The True Spinning Roller Show Standard

The true spinning Birmingham Roller is the ultimate pigeon acrobat. It performs high velocity backward somersaults cleanly and with apparent control, then returns quickly to the kit. These precise acrobatic maneuvers require a unique physical type with only small deviations if the bird is to achieve ideal performance.  

If it were a straight-ahead flyer like a racing homer or a tippler, we could accept a much wider range of physical types to withstand diverse weather conditions and conquer both time and distance. Historically, judging performing Rollers in shows ultimately pushed the breed away from ideal performance and created a slow tumbler. That’s because judges promoted heavy-headed, heavy-feathered, long-winged, "masculine" birds and justified their placings with arbitrary, abstract language totally divorced from the laws of physics and aerodynamics that govern performance delivery. The big, fluffy show winners were no longer physically capable of high-speed performance.

Veteran, intelligent fanciers know that breeding for correct type will not produce a willingness to roll. Rolling is a mental factor. Type only determines the quality of the roll once rolling is established in a family. "Expression" is no guarantee of stable performance. Eye-flex is no guarantee of frequency. Eye color, feather color and/or feather pattern have no proven correlation to depth or frequency. 

A true spinning Roller proves it deserves that title by what it does in the air (which includes the vital concepts of kitting and frequency). If we have birds that are very good in the air, we can either hope to stay at that level or we can choose to improve rolling speed and the other aspects of ideal performance. If we choose the wrong mates, we may take a step backward. If we choose the right mates, we may succeed in producing faster, cleaner performers in the next generation.

Certain traits can only be accurately assessed by taking the bird in hand in a consistent manner, then rating what we feel with the fingertips and see with the eyes. The most important physical traits that govern quality performance are the first arm bone, body shape, muscle, wing configuration and feather quality. The full range of mental traits can only be accurately assessed by constant observation of birds that have been systematically flown and fed.

This standard is organized into major categories, then traits prioritized within each to underscore the most important characteristics of the performing Roller. Even if you do not show, this standard was created to help you choose the correct mate(s) for your birds (based on the proven laws of physics and aerodynamics) and increase the percentage of quality performers in the next generation. In short, when weighing mate choices, go where the points are.

	Points 
The essential features (in their order of importance) for quality, high-speed performance are …
I.  Skeletal/Muscular Structure
1)	very short first arm bone (the first wing bone next to the body);	   24
2)	chest with depth in front, pitching back sharply to the vent bones;	   18
3)	short, small but strong body, well-muscled and conditioned;	   12
4)	short neck and short legs;	   10
5)	back feels hollow but shows strength by tail held horizontal or down when bird is in hand;	    
(tail cushion minimal; tail longer than and held below tenth primary flight on standing bird);	     6
	Subtotal	  (70)
II.  Feathering
	1)    short, narrow primaries with a smooth taper beginning at the base of each;	    	     8
	2)    secondary flights shorter than the primaries;	    	     4
	3)    glued-in-place, silky feathering of sufficient quantity with no fret marks;	     	     8
	Subtotal	  (20)
III.  General Impression
1)	vibrant health and a bright eye with a small, fast-flexing pupil (iris any color);	     6
2)	pleasing head and calm temperament;	     4
		Subtotal	  (10)

		TOTAL	  100

D.D. Kowalski  11/2013. All rights reserved.  Author acknowledges the insightful observations of  G.B. Peterson.