Wildbriar Lofts had a very humble beginning in 1979 with the purchase of a few flying rollers. Racing homers followed a few years later and finally I discovered fancy breeds and started in Fantails in 1986. Ever since then I have been a specialist breeder of Fantails. The breeding and exhibiting of Fantails has become my passion over these past 23 years. I started with whites and after a few years became interested in color genetics and branched off into various colors.  Today my stud consists of  around 30 pairs in bar, check and barless patterns in ash red, blue and brown with most modifiers such as dilute, milky, reduced, opal, indigo and grizzle. I also am developing two projects in toy stencil and frill stencil. This stud has won 23 Champion, Reserve Champion or 2nd Reserve Champion awards at EFC Shows just in the last 7 years. My birds have done well at DFC, CFC, MAFC, GLFC and WFC meets as well.

All of my pairs are bred in individual breeding cages to ensure an accurate pedigree and to closely monitor the health and vigor of the breeders. I am currently in the design stage of a new breeding and young bird loft and hope to have it completed by mid summer of this year. I have bred in an open style of loft in the past and although it is less work to maintain, this benefit does not outweigh the negative aspects of such a setup.  I usually band around 150 youngsters a year of which I only retain the top fifteen to twenty five percent for future breeding.

I am currently employing a feed ration of Purina Nutriblend pellets along with a small bit of safflower and sunflower seeds given as a treat and energy booster after all of the pellets are cleaned up twice daily. I have been using the complete Chisholm Trail System with good success which is a combination of vitamins, minerals, probiotics, acidifiers and trace elements for the feed and water.  Apple Cider Vinegar , Oregano oil and Elderberry Juice are also liberally used in the water.  Medication is kept to a minimum with periodic treatments for worms and not much else.  I use a microscope and perform my own fecal exams if there appears to be a problem. I have discontinued any use of antibiotics in my birds for the foreseeable future in an attempt to break the dependency on them that we see too often today in our birds.  Only natural supplements designed to strengthen the immune system are employed.

I have been fortunate enough to judge several major shows in the last few years and have seen literally thousands of good birds but I realize that much work and vision is needed to achieve what is described in our standard of perfection. Fantails are a performing breed so it adds a much higher level of difficulty in the production of a top show specimen.  It is an exciting time currently as there are many breakthroughs appearing in the show halls which will hopefully ultimately lead us to a better bird in the end.

Ash red is the most dominant of the three basic colors and although it is not shown in great numbers, ash red has been one of my favorites.  They have a really hard feather which helps with tail quality. They mix well with blues and browns. Dilute and milky versions are very pretty as well. Ash reds will be more of a focus in the future of my breeding program.

Mealy Hen 07 #1969 Best Mealy 07 EFC Mid Atlantic Show, Best Mealy 07 EFC Annual, great top tail and wingline, shows dirty factor that darkens color	Powder Mealy Cock 08 #872 2nd Reserve Champion 08 EFC YB Show, Reserve Mealy 08 EFC Annual, milky and ash red makes for a pretty combination
Mealy Cock 03 # 2nd Reserve 03 EFC Annual, Best Mealy at 03 NYBS, 03 MAFC, 03 DFC, 03 EFC YB Show, 03 NPA National, never beaten and was the foundation of my current ash red family	Mealy Cock 08 #885 Reserve Champion 08 EFC Mid Atlantic Show, Best Mealy 08 NYBS, Best Mealy 08 EFC Annual, Reserve Champion 09 EFC Mid Atlantic Show, 2nd Reserve Champion 09 EFC Annual a powerful cock
Cream Cock 10 #3828 Grand Champion 2010 EFC YB Show, Grand Champion CFC 1st District / EFC Mid Atlantic Show super smooth and full body khaki carrier	Mealy Hen 10 #3802
Cream hen #10 3916 great hard feather and refinement

 

I have bred blues and silvers for many years and have used these two colors to build my family. Then these birds have been used to upgrade other colors like the opals. browns and reduced. This is the beauty of breeding bars, you can mix and match the colors without any detrimental effects.  Dirty factor is very prevalent in blues today with very few clean colored birds shown. Quality and soundness of color has not been much of a priority in most breeding programs, only the pursuit of type. I am somewhat in this situation since I cannot let the better quality birds go based on poor color but it will take a long time to clean them up if ever. The blue cock #906 below is a typical example of the dirty factor on a blue. Silvers does not show it nearly as much. Silvers have become one of the "power colors" and are one of the largest and most competitive classes at the shows. My silvers are the base of my main family and were used to build the other families.

Blue Hen 08 #931 One of my very favorite blues and carries barless Super refined and great tail size 5th Overall 2008 National	Blue Cock 08 #906 Grand Champion 2008 EFC Mid-Atlantic Meet Another really large tailed bird with a good pocket A key bird as he is a brown carrier
Blue Hen 08 #934 A very late hatch showing great top tail	Silver Hen 03 #118 2nd Reserve Champion 03 EFC YB Show multiple class winner and one of my favorite silvers
Silver Cock 07 #728 Grand Champion 2006 EFC YB Show Lost him before I could breed him!	Silver Hen 04 #442 Grand Champion 2004 EFC YB Show
Silver Cock 03 #120 Reserve Silver 2003 Dixie Fantail Club Show A really wide and smooth bodied bird	Silver Hen 06 #765 Best Silver 2007 EFC Mid Atlantic Show She has been a great breeder for me producing full bodied birds and good winglines
Silver Hen 03 #120 Reserve Champion 03 EFC Annual	Silver Hen 05 #29 Grand Champion 2006 EFC Mid-Atlantic Show, Best Silver 2009 EFC Mid-Atlantic Show
Blue Cock 10 #3877 Reserve Champion CFC 1st District / EFC Mid Atlantic 4th Overall 2010 NYBS	Silver Hen 10 #3849 Best Silver 2010 Mid Atlantic Show

Brown is still an uncommon color but has really taken off in the last five years or so. They have been around in Fantails for many years but there was confusion as to what they really were and how to breed them. With the dedicated group of genetic enthusiasts in fantails today there has been several crosses to other breeds to reintroduce brown. My browns stem from the faded brown homer cross done by Jim Ervin. The browns have progressed very quickly and I like the variety that they provide in the loft. Brown can be combined with various modifiers like milky, dilute and others for some striking combinations.

Brown Hen 07# 1921 Reserve Champion 07 EFC Mid Atlantic Show one of the most refined hens that I ever bred	Brown Hen 05 #5 2nd Reserve Champion 06 EFC Mid Atlantic Show, Best Brown 08 NPA National
Brown Cock 06 #655 2nd Reserve Champion 06 EFC YB Show, Best Brown 07 EFC Annual, Best Brown 08 EFC Mid Atlantic Show, Best Brown 08 NPA National, has been a great breeder	Brown Hen 08 #964 late hatch, never shown, nicely balanced daughter of 655
Brown Indigo 08 #878 Best Brown 08 EFC YB Show, 08 NYBS, Grand Champion 09 EFC Mid-Atlantic Show has some keel projection giving better roundness to body interesting color combination	Brown cock 09 #4699 Reserve Champion 09 EFC YB Show good combo of roundness and wingline
Brown Hen 10 #3820 Reserve Champion 2010 EFC YB Show	Brown Hen 10 #3815 Reserve AOC 2010 EFC YB Show Reserve Brown 2010 NYBS Best Brown CFC 1st Dist. / EFC Mid Atlantic wide and full bodied good wingline
Powder Brown Check Hen 10 #3883 never shown beautiful color and nice style

 

Milky is the gene responsible for making a powder blue from a blue or a powder silver from a silver. You can breed a "powder" anything with two doses of this gene. Fantails are one of the few breeds where milky is very common. I do not try to breed intentionally for milky birds, rather they pop out as I know that most of my birds carry the milky gene. Softer tail feathers are common to powder blues and powder silvers so you have to really be careful when using these birds in your breeding program.

 

Powder Silver Hen 04 #144 Best Powder Silver 2003 Dixie Fantail Club Show	Powder Silver Hen 04 #457 Best Powder Silver 2004 EFC YB Show
Powder Blue Check Hen 08 #884 Grand Champion 08 EFC YB Show, Best AOC 09 Mid-Atlantic Show shows great body and wingline color shows bronzing which is undesirable	Powder Silver Check Hen 05 #25 Reserve Check 06 EFC Annual, Res. Check 07 EFC Annual, a key bird in reducing size in my family
Powder Blue cock 09 #4709 nice wingline and pocket, cinnamon expression is a fault washing out bars, brown carrier	Powder Blue Check Cock 10 #3884 son of #884 above never shown brown carrier

 

Dominant Opal was my first color project. I have always been attracted to white bars in checks in other breeds so I wanted to create the same effect in my Fantails. Opals should have off white or light buff pattern areas and a lightened body color.  Being non sex linked and dominant, opal is easy to work with but producing a proper colored one is a big challenge. Opal can be bred in any of the three basic colors and works well with most modifiers.

 

Blue Opal Hen 04 #540 Best Opal 2003 CFC 2nd Dist. Near ideal coloration but very small tail	Powder Blue Opal Check Cock 03 #206 Best Opal 2002 DFC Show, Best Opal 2002 EFC Annual
Blue Opal Cock 07 #1942 Never Shown but nicely balanced	Blue Opal Cock 07 #1966 Best Opal 2007 EFC YB Show 14.5 inch tail
Powder Blue Opal Hen 07 #1919 Best Opal 2007 EFC Mid Atlantic Show, Best Opal 2007 EFC Annual	Silver Opal Cock 02 #378 Best NCC 2002 NPA National This is a foundation bird and a prepotent breeder He produces very clean winglines
Blue Opal Hen 08 #971 Best Opal 09 EFC Mid-Atlantic Show nice roundness but needs flatter tail	Blue Opal Cock 07 #1996 Best Opal 08 EFC Mid Atlantic Show

 

Reduced is a very rare color that has not yet been recognized as a standard color. There are several genetic enthusiasts that are developing and improving reduced.  Reduced is sex linked and recessive so it is a hard gene to work with and there seems to be some genetic predisposition to lay weak eggs. Reduced birds are not always as vigorous as their loft mates. Reduced can be produced in many beautiful variations with black reduced being the most commonly seen. I prefer the barred birds and look forward to producing them in dilute and ash red versions.

 

Blue Reduced Hen 07 #1907 Best NCC 2007 EFC Annual	Blue Reduced Hen 08 #881 By far the best reduced that I have bred wide bodied and a 14 inch tail
Reduced hen 10 #3812 never shown

I presently am breeding a couple of projects that are not yet recognized by any club. These colors fall into the NCC class which stands for non-classified colors. My reduced, barless, frill stencil and toy stencil birds all fall into this class.  As the popularity of these colors grow, some will hopefully become recognized and have their own class. Recently the EFC did give a class for frill stencil because of the number of entries at their 2008 Show. Frill Stencil was introduced into fantails nearly two decades ago by Jim Ervin and along with Gerald Ballenger and Ralph Smith. Jim's perseverance has allowed him to produce the single most difficult color in pigeons. I joined their Genepoole club about a decade ago and received some black and brown lace tails from Jim. Careful selection has yielded slow but steady progress. You really need many pairs due to its complexity but I am limited to 5 pair of frill stencil a season. Toy stencil produces the lovely white bars and checks of the German breeds of toys and pouters. It is much cleaner and sharper than opal but is very difficult to produce due to multiple genes involved. I created mine by crossing Argent Modenas to my Fantails eight years ago. Again with only about 5 pair a season, progress is slow and selection is very important.  Barless came from a roller cross done by Gerald Ballenger and I received a 4th generation bird from this cross about eight years ago. I nearly lost my whole family after sickness struck my loft after a show but with 3 birds I was able to keep the project going. In 2009 I expect to make great strides in barless as I produced some very good carriers in 2008.

Blue Barless Hen 04 #424 Best NCC 04 EFC YB Show was way ahead of her time	Blue Barless Hen 08 #903 Best NCC 08 EFC YB Show Reserve NCC 08 EFC Annual
Blue Barless Hen 10 #3825 Best NCC 2010 EFC YB Show daughter of #903	Black Lacetail FS Cock 08 #871 Best NCC 08 EFC Mid Atlantic Show
Black Lacetail FS Hen 07 #1941 Best Frill Stencil 08 EFC Annual the best combination of type and frill stencil color that I have bred to date	Black Lacetail FS Hen 08 #958 late hatch, never shown, white pattern needs to run all the way down each feather to the cushion
Black Lacetail FS Cock 10 #3858 2nd NCC YC at NYBS	Black Lacetail FS Hen #10 3921 baby feather in this picture should moult more white in body
Black Lacetail FS Hen 09 #4723 best color fs that I currently have	Blue Toy Stencil Hen 05 # Shows very good color expression obviously needs more type development
Blue Toy Stencil Hen 08# shows a touch of bronzing on edge of bars showing some roundness in body

 

 

There are several modifiers that are in my birds that add even more variety to what I can produce. The simple dominants of grizzle and indigo can be mixed in matched with other modifiers to produce various pretty colors. White was introduced unintentionally by a Bob Vincent silver hen so I still occasionally produce a white. Because of its recessive nature, white can hide for several generations before popping back up again.

White Cock 03 #190 2nd Reserve Champion 03 Dixie Fantail Club Show Best white 03 EFC Annual the only really good white that I ever raised	Powder Blue Grizzle Cock 07 #1982 Best Grizzle 07 EFC Mid Atlantic Show, Best Grizzle 07 EFC Annual
Blue Indigo Hen 07 #1928 Best Indigo 07 EFC YB Show, Best Indigo 07 EFC Mid Atlantic Show, Best Indigo 07 EFC Annual a bit upright but has bred tighter feathered offspring into my line	Cream / Blue Mosaic Cock 10 #3892 Best Pied EFC 2010 YB Show Best Pied 2010 NYBS Best Pied CFC 1st District / EFC Mid Atlantic 15 1/2 inch tail
Indigo hen 10 #3816 Best Indigo 2010 EFC YB Show Best Indigo / Andalusian 2010 EFC Mid Atlantic Show

 

This is one of my breeder lofts and feeder loft 12ft x 18ft with 8 x 8 attachment

 

This is my other breeding loft on the right, 6ft x 16ft, and on the left is my young bird loft 12 x 18

view of individual pens used for breeding with paper dispenser for quick cleaning

This is the new loft under construction as it was in September 2009, 14 x 50 with an 8 x 48 flypen

Here is the loft in December 2010 after the first snow of the winter.

Loft is essentially complete minus the plumbing for water inside the building.

21 of the 30 individual breeding pens in the new loft, wire bottomed with paper underneath

note the skylights added to the ceiling which allow natural light

View of some of the pens for cocks and hens

view of loft and house for chickens, ducks and doves on left

I usually have birds available starting in late summer through January. Availability all depends on how the breeding season went so sometimes I have more of a particular color to sell than in other years. Reduced, browns and other rare colors have limited availability so if you are looking for something in particular or a specific quality of bird, it is best to let me know early and you will get first pick of what I have to let go. Price of course varies according to quality and scarcity of the color. They can run from $30 to $300 each depending on these factors. I often have useful "pieces" birds that are not show quality at lower prices.

NOTE: I am sold out for 2011. I have a list for those wishing to purchase birds in 2012. Please contact me if you wish to be on the list as it is first come first served. I cannot guarantee what quantities of each color that I will have available but 2012 should be heavy in the brown and ash red based lines. I may have a few extra birds later in the year after the late hatches mature some but I am only speculating on that at this time.

Wildbriarfans@aol.com

 

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