A couple years ago I emailed a picture of one of my Indians to Bill Larson in California just to get his opinion on the color and
overall appearance of the bird. He emailed me back and told me it was a torticeshell.
Bill also comented (What is all the white on the birds head?) I hadnt really noticed but after he mentioned it I began to see a lot of that in my birds.
Frank German told me that white on the head shows up often and is hard to get rid of.
I remembered reading an article in the June 1979 PIGEON REVIEW by Tony
Brancato about the monkmarked Indian Fantail. After much thought I decided to try to breed towards profecting the marking
instead of getting rid of it.
I have been working on it now for two breeding seasons and may (with a little luck ) raise a showable Monk
this season.
I have also found it equally difficult to nail down a true white cap, and there are very few breeders who raise Monks in
the United States. I did find a few at Frank Germans loft which I promptly talked him out of,also I hear Robert Raymond raises a few
pair in Canada.
As with any special project ive found out, THIS JUST AINT GONNA HAPPEN OVER NIGHT.
So if you notice some inperfection in your birds markings you may find it very rewarding to try to breed toward the oddity.After all where do you think all
these wierd colors and markings came from in the first place?
Here are a few pictures of the first two years. Remember,DONT GET
DISCOURAGED. Your gonna get a lot of mismarked birds.
My loft is full of tem.
