Mick Bassett continues his LUCERNE BITS

This missive deals with selection within the various Lucerne breeds.

You will have noticed in the last brief none of the Lucernes were actually standing 'perfectly' in the pictures. If you want to see how they should stand, you have the Standard picture, I tend to take pictures simply to show examples of the breed/breeds, if I can get them standing in a show stance, that is simply a plus. Lucernes are not one of the easiest breed groups to take pictures of, confronted with a stranger with a camera in hand, 90% will hunch up, squat or generally not display well at close quarters. I dislike pictures behind bars, so chancing a poor 'stand' is a small price to pay for a clear view of a bird. My source information is the birds I have handled myself over the last seven years, my conversations with top breeders and the wealth of breed literature available here. So, the Lucernes: Take it we have a bird typical of the group, compact, well balanced, good body form, a head that is elegant but with substance and a well set peak crest, the next criteria is colour and markings (they are 'Colour' pigeons). One point to mention with Lucernes is it is one of the very few breed groups where birds that look so called 'Cow Hocked' (angled at the joint) is actually a breed feature, this does not however mean weak hocks! Another point worth mentioning, in common with many breeds, Lucernes as young birds often do not display what is deemed to be the correct colour/markings. You have no other recourse than to wait until moulted out of nest feather, the changes can be quite dramatic and attempts at early selection verges on idiocy in many of the colours. I will deal with them breed by breed, and deal with colour, as each has certain peculiarities particular to that breed. For your perfect 'Type' you only need to look at the Standard Pictures.

Lucerne Gold Collar, Barless, Bar, Cheq This is probably THE most popular in the UK and is bred here in Switzerland and Germany to a very high standard of colour perfection. First the ground colour must be as pale and even as possible, hens may tend to be slightly (but only slightly) darker, this can be allowed for in the breeding pen, as in most breeds complementary pairing is the rule.

 

 

This article continues in August 2010 issues of Feathered World.