# Dewlaps?



## sharpshooter

Does anyone on here fly Dewlaps? If you do can you describe your training method. Thanks very much.


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## sunson

Dewlaps (>500 gr)are much heavier than Döneks(300gr). In size and type they ressemble more a strong long distance hammer-headed racing homer with a rather long neck and, of course, the very typical dewlap-gullet. Most common are the black- and blue whitewings with the typical white snip on the forehead and the white 'earrings'. ￼￼
￼Their diving is also very different: Dewlaps dive strait (no rotation at all) with the wings applied to the body and from much higher (>400m) than Döneks which rotate axially during diving and mostly end the diving with a fast braking spin (like an helicopter propeller). The diving speed of the Dewlaps is astonishing, good divers always escape the diving peregrine falcon. 
The problem with diving pigeons generally and Dewlaps particularily is that they need appropriate accomodations and very peculiar training methods in order to develop as performing pigeons. Many fanciers therefore give up the breed, being unable to get them in the air properly. But the fancier who can handle this pigeon ￼gets a living cultural inheritance from hundreds if not thousands of years ago, because this is the bird considered from antiquity as the messenger to the gods. 

I am also looking for an US pigeon magazine interested in publishing a ±5000 words article +photo's & illustration pertainnig to the (flying)Dewlap is all its aspects: origin, type, appearance, varieties, character, housing & accomodationds, care, flying- and diving-style, training, bibliography. 
Could someone give me a hint?


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## sandiego

any one selling dewlaps? a freind of mine is looking for a pair..


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## dewlap1

*My 2009 Dewlap*


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## Mader631

Do Dewlaps have a strong homing ability???


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## dewlap1

I would not say that Dewlaps have a strong homing ability like racing Homers do, but they do have it in them like most all pigeons do. Dewlap are not a racing breed they are a high speed diver from very high up. They have very powerful wings to take them high then they tuck them into their body like that of a fighter jet and come down with a great noise, woosh!

In some countries they are flow in groups of other breeds and range out some in Pigeon wars with other pigeon flyers in trying to caox his birds to come back to your loft.


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## plumvalley

dewlap1 said:


> I would not say that Dewlaps have a strong homing ability like racing Homers do, but they do have it in them like most all pigeons do. Dewlap are not a racing breed they are a high speed diver from very high up. They have very powerful wings to take them high then they tuck them into their body like that of a fighter jet and come down with a great noise, woosh!
> 
> In some countries they are flow in groups of other breeds and range out some in Pigeon wars with other pigeon flyers in trying to caox his birds to come back to your loft.


Nice looking bird! Do you fly them in a kit? if you do, do they come down all together?


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## dewlap1

*Dewlap Kit*

You get their best performance from a small kit of 3 males only. Too many there would always be one that would dive too soon then the others would follow. Very fast.


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## outcold00

I remember when I was young and watching my uncle fly his Doneks and when they set up just perfect right above his loft he would whistle real loud and the birds would freeze and all of a sudden just start diving and twirling. Do you call your birds that way or do you use droppers?


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## dewlap1

I just use a dropper, I would like to try the whistle this year. Isn't amazing to see them drop so fast! Dewlaps don't twirl in their dive. If I fly a larger group, like breeders and let them play they do sometimes.


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## yopigeonguy

hey,

just to let yuo know this post was first started in 08 by sharpspooner whom is now banned from the site!!!

just wanted to point that out


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## Brummie

sunson said:


> Dewlaps (>500 gr)are much heavier than Döneks(300gr). In size and type they ressemble more a strong long distance hammer-headed racing homer with a rather long neck and, of course, the very typical dewlap-gullet. Most common are the black- and blue whitewings with the typical white snip on the forehead and the white 'earrings'. ￼￼
> ￼Their diving is also very different: Dewlaps dive strait (no rotation at all) with the wings applied to the body and from much higher (>400m) than Döneks which rotate axially during diving and mostly end the diving with a fast braking spin (like an helicopter propeller). The diving speed of the Dewlaps is astonishing, good divers always escape the diving peregrine falcon.
> The problem with diving pigeons generally and Dewlaps particularily is that they need appropriate accomodations and very peculiar training methods in order to develop as performing pigeons. Many fanciers therefore give up the breed, being unable to get them in the air properly. But the fancier who can handle this pigeon ￼gets a living cultural inheritance from hundreds if not thousands of years ago, because this is the bird considered from antiquity as the messenger to the gods.
> 
> I am also looking for an US pigeon magazine interested in publishing a ±5000 words article +photo's & illustration pertainnig to the (flying)Dewlap is all its aspects: origin, type, appearance, varieties, character, housing & accomodationds, care, flying- and diving-style, training, bibliography.
> Could someone give me a hint?


Send your article to the "pigeon Digest"
They are very receptive.


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## dewlap1

> hey,
> 
> just to let yuo know this post was first started in 08 by sharpspooner whom is now banned from the site!!!
> 
> just wanted to point that out
> __________________



So? Whats that got to do about the subject? Shall I start a new post? Its about Dewlaps isn't it?


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## Guest

Sharing these sorts of things and traditions that people have carried on down for hundreds of years have always interested me so Im always open to hearing about anything people have to share with others on here  History and culture hold many wonders that you will never know about at all unless you are willing to listen and learn, so please dont cloud the doors for those who want to learn and hear more ,thankyou


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## outcold00

dewlap1 said:


> I just use a dropper, I would like to try the whistle this year. Isn't amazing to see them drop so fast! Dewlaps don't twirl in their dive. If I fly a larger group, like breeders and let them play they do sometimes.


I enjoyed watching my uncle fly his divers. I remember he used to get so mad when he would train his ybs to dive and they would miss their target and end up in the neighbors yard or who knows were. He was very good at flying doneks. He told me you have to pay attention to were the birds are and when is the right time to whistle.


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## LUCKYT

This is one of my favorite Pigeon Videos..... go on u-tube look up tacklaci guverin than suriye boluk video 2. Tell me these birds are not taken well care of, and LOVED! Dave


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## sunson

*Dewlaps*



Brummie said:


> Send your article to the "pigeon Digest"
> They are very receptive.


<Pigeon Digest>is a racing pigeon magazine. Why should they be interested in Dewlaps? Whereas Dewlaps are not at all racing pigeons nor Homers.


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## tippler226

Hi

I was going through some videos on dewlap pigeons recently. In most videos the fact that these pigeons can dive like falcons have been emphasized. I've also heard about this trait a lot. What are the other specialties that the dewlaps have? Are they good for flying? How long do they fly? Can I toss them? I'm really new to dewlaps, so such information would greatly help. I'd appreciate anything else that you think I should know about dewlaps.

Thanks a lot.

Tippler226


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## tippler226

Hi

I was going through some videos on dewlap pigeons recently. In most videos the fact that these pigeons can dive like falcons have been emphasized. I've also heard about this trait a lot. What are the other specialties that the dewlaps have? Are they good for flying? How long do they fly? Can I toss them? I'm really new to dewlaps, so such information would greatly help. I'd appreciate anything else that you think I should know about dewlaps.


Tippler226


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## Parlor Fan

What about Purebred Pigeon magazine?


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## gökhan01

This classic form of pigeons under the chin that is located in the neck. Is the name given to the skin of neck and baggy prominent chin. The pigeon's neck starts immediately under the beak and neck with beak between the depressions is not available. Stops, such as bow legs. Eye color is usually red, orange and shades of dark. Sometimes Cakir-eyed ones are also common. This is a bit long and paçasızdır feet of pigeons. Pinna white wings from the beginning has to be 8 or 9. The tail is not white is the color of the bird's own.Since the Ottoman period in our country for many years by growers in the race with the participation of the different features a unique color, form, and winning the doves flight capability, and are grown in Syria today are recognized even by the name of London. Dewlap in English in the world known by the name of the London-throated relatives with pigeons pigeons, dewlaplardan Although not a separate racial structure, because they have different regional characteristics should be evaluated as a separate regional group. Throated pigeons pigeons in London are located in a separate race. Pigeons in our country, this locally, "sex", "native", "earring" are given names such as. Earring (Earring Dewlap) is called because the pigeons in some of London is due to the structuring of a color. Earring called pigeons, white-colored feathers from under the bird's ear like an earring extend to the neck. London güvercinlerimizde race, beak structure is slightly longer than the other races of pigeons include dewlap.The world, "London Dewlap" with the name of the pigeons to diagnosis, in our country are known by the name of London. In Germany, "London wammen" or "dewlap Kupeli" are known by the name. In our country, mainly trained in the Çukurova region. Adana, Ceyhan, Mersin and Tarsus, such as residential units which are found in dense. However, these pigeons, as well as other regions in the Southeast region beğenilmekte settlements and fed. As derived from foreign sources dewlaplarından Lebanon (Lebanon-throated races), they came together there on the information, because the London race pigeons with questionable accuracy of this information with the Lebanese dewlapları There are significant differences between the physically and in terms of flight specifications. Since the Ottoman period in our country for many years by growers in the race with the participation of the different features a unique color, form, and winning the doves flight capability, and are grown in Syria today are recognized even by the name of London.London güvercinlerimizde race, beak structure of the doves in a little longer than other races are dewlap. Long beak ones "Tartaç is known as" very educated people, Adana and Ceyhan. The structure of the short beak, and in this respect, we could say that more appropriate standards of other types of dewlap is the "Tome" with the name more widely known and are found in the vicinity of Tarsus. Mersin is located in the vicinity of both types. PHYSICAL STRUCTURES London pigeons, a bit smaller than other Dewlaplardan body structure and are therefore more light. In addition, long-gagalıları do not count, with all physical structures are the same breed of dewlap. There are very characteristic forms of a head. The bones continue to get the claim extends straight from the beak. Do not get depression. Is a little flat on your head and the ones of this type of "hammer head" are called. A bit thick necks and long. This classic form of pigeons under the chin that is located in the neck.


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## Calidewlaps

Dewlaps are the most amazing pigeons to have! They are super fun to be around, Excellent flyers anyone looking for them please contact me. I'm a breeder in Northern,California 

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/picture.php?albumid=2556&pictureid=26272


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## skip

By no means an expert and am just starting with dewlaps again. The last time I imported a pair or two from Holland via some good friends there who knew a breeder/flier who got them originally from Turkish fancier in Germany. They were blue bars with 'correct' markings and good divers but not very good at breeding or looking after their young. 

According to what i had seen in Holland, the prospective flyers were housed in pairs in the drawers of a cupboard, not looking big enough, with half the front blanked off, and semi-dark. Nevertheless they loved their boxes and were always ready to get back in.

The scheme was to get them used to the outside but not to encourage them to fly until apparently fully grown, I think more than two months old or so. Fully trained birds may be told to fly, go higher, and kept flying if showing signs of losing altitude, with a flag. However, with young birds, I avoided frightening them up at first by hand-launching them individually into a team of rollers which was thinking about dropping. At some stage the rollers would do more circuits and the dewlap would follow closely, getting exercise and used to spotting the loft, and then land earlier or together with the rollers.

By retrieving them occasionally from quite nearby I gathered they had little 'homing instinct' and have been told they are likely to drop if they saw a bird anywhere else before they knew the loft, and sometimes even afterwards. For this reason I would take a dropper and let it flap in the hand if the one unusually started to flying away from the kit, just to be on the safe side. When flying several, you may be able to drop them individually by 'hiding' the dropper from the others.

Eventually I was able to develop a team of three cocks. They kitted tight and response to a flapper was very good even when not especially hungry. They would take to the air spontaneously and quickly get to a good height and dived best vertically if called when approaching the loft area from downwind and nearly overhead. Upon landing they were keen just to get back into their boxes and they could be flown several times a day, giving just a little food to tide them over until the next flight. Guess they could have flown longer but I used to fly them for just a few minutes to get them to a good height, and then call them. I thought they looked really nice in the air, flying steadily and powerfully while keeping station beautifully in a small group.

Recently saw some dewlaps, called by the Turkish owner 'Adana' (a city in Turkey), and prized for diving from an angle, swerving due to intermittent wing action on the way down. They looked much the same but I was told by the owner that vertical diving with wings closed was considered 'old style'. 

Perhaps there are different strains or perhaps it is a matter of practice and training? He used a flag to start them and told me that if at first if they landed on a house roof nearby he would cure it by tying an 18" piece of plastic bag to a foot so it was hard work to fly, even to the problem house roof, for a couple of days. With the bag off, they had already had some exercise and got their muscles working better, so felt that flying was easier, and would be cured from dropping until called. 

He showed me a traditional wooden contraption with rotating wings, but actually used some plastic wings on a cordless drill to call them. I think he flew between two and five, cocks and hens together and kept them in pairs in darkened nest boxes 60x30x30cms with plastic racer floor grills and cage fronts. At the same time there were a lot just pecking around, which were calm and easy to herd back to their box area, when they would readily go back in, which was what I had expected.

I think most of the flying dewlaps I have actually seen had red eyes but green eyes are required for showing. A friend has flying birds and tells me some have green eyes but again that they are not good parents, like my first lot. The youngsters I have just obtained are more varied in colour and markings, red and blue checkers, mealy, and black. Their parents were from Holland and were bred unintentionally in the dewlap section, apparently without trouble, so that is good news. Reckon they are fine looking pigeons with a certain character about them, seemingly tending to be tame and sensible, lovely interesting birds.

See the sixth post in this thread by _rollerdoneks_: http://bworldofdoneksanddivers.runboard.com/t24

Stacks more info on the Dewlap section of Turkish Tumblers site: 'adana' http://www.turkishtumblers.com/viewforum.php?f=9&sid=ed18f32d6165213391689ffb3ec74c54


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## skip

Like any pigeons there seems a huge difference in ability and behaviour between 'show birds' at one end of the performance spectrum and those bred to fly and perform at the other end, so I reckon strain must be considered all-important, perhaps especially for the peculiar Dewlaps.

It is 10 months on and the dewlap youngsters I got in June last year reared their first single squeakers in February 2015. Their earlier nests had been unsuccessful, which seemed to be due to the babies being left uncovered for too long in cold weather but might have been inexperienced parents or a seasonal activity 'low'. The young were still without feathers and probably still too young to control their own temperatures. 

Each of my two pairs has reared their subsequent pairs of youngsters at the rate of a nest each month. They seem to be churning them out, which by some accounts and by my own previous experience, may be a bit unusual for the breed. I had not really expected it and now need to build more cupboard space, but the breeding birds have plenty of privacy and are undisturbed at the end of a loft corridor in racing pigeon breeding double boxes (two boxes per pair) and are treated extra quietly and gently, which I think may be factors. I have seen them cooped up in a single darkened box to breed but presumably they are then let out to feed, as I used to do. 

Six youngsters already and two on the nest, with eggs due to hatch. Must be a good-breeding strain but I only want to keep a few to breed some blue bars from the next generation i.e. off my mealy red hen's offspring from a blue cheq cock. I am also breeding from a sex linked pairing of another BC cock and red cheq hen, so if someone in Uk would like some, or swap....[you would only need to arrange or pay for the transport]... ? 

They were left on the nest until their under-wing feathers were nearly grown, by which time the cock had nearly stopped feeding them and they were ready to pick up food right away. Cock and hen siblings were put into a double box with nest box fronts and plastic grill floors for racing pigeons. The first two singleton cocks were housed on their own in single boxes because even at that age they were too aggressive to each other, and to the rollers when outside. 

After a couple of days they were ready to come out and explore before feeding, which was done with cups inside the plastic fronts. If their box was not at floor level they couldn't fly accurately back up because they are heavily built and clumsy at first, but soon got the idea of trying to do it to feed. They need a handful of racer young bird mix per bird once each day.
(edited: like any pigeon they dislike being handled but, with a routine and the absence of handling to frighten them, their trust soon grows. Ideally some adults hanging around also helps but a few birds to make a group helps with building their confidence when they explore beyond the shed itself).

They are slow to be able to fly, but the first couple of single youngsters, one 10 weeks and one 8 weeks old, took off spontaneously and did a couple of circuits today, which I think is early for dewlaps. They will take more time to fly properly but came in fast, even from this first real go in the air. Two more pairs of squeakers are starting to come out of the shed to join the few adult roller 'dropouts', which I am using to help them grow up. (edited progress: at 3-3.5 months a group of 5 young birds did three or four circuits spontaneously at about 30ft in height)

My impression is not so much that they are _being_ trained but more that they are training me. Knowing what to expect, and letting them do it, it seems you can really just go with the flow and they will train themselves  (edited: I received the useful advice to control them by calling them to, and feeding them from, a white plastic paint lid/tray, which could later serve to get their attention and induce them to dive)

I don't think they should be chased until much later but once they are flying well they should kit tight right away but need to have become well used to the situation of the loft so they are confident enough not to get lost, and some droppers should be used quickly if they look like wandering. 

Once they were flying properly and were well settled, my other ones would dive if they were called down with a flapper, or whatever, when they were called from the right position in the air i.e. approaching being overhead, at the right distance down-wind according to the wind speed.
.


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## skip

*Another first year with Dewlaps*

In 2015, after breeding from two yearling pairs which had not been out, one pair dropped dead and the other was settled successfully with two and three rounds of youngsters to help. The result was 9 birds flying and diving together when they were all over 3 or 4 months, and I think most significantly when the youngsters had moulted their first tail and wing feathers.

The young cocks, which shared a box at first, did start fighting when sexually mature, but individuals of either sex were quite content on their own, or hens together. They were called into the shed as usual by putting a little wheat on the floor in a white plastic tray but often jumped into their own boxes before any regular food was put there. They shared on the floor for a few moments and in total about a handful of mixed corn for 2 birds seemed about right. They soon stopped bothering with the wheat, offered first, and held out mainly for peas which they liked best.

For showing, it is said that they don't become fully mature until the age of 3 years and they are certainly a bit slow slow to start flying. As each became old enough it started taking occasional short flights, next they went up in twos and threes, and finally all together and kitting. The pattern is now to settle on the roof upon first coming out, and to take off if they then like the look of the weather. At first they did a bit of gliding or short dives as a sign they had had enough, so then I would call them down by putting out a dropper or two to stop them straying or diving to something they saw nearby. They prefer light wind conditions, when they will go high, but since they got used to flying regularly I can flap a white plastic tray to get them to dive together or follow each other home if I get worried. 

Two older youngsters were lost after a couple of weeks of daily flying, when they were all blown downwind. The old hen returned after 2 days, one youngster after 3 days and one on the fourth, so now there are seven. They seem to have some, but poor, homing abilities and one bird was later reported to have been found dead less than a mile away.

I used to imagine they were a fast-flying breed but in a high wind they can go backwards like that, not realising at first that they could dive to get home. Since the time some were lost it seems they are less keen to fly when it's windy. If they do give it a try, they come back quickly instead of gaining much height. At first they were at risk of diving if they saw something when too far away, but that phase seems also to have passed. Perhaps they now know better where the loft is but reckon it could still happen, so I try not to let them go too high or to fly too far away.

Between the sexes so far there has seemed little difference in keenness to fly or dive. The old pair and the paired youngsters, brother and sister, often take off first and fly together as a tight formation of four birds, leaving three young cocks to follow them later. In good conditions they have not needed chasing to get them up, or flagging to make them go higher. Subject to the weather they will take off spontaneously, perhaps twice, and fly for five minutes or so, or until called down, and then peck around together on the ground in a gang. They jump straight into a bath water or not, so it is put out frequently. They can be 'herded' in or called in for food after a few minutes when not overfed, or go back to their small boxes in the shed after 10-30 minutes if they are left to it.

Two pairs bred well in the Summer and the remaining pair continued to lay into Autumn. As it became colder they deserted/broke squabs/eggs after a few days and now in December they are slower to lay. Perhaps the eggshells were not hard enough, or the parents weren't sufficiently attentive, but hope they will breed better again in Spring and Summer.

I just obtained a couple more pairs of blues, bars and chequers. The next stage will be to select the most responsive youngsters as well as for type and markings, and to fly them in smaller teams. I might fly them a bit more often, or try using a flag sometimes to get them higher before diving, but think that can wait until we are all a bit older and more experienced 










- a shot taken when they have just come out of the shed and are getting ready to fly










- as youngsters: in boxes near the outer shed door
.


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## Hawkmaster

Thank you for these great informative updates, it has really been useful and as I am now embarking on the task of taking on some Adana Dewlaps. I really look forward to flying them too.

Any additions or photos by more UK Dewlap Fanciers will always be really welcomed.

Thanks Paul


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## skip

Thanks for the feedback - here's a bit more.

The two new pairs were kept in but allowed out in pairs into the small compartment in the loft to flap their wings and peck around. As when the others were eventually allowed outside, they went back into their small breeding box after 15 minutes or so. 

Each new pair laid soft shells at first (I think the hens may have been young) but in June each pair bred a youngster. One of the two hens got out because it looked the same as its son which was being let out! It went to a neighbour's roof and came back as soon as it saw the other dewlaps, but took no notice of rollers put out to act as droppers. I saw this with youngsters last year when they ran over to join some wood pigeons which had landed nearby. Maybe they have wood pigeon in them? The white spots on the necks of some, 'earrings', look similar and think that marking is fairly unusual in domestic pigeons (=rock doves).

One of the two offspring from those pairs had bumble foot, but the currently still a squeaker, off the same blue bar pair, looks nice and is well marked but only three youngsters so far - not so good. I had left them with the parents until they are picking from the food cups with them but they were still slow to feed properly when put on their own. Both of those peck me when I clean their boxes (all are on plastic grilles which keeps the birds very clean even so confined) so hope they are cocks, just for flying.

The chequer squeaker looks like its mother, which had been egg bound with its first round (but survived when the egg was pushed out manually) with minimal white on the head. As a squeaker it also had a peculiar condition in which the flights on one wing overlapped the proximal feathers. It looks better now but it still seems less bouyant than the the BB bumblefoot, but I haven't seen either defect before. As always the strain is important and defects obviously must not be compounded by inbreeding, so perhaps this is trouble. 

Neither of the two first youngsters has started to fly properly although they are otherwise well grown. As last year I guess they will want to fly when they are older and they follow two the old pairs which come out but those don't fly at all now, just wanting to go back to canoodle. They laid lots of eggs and hatched a pair early in the year, but did not rear them. I believe their boxes are really too small but the new pairs have more room and there is even space for a couple of perches in each box, apart from two nest bowls.

I think it makes sense to keep the cocks or hens in individual boxes, if you want them to fly, because they might not just want to keep making love instead.


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## skip

Ok its nearly a year on. The dewlaps have behaved well but without encouragement the older birds have showed no inclination to fly. They come out every day and last year's imports, blue cheq pair and Blue bar pair, have been settled outside with the rest. The BB hen has stiff wings, being hardly able to fly, but her appetite is good. The rollers were in a terrible state in the breeding loft, being deficient of something in spite of 'all-in-one' supplement, a sample of which is being tested by the manufacturers. The dewlaps had soft shelled eggs and they are now getting the same Natural 'vitamineral' which immediately cured the rollers.

As to the three youngsters from the imports last year, they have recently and spontaneously started to fly, seemingly when sexually mature. The bumble-foot cock was lost on their first excursion, pity, but the other no-earrings young chequer cock had no problems, while the better-marked BB hen returned after stayed away overnight when they first flew properly. 

Now the young BC and BB fly on most days and are in love, although kept in separate boxes. Today they flew in gusty wind four times in twenty minutes so it is good that they are getting their bearings, but a bit surprising because experience had seemed to tell that 'dewlaps cannot not deal with wind'. 

Again, time will tell and perhaps it is due to the young pair being from a different strain...Not much diving yet but plenty of gliding which may be part of the mating ritual. As had been noticed in a previous year, the hen takes off first which gets the cock into the air. They started by flying circuits at low level but sometimes go high enough for me to become anxious and to flap the white tray, which only works occasionally works - they may be getting too much food!


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## hamlet

Hello. I liked when my a few of my pigeons learned to dive from invisible heights, being chased by the pigeon hawk of course. If i could, i would breed the dewlap with an active breed(bird) that likes to fly voluntarily. Then, god willing, i would produce an offspring that would be easy to get in the air and would not hesitate to land when in danger from the hawks.


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## skip

Hello hamlet, maybe the strain is not everything because the 'Lovey-Dovey' yearlings have continued, after mating first, to fly spontaneously together every day while the older pairs just hang around thinking about, and repeatedly checking up on, their allotted nest boxes as usual, and taking no interest. That has been unless a cock is chasing a particular hen, when she sometimes joins the LDs for a couple of circuits.

Today the LDs flew together for 5 minutes in gusty wind, going quite high and doing a bit of swerving, apparently to show off to each other. It was cooler and they did not pant upon landing after such a good fly. On the way down they dived together at steep angles but not yet all the way to the loft.
According to these observations they wanted to fly once they were sexually mature, as suspected before. 

A new theory could be that, when a sexually mature young cock and hen are kept in separate boxes like this, their opportunity to meet and physically to mate outside might make them want to do perform display/bonding flights. (Some echos of the keenness and incentives provided by the 'widowhood' system for racers?)

If that is right, perhaps at the right time, such inducements to fly could also become the basis for training individual pairs to get their bearings better so they don't get lost so easily on early flights, while getting them fit, and perhaps later to try to convert this to flying them regularly in a larger team. 

In the past, I have trained Dewlaps to fly as a group of four or five youngsters when they sometimes just followed the keenest to fly, and by a bit of chasing, but one day lost that kit in low cloud - they had become good divers and I did not get one back, in spite of address rings. Like any pigeon but even more so, dewlaps seem sensitive to, and to take to heart any alarm or unusual thing, so just carrot could have been much better than using the stick at all.... 

Those birds just responded to droppers when they were hungry and wanting to land for food, but I wonder if dewlaps might be safer from landing elsewhere if they have got a better idea of their location, having learned to fly entirely voluntarily. This is because currently have seemed to range quite widely on some days and to want to come home in order to carry on loving in their accustomed place, rather than just seeming to respond to something which looks like a flapping pigeon, or even to get fed.


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## skip

The cock and hen dewlap yearlings which paired up when outside, being kept in different single bird boxes, have continued to fly for longer periods shortly after being let out every day while the others usually hang about, some being on eggs but all paired up.

The young lovers have continued to fly once or twice between mating every day, sometimes quite high and ranging widely, while still being in sight. In flight they do more gliding than I have seen before but apparently cope easily with wind, instead of being blown away which has happened with a different strain (as in fact the lovers are, one from the other). 

Before landing they can now do short vertical dives with wings shut but so far always flap a bit in the last 4 yards or more before alighting. After 10 minutes or so the cock goes into the loft and straight into his small box ready to be fed. She has got used to hanging onto a food trough on someone else's box 50% of the time but allows me to take her in hand and put her into her own. The other 50% she lands the floor first and then flies up to her box. 

All of them, the rest being pairs with a cock and a hen together in a single larger box, get about a handful of 'breed and wean' mixture per bird per day. Any more and they can hang around too long outside, especially some individuals which have to be given a little less, notably two of the hens. The cocks are keener on coming in to be fed but won't stay in until the hens go in first, when they follow them in.

This way they are all let out, mucked out (plastic mesh floors), fresh water and feed, and exercised if they want to, within 10 to 20 minutes a day, instead of an hour or 1.5 hrs for each kit of rollers because they fly so long.

The pairs usually break their eggs by being clumsy but their space is quite restricted. The newer pairs have more space with a perch each too, but one of each pair has a problem - BC cock has half its tail which bleeds from time to time and the BB hen can hardly fly, but those were last year the parents of the vigourous BC young cock and the BB young hen which are now such keen flyers. 

However the newer BC pair is currently again sitting a pair of eggs which appear fertile, perhaps breeding more efficiently in the warmer weather?


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