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We are selling our Gene Bank!
Due to age and health considerations, it is time for us to start cutting back on the number of birds we keep. Over the course of the next year we plan to reduce the number of families that we maintain as well as sell off our Gene Bank. Of course, we wish we didn't have to do this, but it is better to do it now when we can do it right, rather than wait too long and then have the birds chaotically dispersed, perhaps even losing some forever.
What is a Gene Bank? Just like the name suggests, a “Gene Bank” is a place where important genes are deposited and held for future use. They are very common among plant breeders (largely because of the ease and low cost of storage), but rather rare among animal breeders (“storing” animals, semen and/or embryos is expensive). For years I have maintained several hundred birds in my “bank”. There have been a number of occasions where the bank has paid out in a big way, the most spectacular being with the development of my Van Rhijn Kloeck family. With my need to cut down, I will no longer be maintaining my own “in-house” bank.
What families are in our Gene Bank?
What families are we dispersing?
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GONE The “White Bandit” family (bred by Julian & Roland Janssens and imported by Chic Brooks of Hapyco Lofts). These birds have gone as a single group to Dominic deKeratry of Georgetown Texas. Dominic specializes in white grizzles and also has birds imported from Roland Janssens. Dominic is an outstanding breeder and wonderful asset to our sport. He will continue to develop this family and keep it going for years to come. Dominic can be reached at:
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A FEW LEFT The “Magic Fire” family - linebred around 1252338-NL-97 “Magic Fire” who was bred by Gijs Peters of Holland. "Magic Fire" sold for $60,000 to Taiwan. He was the best pigeon in Europe in 1998. Results are fantastic. Only raced as a yearling. His results were better than World Champion Long Distance and World Champion Middle Distance. 1st 13,210b, 1st 1,306b, 2nd 4,305b, 8th 6,833b, 12th Nat'l 8,880b, 3rd 1,019b.
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GONE Our Delbar family - this was a project of recent years. The main foundation of this group are two cocks; one was bred by Larry Korcsog and is down from the Beltway Delbars, the other was bred by Judy Brooks and is down from birds she obtained from Maurice Delbar. I like the birds, I just have to cut down.
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The Art Hees family was obtained by Chic when Art became ill and just before Art’s passing. They have performed very well in our Contemporary Group Test program and I really hate to part with them, but I must cut down.
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Our Hofken family is another one that I hate to see go. Very well bred and rich in the right alleles for LDHA and DRD4.
How will the sales be managed?
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Our priority is the preservation of these important gene pools. As such, we are less interested in the sale of individual birds, but instead small to large groups so that we are able to keep the gene pools intact.
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Unfortunately, I am very limited in the amount of physical work I can do. Shipping birds is now a very challenging task for me. For this reason my preference is to sell the birds at the farm. I recognize this won't work for everyone and I will try to accommodate shipping as much as possible, but you will have to be patient. I can only manage to ship a few birds a week.
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If you have an interest in these birds, the best approach is to email (dave.shewmaker@gmail.com) or call me (916-662-5339). We can then discuss what I have, what you are looking for and see if it is a good match.
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As birds become available I will list them here on this site. I may list a few on one or two of the auction sites, but those types of listings will probably be very few. I will provide great pedigree information and performance data when it is available. I will include a few representative photos, but there will not be pictures of every bird or any of their eyes. There certainly won't be any fake cookie cutter photos. First, I currently don't have the energy to do this and second, they are of little value.
How will they be priced?
What is currently available?
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