# Archangel Pigeons



## Danny Donek (Aug 16, 2011)

How do the Archangel pigeons fly? Or do they not recommend flying this breed??


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## AZCorbin (Feb 28, 2011)

Hardly at all. I had some AAs which would do a couple laps. Flying them With tipplers may add on a few minutes but I would be happy if they did only 5 minutes.
In other words if you want a flying breed AAs are not it.
Check out English tipplers or New York Flying Flights.
The flights are kind of a mix of flying / show but they do fly well.
What exactly do you want out of your birds?


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## Danny Donek (Aug 16, 2011)

i was just wondering on their flying ability, i have tipplers and serbian highflyers and was thinking maybe they would be of similar flying ability.


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## AZCorbin (Feb 28, 2011)

No not at all. We keep tipplers and flights. The AAs were bred for color. Plain and simple. Tipplers were bred for flying ability. Most pigeon breeds are not flyers and we're never intended to be. In other words the wings are extra.
The tips and Serbians don't even fly the same, it may appear so if flown together.


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## Norcropper (Dec 28, 2011)

*Flying Archangels*

Why don't you try flying some archangel youngsters with a young kit of your other birds. If you start them out just like your flying breeds, you just might be surprised. Years ago I saw a pair of black standard fantails high flying with a kit of rollers. It was amazing to see.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Are you sure those weren't Syrian Fantails or Garden Fantails?


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## Norcropper (Dec 28, 2011)

I'm sure. I wound up buying the pair.


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## AZCorbin (Feb 28, 2011)

How long did those fly for you?


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## Norcropper (Dec 28, 2011)

They flew maybe 10-15 minutes. Slow, but surprisingly high, trying to kit with rollers. When I first saw them they were with a big mob of mixed birds belonging to some kid. I was in amazement seeing those fantails in the air like that, and I stopped and met the kid and wound up buying the pair, and just for fun tried flying them with my rollers. It was interesting, but they screwed up the kit, so interest in flying them wore off quickly. As you can imagine having a great big parachute hanging off the rear didn't make them especially agile. Nowadays with all the hawks they wouldn't last long.

I gave up flying rollers due to the hawks about 15 years ago. When I was a kid growing up in the city I never had a hawk get a bird, and I flew several breeds. Every breed flies different, and most breeds don't mix well in the air. As a kid I tried flying everything and the flock was all over the sky, some wouldn't last as long in the air as others, some like rollers high and slow, some such as homers, fast and low. I had swing pouters and norwich croppers and they were really entertaining to watch in the air. They tended to fly singly and do their own thing, but were hilarious clowns in the air, flying with inflated globe. Every bird is different, but many would fly great if started young and with the encouragement of being flown with a flock.

As a kid I crossed norwich with swing pouters and discovered the offspring were highly vigorous pouters with large globes, and they loved to fly and clown around in the air. They would rise up with loud wing clapping and inflated globe, and then soar with wings held overhead, rocking in the air as they lost altitude, then they would repeat rising up again over and over.

I highly recommend to anyone living where hawks don't seem to be a problem, to try flying pouters, it's very entertaining. Horseman pouters are a great choice, as are several of the Spanish thief breeds. Another excellent pouter is norwich/ pigmy crosses or norwich/ brunner crosses. There seems to be something like hybrid vigor that comes with crossing these old inbred breeds, and they are real clowns of the pigeon world.


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## AZCorbin (Feb 28, 2011)

Thanks for the post. Yeah makes sense. 
Good info about the breed mixing as many new in the game do that, just as we did here. I fly 3 breeds (will be at least). Need to keep one separate but with this heat it is easy to get them back in!


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