, In the late 80s early 90s Joe Roe made many weekend trips to Middletown Ohio, he was buying birds from a friend of mine, these birds were pure Smith an Plona birds close records are kept on these birds. These birds have flown in two state flys and won both. I have a feeling these same birds helped Joe to the top, do you have any papers on these birds, i think the birds were mostly squeekers, I have often wondered about it. My friend still raises these birds but never enters any contests or flys Leo
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Steve S.
9 posts
Oct 20, 2004
2:52 PM
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Hi Leo,
This might answer you and Ricks question.
This hen was from the old Hardesty line and Carl has the same peds up through Joe to this hen.
Only other guy that owned this hen was Charles Enoch.
Richard Miller got the remaining birds of Joes from this line.
I also think Brian Middaugh has a family from this hens side.
I don't know who your are refering to in Middletown but I probably know them.
Let me know his name please.
Later
Steve
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redneckhippie15
36 posts
Oct 20, 2004
3:17 PM
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Hi Rick and welcome,
My name is Kenny. I`m a newbie so I`ll shut up and go read something now. Nice to meet you & Welcome once again.
Kenny
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redneckhippie*blue dot lofts*
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Leo
4 posts
Oct 21, 2004
12:59 PM
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Steve, This fanciers name is Harry Ashcraft Middletown Ohio, I think Mr Enoch may have some of Harrys birds. Harry owned several of Bill Pensoms Champions 63..3738 be ck cock comes to mind this bird was pure 514 Harry always says...Velosity first..everything else will fall into place, He has a line of birds he got from Stan Plona that are 47..1232 cock $350 as he is known, He says these birds are the fastest he has ever seen anywhere,I saw one cock that would spin so tight that it looked like a spot and never seemed to loose altitude, Harry said..Thats 30 ft for most birds, the bird fell mabe 3 ft just breathtaking. THANKS
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DeepSpinLofts
1 post
Nov 13, 2005
7:29 PM
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Hi gang. My name is Marcus Freeman of Deep Spin Lofts in Northern, California. I'm working with a strong batch of Plona's at the moment.... 40-60ft range on my deepest stuff.
Good to see some names around here that I've heard about in the NBRC mag & Dave Gehrke's Roller Journal like Rick Mee. Just came back from Southern California and met NBRC VP Juan Navarro and Master Flyer Tim Decker. I watched them judge some local guys flys for the ICRC... but nothing blew past the 60ft range (2 telephone poles).
Interesting that the name Harry Ashcroft of Ohio popped up. Harry had a champion called "Foxfire" that could really rip.... 75ft or more!
QUESTION: Does anyone know if Harry still has those Fireballs & Plonas? I'd like to talk to him if he does.
Well anyway, I had ordered a kit of 19 birds from Harry in the early 80's and there was a Tortoise Shell hen in that group that was unbelieviably deep @ 60ft-80ft (3 Telephone poles) with dynamite control on a real tight spin. She had me screamin every time she rolled (I was a teenager back then).
Those 19 birds I had bought from Harry would kit like grapes (especially my Tort hen). Never saw anything like her ever!
There was also a Blue Bar Cock that could turn out some freakish 50ft rolls (2 Telephone poles). He usually would do 20 footers when relaxed. Scared the _hit out of me one day when he nearly missed hitting a Cadillac that was parked across the street. Damm I missed those 2 birds!
Sold all those deep Ashcroft birds in the 90's due to a foreclosure on property my family had owned for nearly 40 years. The property was lost due to overextensive borrowing against the land thus depreciating the equity value and increasing the debt ratio.
Mo ==> deepspinner@usa.com
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big al
211 posts
Nov 14, 2005
12:43 AM
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Hey Rick!
Welcome! What took you so long? LOL!!
Very nice to have you here.
Well the late Bob Scott gave me a very beautiful blue barred bald head hen about a year old. She was 70 - 80 feet plus...all day long!! Awesome style and speed. She got sick on me and died about a year later. I wasn't breeding much in those days, just flying kits. I wish I had bred her. I should have stocked her once she had proven herself after several months. :-(
Some years ago a backyard flyer in Inglewood Ca, threw up a kit of mostly 70 footers that just ripped!!! They also had all the ingredients!!
Welcome again Rick.
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See you in the roll!
Big Al
"High Plains Spinner Loft"
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Alan Bliven
292 posts
Nov 14, 2005
9:06 AM
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Al,
Rick wrote that first post over a year ago.
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Alan
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Coach P
Member
8 posts
Nov 24, 2005
10:58 AM
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Marcus Freeman..I don't guess you still have the band # of that tortoise shell hen you got from Harry? I would like to check her background to see if Harry still has the bloodline in his loft...Harry has keep records of his birds over the past 60 years and has keep his birds pure...
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