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The Original All Roller Talk Discussion Board Archive >
Cull or not to Cull, that is my question.
Cull or not to Cull, that is my question.
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Alan Bliven
5 posts
Sep 24, 2004
2:35 PM
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I found this on another roller site.
"We do not cull unless it is absolutely necessary due to sickness, injury, etc. We firmly believe that, even if a bird is not the best spinner in the air that, if it comes from good stock, it is still useful. George Mason is quoted in "Winners With Spinners" as saying:
'...If I've got a hen that's bred out of a good pair, but doesn't roll itself, but was from good stock, well it would have to be bred out of good stock because I only pair the best pigeons up. Provided it had good brothers and sisters that were rolling really well, then I would breed off that pigeon. So they don't all have to be good Rollers in the air to go in. They don't have to roll well in the air. They don't have to roll at all. I would still put them in the stock pen provided they bred right and they have got brothers and sisters that are doing the job.'"
Comments?
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
258 posts
Sep 24, 2004
2:57 PM
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What I don't understand is if you have a pair that produces great rollers and you have one off that pair that doesn't roll, why not breed from the ones that are performing correctly instead of using the one that doesn't at all? The only instance where I could see this alternative to have value would be if say for some reason you lost the good brothers and sisters say in an overfly, and all that was left was the one that didn't roll. I think most would give it a try given those circumstances. Otherwise I just couldn't see leaving the good ones in the kit box and moving the stiff to the breeding loft. The situation and circumstances most likely would govern the final decision a person would make. Agree?
Brian.
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Alan Bliven
6 posts
Sep 24, 2004
4:41 PM
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I understand there may be special cases but this breeder "never" culls birds with faults. The way I see it is in all domestic breeding of animals the ONLY way to improve the stock is to cull.
I breed German Shepherd working dogs and you must cull those with faults. In essence only a near perfect specimen is allowed to reproduce or you pollute the gene pool.
Of course we don't pull the heads off the culls ;) Sometimes I feel like it but I resist that temptation.
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Thor
32 posts
Sep 24, 2004
7:15 PM
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Hi Alan,
I bet you the fancier who doesn't cull unless it is absolutly necessary is also letting his stock pick their own mates. (grin)
If we are looking for special individuals which has the goods, it is a must to cull.
You have to remember that nature is against us in this breed. If we were to let nature have its way, we would have a bunch of straight flying Street pigeons. If you only cull because a bird is blind or is born with a genetic defect, then you aren't doing your job to cultrivate these special individuals.
Now about George Mason's statement... I believe he is referring to a quality linebred bird which does absolutly nothing. Now, this is only done when you truly know your family of birds. Once you do know your stock, you can literary cull a young bird right off the nest.
For a example, if you have 4 siblings... One is a stone cold roll down, one is a average roller, one is a Champion, and one doesn't even do one flip. After stocking this Champion, you should consider also stocking the one that doesn't do anything. This roller that doesn't even do a flip but has all the charactics of a Champion (_Expression, Type, etc.), why not give it a try if you needed a extra breeder? Remember, without Champion quality stock and you not knowing your family, this will not be even a option. Of course we are talking about only trying it out to see what it breeds. Every Breeder has it's place in the breeding pen! Just like all the other tools we use in this breed, we can't forget the most important tool... which is our breeders.
Just what I think,
Thor
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