# Droppers



## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

What birds make the best droppers and why?

I'm thinking about going to droppers this year. 

Ace


----------



## TipplerBeni (Sep 30, 2007)

ace when i did tippler competition white homers crossed into fantails worked good flew a little but not much


----------



## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

TipplerBeni said:


> ace when i did tippler competition white homers crossed into fantails worked good flew a little but not much


Hi TipplerBeni,

Thank you for your responce. I can see were this cross might work, but I know there are existing breeds out there that people are using for droppers. I am looking to find out what breed is considerd the best bird for the job.

Ace


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

ace in the hole said:


> Hi TipplerBeni,
> 
> Thank you for your responce. I can see were this cross might work, but I know there are existing breeds out there that people are using for droppers. I am looking to find out what breed is considerd the best bird for the job.
> 
> Ace


Alot of people use the Satinettes.


----------



## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Lovebirds said:


> Alot of people use the Satinettes.


Thanks Renee,

I hope others will add their thoughts on this.

I would think the Satinettes would not make good pumpres for my racers, or would they?

That was my thoughts. If the birds I use as droppers could be used also for pumpers it would work out great.

Ace


----------



## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

ace in the hole said:


> Thanks Renee,
> 
> I hope others will add their thoughts on this.
> 
> ...


well my seraphim, when I had them, where great parents! and they are basicly a satinette...so I duuno, seems I have heard of satinettes being used as droppers, but I don't know enough on using droppers.....would'nt they get picked off by BOP?


----------



## Guest (Dec 19, 2008)

Hey Ace,
I do know that CBS uses the Sats with the birds in the mercedes classic , I know this only because they have a cam in the loft on their site and you always see them walking by.. another bird I know that people use is the long faced tumblers but I think they are a little to pricey as a dropper bird if you ask me  I have one Sat myself and he is a great parent that I have used with a tippler for pumping when needed


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

spirit wings said:


> would'nt they get picked off by BOP?


There's a GREAT possibility........so, yes. We had a man in our combine that uses them and he knew I had some and he called me one day to say that the hawks has gotten all of his and did I have any I could sell/give him. Guess you know what my answer was.  I actually can't believe he was crazy enough to even ask me.


----------



## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

ace in the hole said:


> Thanks Renee,
> 
> I hope others will add their thoughts on this.
> 
> ...



Well, the two pair of Satinettes I had were not good parents.........BUT, I got stupid and tried raising them in the winter time.........NOT a good idea. I wound up fostering one (Scooter), his sibling froze to death and I had to hand raise the others. 
I don't think that it's them being "bad" parents.......they just tend to not stay with the babies as long as homers do and we all know that won't work in the winter time. You also have to make sure you get the ones that actually have a beak................those other kind can't raise their own babies, much less homer babies.


----------



## TipplerBeni (Sep 30, 2007)

ace you might want to use new york flying flights easy to train and nice on the eyes also good long beaks for good pumpers


----------



## TipplerBeni (Sep 30, 2007)

lokata,

you really cant use tipplers as droppers. Pumpers yeah but droppers no. if they happen to be good or even decent tipplers they will overfly. I think tipplers are good for training homers keeping them flying for hours. thats what I did when i raced. I had about 50 tipplers and would let my racing team out let them do there business routing and when they were flying over head i would let out the tipplers and keep them up for 4 hours ontop of what they flew... I have blue bar tipplers so its funny seeing the huge blue bars homer next to the blue bar tipplers.


----------



## Guest (Dec 19, 2008)

umm I dint say I used them as droppers I said my sat is paired with a tippler as I only have the one sat and a ton of the tipplers lol


----------



## Matt D. (May 12, 2007)

TipplerBeni said:


> ace you might want to use new york flying flights easy to train and nice on the eyes also good long beaks for good pumpers


That would be a huge mistake, also why most people's droppers end up in the trash. They get so frustrated with them because they are flying around and not doing what they want them to do. But they're using rollers or flights. Totally defeats the purpose of droppers. And on the 'nice on your eyes part', that's a matter of opinion; Flights for me are on a short list of birds You couldn't pay me to own. YUCK! 

I have two Satinettes that I bought about a year ago now. I've got them trained and It was the best move I've made this year. I can throw them anywhere and they'll trap on command every time. This was 9 months ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=espYKcPEduc&feature=channel_page That was when I was still training them to the loft. Now Ive got them to where I can throw them just about anywhere and They're on the money every time. Like everything else in pigeons, a little patience and elbow grease will go a long way with these little guys.


----------



## TipplerBeni (Sep 30, 2007)

flights are the perfect bird to use. they are bred to bring birds down. ask any rooftop flier. As far as good on the eye im the opposite of you lol i wouldnt keep a sat if they gave it to me and it thre golden eggs. WELL MAYBE if it laid golden eggs.


----------



## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

The idea of what the dropper is supposed to do is...NOT FLY AROUND..But to only...FLY TO THE LANDING BOARD....and...GO IN THE LOFT...with THE RACE BIRD RIGHT BEHIND THEM >>>> PERIOD !!!....It does not make to much of a difference what their breed is..
What they MUST BE is TAME and NON-FLYING !!!!!......Alamo


----------



## TipplerBeni (Sep 30, 2007)

the birds above must see the birds going in, in order to land right? If you have a bird that is let out and hits the board and shoots inside the birds above might miss it. If you got say a bird that will do 2-3 hooks or pull the birds down and land and soon as they land pull birds in is better no? But i dont use droppers much so maybe im just typing non scene.


----------



## Matt D. (May 12, 2007)

TipplerBeni said:


> the birds above must see the birds going in, in order to land right? If you have a bird that is let out and hits the board and shoots inside the birds above might miss it. If you got say a bird that will do 2-3 hooks or pull the birds down and land and soon as they land pull birds in is better no? But i dont use droppers much so maybe im just typing non scene.


Using them is an art. I don't use them to pull out of the air. My birds come right down and sit on the house or top of the loft for ten or so seconds and that's what pisses me off. I wait until my birds are either landing or have landed and then I'll throw my dropper. It really depends on where your loft is, your birds, you, and a multitude of other things.


----------



## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

TipplerBeni said:


> the birds above must see the birds going in, in order to land right? If you have a bird that is let out and hits the board and shoots inside the birds above might miss it. If you got say a bird that will do 2-3 hooks or pull the birds down and land and soon as they land pull birds in is better no? But i dont use droppers much so maybe im just typing non scene.


A dropper should fly straight to the landing board and in. I plan to release 2 or 3 droppers one after the other as soon as I see a bird comming. The plan is for the racer to see these other birds flying straight in and follow them in.


Ace


----------



## Ed (Sep 18, 2008)

TipplerBeni said:


> the birds above must see the birds going in, in order to land right? If you have a bird that is let out and hits the board and shoots inside the birds above might miss it. If you got say a bird that will do 2-3 hooks or pull the birds down and land and soon as they land pull birds in is better no? But i dont use droppers much so maybe im just typing non scene.


you have to time it right.
I watched a couple guys in my race clubuse droppers.
they take around 4 or 5 out in a training basket and wait for the birds to start returning.
When they see one flying home they try and time it so they release the dropper and the returning bird will see it flying towards the loft and they think its all clear to enter.
you right though.
If they do miss seeing it it doesnt work.
Thats why they take out about 4 or 5
I watched them have to do it twice on one bird cause he circled too fast and didnt see the first one enter the loft


----------



## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

StoN3d said:


> you have to time it right.
> *I watched a couple guys in my race club use droppers.
> they take around 4 or 5 out in a training basket and wait for the birds to start returning.*When they see one flying home they try and time it so they release the dropper and the returning bird will see it flying towards the loft and they think its all clear to enter.
> you right though.
> ...


Did they use Satinettes? If not do you know what breed they were using.

Ace


----------



## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I have a Satinette that I used for a dropper. He made a pretty good one. He was hungry and went straight in the loft to eat. I think he's probably mixed with something else, since his color isn't what a typical Satinette would look like. He flies with the homers sometimes when I let him out, but when it comes to being a dropper, he does his job.
As long as you don't use a flying breed, I think you can use just about anything. Just have them trap trained really good and make sure they're hungry on race day.


----------



## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

I am sure some of you know the non flying breeds better than I do. What breed or breeds do you think would make good droppers as well as being a good breed to use as pumpers for my racers?

Ace


----------



## Matt D. (May 12, 2007)

Mr. Minvielle Knows! http://www.siegelpigeons.com/asked-droppers.html


----------



## RodSD (Oct 24, 2008)

Nice find Matt!


----------



## dvtlegend (Oct 20, 2007)

i used a roller. I only have one roller in the loft and he is allowed to go out side with young birds. he will not try to follow the birds because he can't keep up. on race days, i used him and he circles the loft one time and comes right back home. he will not try to take flight. raise a roller with your homers and see how it works. i've been using rollers and have good succes. but do not raise more then 2 as they will stick together and roll. mine is always with homers so it lost its sense of rolling ability due to the fact that he is always trying to keep up with the birds.


----------



## Matt D. (May 12, 2007)

This is what grandpa tried for a long time. Needless to say he doesn't have them anymore.  Most rollers will take off on race day. Unless you get a really bad quality pair of birds, or splice their wings.


----------



## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

I have 3 Satinettes..I do cut the last 3 or 4 flights on them so they can`t fly much..The best pair of droppers I had many years ago were Baldheads..They were so tame,they only made one nice circle around the lofts..But the HAWKS got hem..I didn`t cut the flights on them,because they never hardly flew more then 3 or 4 laps around the lofts..My Satinettes love to fly around,so I must cut the flights,and I don`t let them stay out,since the hawks will get them real easy...Alamo
PS:The reason the Satinette is used by many Racing Pigeon lofts is that: They are very COLORFULL in flight,and the racing pigeon coming in can spot them real easy...Just as the hawks do !!!!


----------



## moonshadow13 (Dec 13, 2008)

Hello,
I have Ukranian Skycutters and German Owls. Now you all have to promise NO LAUGHING and keep in mind that I just got my first pigeons this July and won't even be racing till next summer (hopefully).
Before I understood what these birds were SUPPOSED to do I thought there was something wrong with the skycutter. I would let him out and he would fly right back to the loft go right back in through the trap door. I kept thinking what a stupid bird. That is until I read about droppers and then thought Oh what a stupid human  
Funny note: the other day we decided to remove all the sand from the loft and give it a good cleaning before breeding. We pulled out the nest boxes and set them outside on a table. About an hour later I hear my husband calling me to come get Captain(the skycutter)! He heard some noises coming from one of the nest boxes and sure enough the little bugger was sitting inside one the whole time!!


----------

