DARREN DEACON talks Pigeons - Birmingham Roller Pigeons 

Hello Darren I think I have been to your house in the late 90s when I judged the all England 1997 I think.I don't keep the birds any more b o p problems . Good interview true about the politics should be kept well out of the hobby can and does spoil a very good hobby .just would like to say Peter Harper is in my opinion one of the top men in rollers .He has helped lots of flyers with birds over the years myself included even at the risk of leaving himself short on good birds men like this are few and far between and should be congratulated for his efforts to help others .I kept peters stuff pure for 27 years .I would refer to them as pickles pigeons as they came from Frank pickles way back.I had some good results with them and consider them to be good competition rollers .over the years Peter had a number of mostly young birds back off me and tells me some ended up in his stock loft .The problem is for novices and old hands alike is that they obtain stock from other flyers and a lot of the time they just receive cross bred birds .Difficult then to know the actual history of the so called families.when I kept he birds I flew them hard I never kept a lot of birds so you get to know them.just to give you some idea what I mean in 1996 my oldbird team won the all England judged by John Russell .He gave them 80 or 90 for quality outof 100 .But my point is in the 10 days running up to that fly that team was flown about 15 times and they where allready very fit and hard .All that flying did not fly the work out of them .on the day they came out and did the job required.So your birds are doing very well on a completely different training method than I was using .not seen many birds these last few years .But the year I judged the all England I came to the conclusion a lot of fanciers are not feeding enough or flying them enough to put the muscle on them .In my opinion weak starving birds won't be able to do the work required.To win the big fly's .sounds like you have gone a different route to me with your twice a week flying routine it is working for you so all is well .There is more than one way to skin a cat.Best of luck with the birds Ian Birkett.

Great interview we all seem to want to push our birds when we don’t look into resting the birds

Great roller chat good on you

Great interview. Love seeing what’s going on in the old country! Ken from Sacramento.

Brilliant. Keep em coming.

Great interview, thanks guys.

Hello again Darren with regard to flying young birds twice a week I personally believe that young birds develop according to hours done in the air almost like a ticking clock .when the birds are on the perch the clock stops ticking .I have proved this to myself by handling 2 kits of young birds bred closely one kit on regular daily flying weather permitting ( no strong winds) and the other kit on fly a day rest 2 days my findings are that the kit flown daily sometimes twice daily would start performing earlier than the kit that was sat on the perches more .I am talking about my own birds now not anybody else's .Breeding and feeding plays a enormous part in flying rollers properly but observation is VERY important as well .I believe you can't observe enough time observing the birds is never wasted in the sky and in the kit box .The wife used to say to me what do you do in that she'd my answer was always the same OBSERVE. I have seen a few u tube videos of kits during lockdown most if not all fly on one wing barely if ever changing wing I understand that this is b o p defence thing and is difficult to correct .From what I have seen today's flyers are not seeing the full potential of the kits .Ifrom 1992 till about 2008 my kits flew figure of eight pattern no exception (no bop ) when good birdsfly this pattern and are managed well beaking at both ends becomes a regular occurrence .I am sure lots of other lads where in that situation as well I don't think kits on one wing could compete with figure eight flying kits of same family .some of the kits I see on u tube don't set up before the breaks it seems like they almost break by accident a lot seem to fly through the breaks obviously spoiling the breaks .latterly my birds would fly this one wing pattern sometimes. I hated it with a vengeance coupled with b o p visitations is why I packed the birds in it was like trying to run on one leg to me .I remember talking with John lenihan about it and I told him I was dropping out the aerc he really tried to persuade me not to but i had made my mind up .would like to add I visited John lenihan a few times early 90s he flew some fantastic rollers I handled his rose bowl winning cock what a privilege asked could it be bought think we all know the answer.the year I judged the earc fly went to a lad at Bristol can't remember his name kit went out settled at about 200 foot and went to work the kit was good enough to score points at about 4 to 5 mins in a DK checker bird ripped one off it was absolutely top draw stuff it continued throughout the fly every roll superb straight back to the kit no messing about .when I gave him his score sheet i asked where he had got it from he said John lenihan it was a gift .although the rest of the team where good enough to score this bird made them look second class it was way better than the rest of the team.when I asked him why are you flying that it should be in your stock shed he said I thought it would help the team score but it actually made the rest of the team look mediocre .If you read this Darren reply if you like thanks and good luck with the birds Ian Birkett.

Very interesting interview 👍

Good interview, I remember Phil Calver, he had some good Rollers, I think I judged them in 1998, think it was the Nationals not sure, Paul Lee drove me round, after the fly we went for a pint, I went for "a hit & a miss" when I came back the 2 of them were gone, I found them hiding in a booth on the other side of the bar, chuckle chuckle, they were a good laugh, totaly agree with Darren on the feeding, whether its just wheat or a mix, they need plenty of it to be strong and have stamina.

Well done mate. The best interview I’ve seen . Man knows his birds. From feed to breed to fly. Evan touches on the politics. Quality bro keep it up👌👌👌

I think i have met this guy before mate at bradford show my yellow splash came 2end in 2016 was geeorgr mason type.

Thanks great insight to a good flier.

Really liked the interview back hear in Canada

Great interview, very informative thanks for sharing.

JUST FLY THE PIGEONS.... AND HAVE WITH THEM.... YES