Advanced Tippler Technology - Using Rollers as Droppers

Jack Prescott
(Internet Published) Jun 2000

Many Tipplers fly extremely well and put in some excellent times, but yet get disqualified due to lack of control. They fail to respond to the droppers, no matter whether flown into darkness, or not. In my humble opinion, backed up with some experience, these nervous and highly-strung tipplers are the ones that are most likely to win.

Certain strains are notorious for their nervousness. The Gordon Hughes strain, even when cultivated for 20 years by another fancier may show this profound nervousness, IF AND ONLY IF the generations have not being spoiled - for I have seen the so-called "Gordon Hughes" strain in the lofts of fools. Sure! Such as these looked right in the loft and handled well. Nevertheless, as contest candidates, they had about as much potential as a snowflake in an oven. Pedigree, without selective pressures means nothing and I keep telling the USA fanciers this, but they plug their ears mostly and are far too concerned with origin, rather than advancement and the will to produce an American version that will do well in America.

The setting and initial training of these very "flighty" or "difficult" stains result in too many losses, with young birds at 6-10 weeks old. They ignore the droppers and they drift. So that is the end of them. To just chuck a few fantails out on the loft top in order to lure a kit down, may or may not be enough. If it's enough, then my reader will have no problems so read no more...

However, if your kits are not responding to droppers within the allowed 1-hour, please lend me your ears. Get rid of the fantails. Obtain, train and fly a kit of about 20 Rollers and train your young birds to become intensely imprinted upon these, to fly tightly with these and drop with these as and from a very early age.

The next stage is to train such young Tipplers to fly as a Tippler kit that will wait for the release of about 20 Rollers. They will join this issue of Rollers, fly with them and drop along with them. The "link up" with the confident and steady influence of those Rollers, will overwhelm the most nervous of Tipplers, if trained to do so. A tranquillising effect, so to speak. Such Rollers can be trained to darkness and I'll deal with dark training at a later date.

Therefore, on this theory, you all will become Roller men and Tippler men. You will have to develop a substantial kit of Rollers - another subject that is very dear to me. The most important thing is to get together a kit of about 20-25 Rollers that fly very, very well as a compact kit and drop as a compact kit. The performance of rollers is not predictable.

If you see fit to keep Rollers and keep your sanity, then please avoid the dogma - the perfectionism, the hole through the axis theory that prevails in the Roller pigeon fancy. Enjoy or endure such acrobatics that may or may not develop during routine exercises. On this system, you all will have a team of acrobatic pigeons for pleasure that also will serve as a magnetic force to overwhelm, secure and drop a nervous kit of tipplers or some silly young tipplers at 6-10 weeks old.

Jack Prescott.