Basics about Tipplers

Jack Prescott
(Internet Published) Mar 2001

Working Tipplers are more of a liability than an asset unless they are properly trained from an early age. No man can train more than a few at a time. A kit of Tipplers must essentially be small in number. The minimum is 3 and in my opinion it is folly to fly more than 5. The size of a kit is directly proportional to the range of the flight. The longer the ranges of a kit the more likely it is to fly long times. There are no Tipplers that fly long times when they fly within sight of the loft all of the time.

Tipplers are intended for time. High flying or low flying is of no consequence. High flying does not necessarily mean longer times. Some of the best highflying pigeons don't exceed one hour. Contests in the UK have been won with kits that don't fly very high. Anyway, excessive high flying can so easily end in a disaster, as they are prone to become disorientated and completely lost. Furthermore, they are a great attraction to the Peregrine Falcons.

I always worry when I find that my kit gets up to excessive altitudes estimated at one mile high or more and looking like the tiniest specks. A lot of losses have happened when pigeons have flown to this altitude and Tippler kits have been disqualified due to the fact that they were unobservable.

The control and discipline of Tipplers requires time and expertise and there are no mass production techniques. Any man who tries to train more than 10 at a time is creating too much of a problem. When I see that some man has ordered 100 rings I see only squander. His mass production will yield a lot of birds that are not trained properly. The sales of such become a financial enterprise but what are these men selling? Untrained specimens of good pedigree and that is all.

Genetically speaking all working livestock should have had withstood the strain of training before being qualified for the breeding loft. There are no cull free strains of Tipplers and if we breed from failures or unproven stock I can see nothing but failure. Why fill lofts with "Plugs"? They just eat the feed and muck the place up - That's all.

[Internet Published Mar 2001 at http://www.tipplers.com/jack/]