Today on my usual walk though the Woodlands close to my loft I saw notices
nailed to several trees; "Lost - Black, White and Brown Collie cross breed
dog in this area. His name is Peter - We love him. Please phone this number.
There is a substantial reward if we can get him returned."
In September 2000 while on holiday in the county of Cornwall, England I was
shown some small Tippler/Tumbler types of pigeons that were typical of what
is known as the small Cobby type. Short legged, stout and with tails
protruding only half an inch beyond the wing tips. Beaks were rather shorter
I dislike the term "timer". The task of supervising a kit of Tipplers is not
simply a matter of time keeping. I prefer the term " referee" because this
indicates "judging" combined with advisory capacity based on a good
knowledge and experience of the breed. It does not follow that every man who
flies Tipplers must have expertise.
Of course the ideal situation would be to isolate each pigeon to a single
cell at feeding time and give a carefully measured quantity and type of feed
to each pigeon. With flying Tipplers the standard kit size if 3 to 5, and
the above mentioned system is easy to apply - in fact it's essential.
In a given family or strain of Tipplers that has been kept and selectively
bred successfully for several years with marathon times in mind, we may
think that the metabolism would be the same in every "likely" specimen. In
fact, the working weights of each Tipplers belonging to a marathon intended
kit should be the same or with just a slight tolerance.
Serious and constructive debate is scarce within the general pigeon fancy,
but in recent months I have had the pleasure initiated when our learned
friend Michael Beat sent a video-tape to me; It was made by Mr Nash Milic of
Las Vegas, Nevada. It presented footage of his Tipplers and Droppers in
action.
I was born in an era when a lazy, incompetent or neglectful workman was
booted out of his job. These days the work-shy and useless individuals seem
to be a protected species. Stupidity, ignorance, neglect and sheer bone
idleness seems to be accepted.
It has been written that the old Sheffield type of Tipplers was always
hungry. Well, it is known that the old Tippler men trained their kits on
half a feed of Barley and the specimens that failed were not tolerated.
Some men claim that unless their birds are trained in a state of severe
hunger they cannot control them.
I have said that Barley is of very low nutritional value. The old timers of
Sheffield used it for getting the excessive weight off Tipplers that had
been confirmed to the loft for many months. For example, after the last
adult Tippler fly in June the Tipplers were not flown until the following
March.
From ancient writings, the Sheffield Tipplers were described as being always
hungry. From my own observations, that was because of the local system of
flying training using Barley. The old Sheffield Tipplers were trained and
selected for their ability to withstand a certain degree of malnutrition.
