South German Shields

[newday]

Here's a shot of young black South German Shields, sure are "geeky" looking aren't they?

Link
www.martinlofts.com

[feralpigeon]

Naaaa, they are cute. Do you have any photos of adults of the same breed
for comparison? That would be interesting side by side.

fp

[newday]

Here's a photo of an adult SGS. Its not mine but will give you an idea of what they should look like as adults.

Link
www.martinlofts.com

[TAWhatley]

Dumb question for you, Link, but I'm gonna ask anyway .. how in the world do you serious breeders/showers of some of these uncommon breeds really know that what you are getting is what you were told you were and what you paid for? I know with at least a few of the very unusual/uncommon breeds, that there are so few of them in the U.S. that hardly anybody has ever seen one ..

I swear .. to me .. some many of these fancy breeds look so much alike, that I have no clue what they are .. ie. short faced, medium faced, long faced .. how the heck do you really tell if you are a novice? (Talking about Tumblers here).

Terry

[MaryOfExeter]

Awww, they're cute! And the adults are very pretty.
I agree with Terry about so many of them looking the same. If there's hardly any difference between two breeds, how are you supposed to know? And what would really be bad is, if two breeds look very similar, but one is rare compared to the other. And if you were tricked into thinking it was rare but come to find out, many other people have exactly what you have...and you paid the 'rare' price

[newday]

Excellent questions Terry and Becky,

Unfortunately folks are sold pigeons all the time that are not really the breed that they were promised - sometimes its mixed breeds, totally misrepresented or sometimes just extremely poor quality. I just talked with a young fancier, he was very excited by his purchase of a "rare" breed. The best I could tell it was a mixed offspring of two very common breeds but just looked starnge.

I always recommend that anyone getting into show breeds or especially rare breeds is to

1. know the show standard (which can be a little tricky if its a breed that is very rare in the USA, but standards can be obtained from breeders in other countries). Know some of the basics: size, shape, color patterns, etc.

2. Buy from a breeder that shows and/or is a member of a club such as the Rare Breeds Club. That person is less likely to try and stick you with misrepresented birds.

3. Avoid online purchases. Yes, I have bought birds from Eggbid and online classifieds but I always assume I may get "taken" by someone misrepresenting what they are selling. I do not recommend auctions for folks that are new to pigeons.

4. Try to buy at shows from folks showing - not necessarily from the sale section.

5. be willing to pay more for higher quality rare breeds. Unfortunately a few breeders of rare breeds raise as m,any as they can so they can sell them without concern for quality or the standard.

Link
www.martinlofts.com