Mumtaztic Pigeon Loft - performing pigeons breeder, pigeon fancier

Greetings from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a great place to live and breed pigeons until around November, when the hawks and the snow birds come down from the north and stay until April. I breed and fly performing pigeons such as Turkish Tumblers, Iranian High Flyers, Birmingham Rollers, and White Racing Homers. Turkish Tumblers have always been my favorite breed of pigeon.

I had pigeons when I was a teenager back in my native country, Turkey but I had to give up my hobby when I came to US to get my college degree in 1996. Here, I thought people would laugh at me if I ever mentioned to them that I used to breed and fly pigeons back home. The fact is most people still find it very unusual that we have domesticated pigeons and we keep them as pets. I impress most people when I talk to them about my pigeons, their history, their talents, and some of the famous people that actually had them and still keep them. It wasn’t until June 2007 that I met a local breeder and started to breed and fly pigeons again. I was never happier. As I became more serious with my revived hobby, I created this website to share my research and my experience about pigeons.

When I started to raise pigeons again, my first intention was just to create a database and keep the pedigree of my birds electronically. Then, I decided to turn it into a website just on my local computer to access them faster and have pictures of them to see everything about each individual bird. This way I could look at all the physical characteristics of the bird and compare it to the next generation. I finally decided to share the information about my birds and my research on the internet, which I initially did it to educate only myself. In this website, you can see pictures of my pigeons and detailed information about them.

Most of my pigeons are given to me, so I don't have too much information about their pedigree. I will, however, know where my new babies come from, what performance genes they might contain and what units of colors and patterns that they are carrying, etc. I also did a lot of research about basic pigeon care, pigeon genetics, and post a lot of articles about pigeons on here. The "Breeders in USA" link in this website has become probably the largest pigeon breeders list in the USA with the hope that we can get to know and make contact with other breeders in the nation. I hope you will enjoy reading my research and my experience in pigeons and will find it useful.

I have about 70 pigeons in my loft and I would like to keep this number. I am trying very hard not to over crowd my loft which is very important in order to get better performing results and healthy birds. From time to time I will be donating/selling my breeders as I get successful flying and performing babies from them. I am also experimenting with genetics and trying to produce good markings and colors with performance. Doing so, I sometimes get side products (incomplete markings and colors, or lack of performance) that I would gladly donate to anyone who wants them. Contact me if you are interested to have Turkish Tumblers, Birmingham Rollers, or Iranian High Flyers. I just like to make sure you would be flying them and enjoying their performance and not turning performing breeds into show birds by keeping them locked up. I strongly believe that performing breeds such as tumblers and rollers should not be kept in lofts permanently because, if ever let out, they might get lost or attacked by predators. Performing breeds are meant to fly and perform. A breeder who does not wish to lose his/her birds should stick with exhibition breeds. Protecting your birds from hawks during hawk season, and keeping your best birds as breeders is absolutely necessary, and I respect that. It sometimes takes me three to four generations to get the performance and the color I am looking for, and I cannot afford to lose them. I am just against locking up performing breeds permanently that took thousands of years to be created and perfected.

I carefully breed my birds for the performance, the special color and pattern I am looking for, and ultimately for both the performance and the color. My only intention is to breed as many performing and flying babies as possible and eventually only keep performing and flying pigeons in my loft. I would like to hear from you and your thoughts about my birds and my website. Please feel free to write to me at arifmumtaz@comcast.net or sign my guestbook. Enjoy your visit.

Turkish Tumblers

The Turkish Tumblers are very special breeds and they are very hard to find in the USA. Turkish Tumblers (Turkish Takla) are the most popular breed in Turkey because of their show-like physical qualities combined with their aerial performance, which makes them an attractive breed to keep. They are raised for their tumbling skills and their helicopter-like performance. There are different types of Turkish Tumblers and they are named by the city from where they come. In addition, they perform differently depending on their city of origin (Ankara, Mardin, Sivas, Urfa, etc). They come in many colors, and plain, mustached, front or double-crested heads. As in many flying and performing breeds, the most important quality in Turkish Tumblers for the breeders is performance. Color and shape are secondary. Flight time depends on what region the bird is from as well as who trained and bred them. Normally, the range of flight time runs from the 2-hour above the rooftop flight (most popular) to the 8 to 14  hour out of eyesight flight. Unlike Birmingham rollers, training Turkish Tumblers requires a lot of patience and time. It would be very hard to determine the quality or full potential of a Turkish Tumbler before a full year of flying and training. Birmingham Rollers get into a fair level of performance within a few months of flying.  This makes them extremely rewarding as one sees results in a short period of time. Turkish Tumbler breeders should have patience and commitment to get results out of this breed. Even though a breeder could fly Turkish Tumblers in a kit, they are solo performers and perform better when flown alone. The combinations a good Turkish Tumbler puts together is enjoyable as, on average, this bird  will charge the coop repeatedly at a minimum of 40 times per flight. Feel free to watch some of them in action by visiting the vidoes link.

I'd like to give many thanks to Muhammet Erdal, a master breeder in Massachusetts, and Murat Ozel, a master breeder in Nebraska, to share their best stock of Turkish Tumblers with me. I couldn't ask for better looking and performing birds. All of the Turkish Tumblers in the USA are directly imported from Turkey and they are purebred performers. Their original regional blood lines were never mixed with each other in order to protect their performance style. If you are interested in knowing more about Turkish Tumblers, please visit a great site designed and maintained by a master breeder, U. Kurt Gursu, who lives and breeds Turkish Tumblers in San Jose, California http://turkishtumblers.com. It is an informative website including the types, the history, and the training of young Turkish Takla as well as other Turkish pigeon breeds. Additionally, you can  find other breeders all over the United States and Canada. Here is U. Kurt Gursu's description of the Turkish Tumbler's flying style; "They dive towards the coop and just before touching the ground make a helicopter-like upstairs climb towards the sky, legs stretch down like they are trying to touch the ground, head down forward between the wings looking down and the body 90 degrees to ground vertical take off".  It's quite a sight to see.

Birmingham Rollers

The Birmingham Roller is a different type of breed and performer than a Turkish Tumbler as it has the ability to "roll", or summersault backwards in rapid, tight rotations. Depending on the family of bird and its training a Birmingham Roller can roll (tumble) non-stop up to 100 feet at an inestimable speed. Unlike Turkish Tumblers, Birmingham Rollers fly in kits. Ideally, a kit should stay together and perform as a group. When several birds spin at the same time this is known as a turn; if they all spin together this is a full turn. The frequency, depth, style, tightness of roll, and angle are all determined by the breeding, training and the diet of the birds. The flight time, height of flight, and responsiveness to the trainer's commands are all determined by strict training and diet, as well as a consistent daily routine. When 20 or more birds simultaneously roll acrobatically like an airborne waterfall or ball of feathers, it is a sight to see. They recover from the spin and return to their flock, called a “kit” in competition. The pigeon continues to do the same acrobatics with regular frequency, often in unison with other birds in the kit.

Birmingham Rollers are probably the most common performing breed in the USA and perhaps in all the world. As the name suggests and as also mentioned by Wendell Levi in his book The Pigeon, this breed was developed in and around the City of Birmingham in England. They were developed for their ability to do rapid backward summersaults while flying. Only two breeds were involved to create Birmingham Rollers: the Dutch Roller and the Old English Wire Legged Tumbler. According to my research, many people, including William Hyla Pensom 1904-1968, an expert on Birmingham Rollers, believed Oriental Rollers were also involved in creating Birmingham Rollers. However, Oriental Rollers did not reach England until 50 years after the Birmingham breed was known. Birmingham Rollers got their performing abilities from Dutch Rollers. They got their smaller size and strong flying and tight kitting abilities from Wire Legs. Rollers were introduced to Pan-America from the United Kingdom into Canada in the early 1800s. Around 1870, rollers were introduced to the pigeon breeders of United States and became very popular by 1890.

There are many other rollers bred for various reasons all over the world. The type called Parlor Roller, which can often fly while young but cannot fly as adults. Parlor rollers are known for their ability to roll on the ground for hundreds of feet and they were created in Scotland in the 19th Century and seem to have been bred by breeding deeper and deeper rollers together. The Oriental Rollers, whose origins come from the Middle East and Asian countries, do not fly in a kit like the Birmingham Roller. They prefer to be more individual performers and do their own thing in the air. An Oriental Roller is a bigger bird with dropped wings, and many people seem to believe that they are the ancestor to most, if not all, the other rolling breeds. Show Rollers are bigger than average Birmingham Rollers, and they are bred for their color and physical appearance, not for their rolling skills. American Rollers are smaller than the Birminghams, more on the size of a Parlor. American Rollers are a continuation of the line of rollers that were common in the States before the heavy importation of the Birminghams from England in the 1930s on.

Birmingham Rollers come in a great variety of colors and patterns. As in other performing breeds, the most important thing in Birmingham Rollers is the performance. Some breeders, like myself, focus on perfecting color traits while maintaining the performance. The most common colors in Birmingham Rollers are: yellow, red, blue-bar, silver-bar, white-wing, badge marking, bald head, almond, grizzle and mottle. The new color morphs and patterns are regularly generated, including pink bars, white bars, rosy necks, bell necks, barless, lace, oriental lace and stunning bronze variants. Birmingham Rollers live to be about 10 to 12 years old if they survive hawk attacks and live in a healthy environment with good care. Rolling capability tends to improve with age, and regular exercising is vital to maintain performance as it is in every other performing breed.

There are unsubstantiated claims that the roller pigeons' tumbling flight action is the result of a genetic seizure-like condition. This condition causes them to throw up their wings, cock back their heads, and flip backward, somersaulting repeatedly during flight. This performance varies greatly in its extent as well as the birds' ability to control the trait. While it is certainly true that the birds do perform backward somersaults in flight the exact neurological causes of the rolling behavior are still unknown. People who breed rollers also dispute why rollers do back-flips. While some consider it a defect, many think it is simply an ability that the birds are in control of their roll as they often take time to get in position before rolling. On the other hand, good bloodlines sometimes lose that ability to control of the roll and become a "rolldown". This is caused by inbreeding the same family of birds for too long, where the bird while in flight rolls down to ground and kill itself or become badly injured. Some of them are unable to fly as they start rolling as soon as they take off and crash back to the ground. I have few rolldown birds that I use very carefully as breeders in my color projects where I try to put unique colors into my flock while keeping the ability to roll 10 feet or more. Many breeders do not breed from rolldowns as they think it is a weakness that should not be passed to the next generations, while others purposely breed two roll downs together to make deep spinners. Rolldowns carry a lot of roll and can contribute a lot to winning competitions. These birds are usually good rollers for a short period then they either kill themselves or quit rolling all together.

In my opinion, rolldown birds should not be used as breeders unless the breeder understands what he is trying to achieve. Because rolling ability is a recessive gene, I have seen roll down parents produce babies that only do one or two flips at a time, some become excellent flyers and competition rollers and some become roll downs like their parents. The correct way to build a kit that can be counted on is by using mentally and physically stable birds that are in control of their rolling ability. Good rollers may start rolling at four months of age and develop into great rollers before they are eight months old. I have seen birds flip (tumble) in their first flight as I have also seen babies become rolldowns when they are only 2 months old to crash and kill themselves. Pigeons can be mated after they are 4 months old, but it is suggested to wait at least a year before breeding performing breeds. Only the mentally and physically built birds should be mated to produce offspring and it takes a year for a bird to mature and fully develop.

Most of my Birmingham Rollers were given to me by local breeders. Thanks to Jeff Matt, a master breeder in Boca Raton, Florida for sharing his best stock of Birmingham Rollers and mentoring me in every aspects of pigeon breeding. I train and fly my rollers in completion style and expect style, frequency, and depth (20 to 30 feet) from them. I fly mostly Smith/Plona, James Turner, Dal M. Stone strain of rollers, and some other families are mixed to achieve colors and performance I am looking for. My goal is to create competition style kits and perhaps one day to compete in the world cup fly. I currently have a couple of pairs of foundation birds which I can’t afford to lose and only used them as breeders. I have a 20 bird A Team, which are my top performers flown in competition style. I also have a B Team where I train my young performing birds before they join the A team. I fly my genetic experiments in the B Team as well, to see how they perform.

In the beginning, I used my rollers to train my Turkish Tumbler babies because most of my Turkish Tumblers were breeders. Now, I love my Birmingham Rollers. It's nice to have a flying kit of Birmingham Rollers above my roof, as Turkish Tumblers are usually solo performers and perform better when they fly alone. My intention is to breed good performing Birmingham Rollers with unique colors and patterns.

Iranian High Flyers

Iranian High Flyers fly calmly and slowly over the coops and at very high altitudes, sometimes out of sight. They fly with a slower wing beat than most flying breeds of pigeons. Their tail and wing feathers are longer than most breeds. Iranian High Flyers have a wingspread of up to 30 inch, which makes them an endurance flyer, flying from 2 to 18 hours. Some of them also perform very much like Turkish Tumblers. Unlike Turkish Tumblers they don't dive before they tumble and they only climb several feet vertically before they repetitiously tumble. Even though some breeders prefer them to fly as a kit, I think they are best as solo flyers. Like Turkish Tumblers, they perform more combinations of tumbles when they fly solo. The solo flyers normally hover around the kit and show dominance to the kit in the air. Some strains of Iranian High Flyers tumble more than others when some may not tumble at all. Most Iranian fanciers who breed Tehranis would not prefer the pigeons to tumble too much. I prefer to keep and breed Iranian High Flyers that tumble and perform. They come in a variety of colors with white bodies. In general Iranian High Flyers come in blue, red and ash grizzles. Even though the color comes second as in every other performing breed, Iranian High Flyers come with all kinds of spread colors and tail markings which make them attractive to watch when they fly. The peak crest is very attractive and common in this bred also.

I never thought I would be interested in Iranian High Flyers. After I saw the way they fly and look, I decided to acquire some and fly the babies. I got most of my Iranian High Flyers from Sean Nasiri, a master breeder who lives in Central Florida. Most of his birds were directly imported from Iran and they are all pure bred Tehrani pigeons.

Recently, I also acquired some Toghie Iranian Tumblers. Toghie Tumblers are ancient and very rare Tumbler of Iran with lot's of myths and superstition behind it. There are a lot of books, poems and movies about these pigeons in Iran. I have been told most Iranians would know what Toghie pigeons are even if they are not pigeon breeders and fanciers. Toghie Tumblers are bred specifically for their color pattern and not for their performance even though some of them can be decent flyers. They are not very popular in Tehran, but they can normally be found in western and southern provinces of Iran. Ideal bird will carry a perfect color around the neck (ring neck) and chest without any fault.

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