This is from a Mr John Ross from the UK

Damascenes are an ancient breed of fancy pigeon. They have been specially bred from very early in Pigeon keeping history ,maybe as long as 3000 years ago. This bird unlike so many other breeds of pigeon has remained almost unchanged in look and colour and ancient pigeon lovers would immediately recognise them. Their colour is ice blue which although looks silvery white is infact a dark pigeon blue feather with a silver or ice wash over the top. The eyes are a strong bright, ruby red and they have a distinctive blueish eye cere which only shows to its best if the bird is kept in natural daylight or at least has regular access to such.
* If the look of this bird is not enough to attract the pigeon lover then other points in its favour will surely bring them round. Damascenes are very good breeders and feeders and seem to tolerate their young for a longer period of time than some other breeds. From my experience they are great flyers when young although not that high in the sky. I have seen them fly at 100 feet and then dive down and land straight onto the loft, this diving is similar to other Syrian breeds.
* Sadly, the Damascene does not have a large following of showmen in the U.K. mainly being kept as I do for pleasure but in Europe, especially Germany, they have large classes at their shows.
* I would recommend this breed to all pigeon lovers.

How is that for a reason
Dave

 

I have some Damascenes and even the rare red check & red bar color, and checked color in the breed (standard color for that breed is the powder or ice blue bar). They can be used as droppers, but I use the satinettes or old frills as droppers for my racers. My Damascene birds for sale can be viewed on my wesbite page at http://www.whiteracers.20m.com/cgi-bin/util/sitebuilder/edit?editpage=photo_5.html

Dennis Kuhn
http://www.pigeonsuppliesplus.com

http://www.whiteracingpigeons.com

 

I have a single Damascene paired up with a mutt and they are the great pumpers/feeders. Mine does somewhat of an attitude however i put up with it since she is constantly raising my birds.

 

I would think that they may be a little too flighty for droppers. My flock liked to get up and fly a bit but I am sure if you trained them they could be used. I wouldn't be surprised if one flew up and did a few circles with your homers though.

On a side note, I was looking through some pigeontalk members websites and see that one of my damascene pictures is being used on the homepage of another loft. I am always flattered when people use my birds to represent their own breeding stock.