For the person interested in flying pigeons, Doneks can be very rewarding. They are a diving pigeon that can put on a wonderful performance in the air. To start, you will need some good stock, some basic knowledge of how to fly, and a lot of patience!

EXPECTATIONS - Their performance comes in two styles. Diving with spin, and straight diving without spin.  Both can be done from high or low altitude, and at various speeds. Diving from an altitude of below 600 ft. is the most exciting to watch. A champion Donek can show incredible speed in the dive, even enough to keep a falcon at bay. The spin of a Donek comes in various styles; from a loose, open spiral to a tight spiral, slowly turning as they dive. The spiral can become increasingly tighter and tighter until it becomes an axle spin. The wings of the bird turn like the propeller of an airplane engine. Some will spin with wings out, others spin with wings in, close to the body. Similar in appearance to a good Birmingham Roller, the axle spin can become very fast, causing the bird to "blur out". A lot of good axle spinners dive in short bursts, coming down in steps. This spin often changes direction, rotating left to right, diving five to ten feet, and then changing to right to left, changing direction over and over again. The straight diver dives with wings in-close to the body, or with wings straight out.
The performance of your Donek will vary from day to day. As a team, they can be quite spectacular one day, and then refuse to fly the next! Individual birds also have good and bad days. You must have patience with the birds, and give them time to come around before giving up on them. Often, as they mature, they will go through a period of refusing to fly, instead only wanting to mate. Most birds will get over this in time, although some may take up to six months or more to do so. These birds can be used as droppers until they improve. Don't expect too much your first year with the birds, just appreciate the times when they are performing well.

FEEDING - Food is not used to control Doneks the way it is used with rollers. It is said to feed I to 2 hours before flying. My schedule. does not allow me to do this, so I simply leave food for ther~ at all times. This seems to work well enough. If you try withholding food so they will enter the loft on command, they most often will refuse to fly and re-enter the loft right after release. For feed, I like to use a I4%~rotein pigeon mix.

HOUSING - As with. any performing breed, yQu should house your breeders separate from the flying stock..No breeding program can afford to lose breeding stock for any reason, and surely the mixing of flyers and your top breeders could lead to problems. The flying stock can be housed in small quarters, the theory is they are more excited when freed from confinement, and performance is often enhanced. A fly pen can be used for periods when they are not going to be flown.
TRAINING - First start with birds that are six to seven weeks old. The young birds are allowed two to three days to adjust and settle down in the fly loft. Food and water are always provided, and the fly pen is open for them to explore. When feeding, make sure to give the birds a feeding signal. It will be useful later on. On the first training day, have the birds hungry and make sure it's close to feeding time. Try to', minimize the chance of disturbances that could frighten the birds. I have my birds trap through a door on the roof of the loft. I place them on the roof by hand releasing them through this door. They are then allowed to explore the roof for fifteen minutes or so. After this time, the feed is offered to them by whistling their feeding call. This is repeated several times over several days, or until they get to know this routine. Now, hand toss each bird to the roof, or on the ground in front of the loft, depending on the location where you wish them to re-enter the loft. Increase the distance each time you toss them. Have them re-enter the loft, and repeat this for a couple of days. When you feel they are comfortable with this, it's time to get them into the air. Now, make sure there are no birds on the ground which will distract your flyers and cause them to come down, landing early. A team of three Doneks is the best size to fly when you are starting out. A Donek will follow a lazy bird to the ground. So, if too many young birds are put into the air, the chances of one not wanting to fly and bringing the whole team down is increased.  If the birds do refuse to go up, identify the first bird down and re-fly the rest of the team. Do not cull these early birds, re-fly them the next time out. Hopefully, these early birds are just slow learners.  Hand-toss each bird into the air and flag them up. Knowing how hard to push them (when to flag birds up, and when to stop) is something you must learn. Sometimes pushing them to fly will work, other times they will simply land away from you. This will be your biggest concern!! One bird sitting on you neighbor's roof will cause you to lose control 9! your birds. The instincts of the Donek will drive them to join all low flying birds, or a bird that has landed. So, when one does fly away from your loft, do not let it stay there. Don't release any other birds. You will need to scare the birds away from where they have landed. I have succeeded by throwing tennis balls, waving plastic owls, and making noises in order to move them. After the bird is airborne, in order to have them return to your loft or landing spot, release a dropper to that spot. Consider any bird that lands away from the loft, more than a couple of times, a good candidate for culling. Very young birds may need extra time. Birds that land away from the loft are usually birds that are refusing to fly. One trick, to get them up and flying, is to fly your Doneks with a strong flying breed like a Racing Homer or a Roller. Do not expect too much out of the birds during the first week or two. Doneks are not strong flyers, tending to struggle until they gain strength in their wings. Do not fly when very windy, or in foggy weather. The wind can carry them all over the place, and usually far from the loft.

DROPPERS - Doneks and other diving birds are stimulated to dive by the release of a dropper from your loft. Sometimes, and unfortunately, Doneks will dive because of passing wild birds, stopping a team from reaching the altitude you were trying for. The dropper is the key to flying Doneks, and you should place as much value on the dropper as you do the flyers. Developing your droppers is going to be one of your first priorities. The best dropper for a Donek is another Donek, although Fantails and show breeds can be used as well. You will need to keep at least three droppers on hand. There are many factors which change the conditions that govern the release of the dropper. You will learn by experience the best time to release them. One problem you may face when starting out with young birds is having them go too high, and then refusing to dive. At this time you will need to release a second team to avoid losing the first team.  Then, throw your droppers to recover both teams. Remember, the more droppers you can put out, the better. Also, do not get caught at any time without a dropper on hand. Do not let a Donek land on its own, always give a signal if possible. A Donek should fly until he is called down, or is exhausted. If I see that a young bird is already headed for the loft, I'll toss a short-dropper, keeping the signal-connection to dive intact. Short-droppers, like Fantails, are only good for dropping birds that are not very high, or are easily stimulated. Generally, droppers will need to be in the air for 15 to 20 seconds to get high flying birds to drop. If a bird, or a team of birds, strays too far from home and is getting out of sight, you may need to put another team of birds to pull them back.  If you wait too long before releasing a second team, you can very easily lose the first team.

HOMING - Because the homing instinct is set best at an early age, squeekers (as meritioned earlier) should begin training at 6 to 7 weeks of age. The homing instincts of Doneks are not very good, and young birds can be lost when allowed to go higher than approx. 400 ft. What could happen is that they may continue climbing until out of sight, and invariably become lost. It is best to keep them flying lower until you have been flying them for around 4 months. Just so you understand how tricky it can be, consider what happened to me while flying a young team. This young team was out flying, but was refusing to go up. I was flagging them like crazy, and they finally started to climb. I relaxed, thinking it would be easy to get them to drop. Well, at about 700 ft, with all my droppers out, I still couldn't get them to dive. Three hours later, two of the three returned, and one was lost for good. I was lucky to get the two back!

GETTING THEM TO GO HIGHER - After flying your birds for four months, now is the time to increase the altitude you will let them reach. Simply, hold the dropper until the team appears exhausted, or is as high as you want. Doneks tend to need a strong flying bird to lead them up. A team without a strong flyer tends to falter and will have problems reaching the higher altitudes. A team with a strong flyer will tend to follow the leader gaining altitude more easily. Hopefully, you will be able to make these birds, or buy them.

WALKING THE BIRDS - Doneks originated in the countries of Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. The birds were selected and trained for their ability to dive, but also for being able to be walked in and out of the loft. This ability is very important in getting a successful program working. We do not use food to control Doneks. To control them, we herd them in and out with a pole. Without this ability, the birds could not be recovered, and other teams of birds could not be released. I presently only use this system to recover my birds. I prefer to hand-toss my birds when releasing them. This is because of the attacks of the cooper hawks in my area. Hand-tossing them can sometimes get them high enough to discourage the hawk from attacking.To use the full system, start with young Doneks, and begin training as mentioned earlier. But work in this procedure as well: On the first day outside, have the birds hungry and make sure it's close to feeding time. Open the door of the loft and call them outside with a command of "come out", and add your usual feeding whistle.  A little grain can be used to get them to come outside. Do not ever use force to get them outside! If given time, most will come outside and begin exploring their yard. If they do not come out this first time, try again later, or try the next day. Do not let them get too far from the door the first time out. Allow them to stay outside a few minutes, and then command them back inside with "coop". Commands should be clear and loud. I use a 1/2" PVC pipe, 10' long, to herd them around. By tapping the pole on the ground, the birds will be encouraged along. Also, by holding it overhead, you can hold them to the ground.  Doneks take to this very quick and will respond much better to commands when reinforced with the pole.

You should continue the "come out" and "coop" training for a few days, or until all the birds will come when you call and go back in when told. One unruly bird will cause problems with all the others. Once they will all do this, you can let them have more free loft time. You will find that they ~st love this new freedom. If some fly up on the coop or outer pens, don't panic, just carefully raise your pole up and over them from behind, giving the command "down". Herd them off and back with the others on the ground. Do not wait to do this, and don't let all the birds get off the ground at once. Always keep some birds for them to come down to. Doneks are like monkeys.. .monkey see, monkey do! Where one goes, they all go. It is best to have a few droppers handy or actually in hand anytime young, untrained birds are let out. A fantail or two make good ground droppers.

WEATHER - Weather can play a big factor in how well Doneks perform. There are two weather conditions which can cause problems. One has to do with dense air, the other is heat. For some reason, in dense air (like when it rains) they refuse to fly. So far, I have not found anything to help stop this from happening. The other condition is heat. When it gets hot, they generally will not fly very long before coming down panting heavily.  Climatizing the birds to warmer weather will help to some degree, but early morning flying is your best bet to get around this problem. Wind is one condition that can work in your favor when flying. Wind often generates more action than you would normally see, but it also decreases the speed generated in the dive. The increased action and longer flying time are both good training. In heavy winds, however, look out! The birds can be blown far away and lost for good.

FALCONS VS. DONEKS - Doneks are superior to Birmingham Rollers in the way they respond'to being attacked by peregrine falcons.  When most Rollers are attacked, they attempt to evade the falcon by climbing higher. But of course, this works to the falcons advantage. Doneks use their ability to dive when evading the attack,~and can generally beat a falcon to the ground. This can make for some spectacular encounters in which, most of the time, your birds will win.  One trick to help your birds survive in this situation is to show a dropper. This will encourage them not to just dive in, but also to land. The dropper doesn't always have to be released. It can be held over your head, with wings free to flap. This motion often brings them down. Also, there are other factors which can make flying Doneks in hawk country easier than flying Rollers. Small numbers of birds flying are not as attractive a meal as 20 Rollers flying in a kit. The fast dive and spin seems to confuse hawks and falcons. The short time in the air doesn't give a hawk that much time to get in to position to attack. I have had may attacks by Cooper Hawks, but few birds have been lost. To help this along, I give my birds an edge. Using techniques like hawk balls over the loft provides a 15-20 ft. area which intimidates the hawk because the sight of its own mirrored reflection scares it. The use of plastic netting, stretched 3 ft over the top of the loft obstructs the hawks attack angles, making it more difficult for it to make a kill. Throwing flags or ball will also help scare them off. All this helps a lot, but remember, if you have hawks or falcons, you will still lose some birds. I now have less birds killed by air predators, and can fly year round, enjoying both my Doneks and Birmingham Rollers much more.

BREEDING - Selecting breeders when you are starting out can be like a shot in the dark. Your best bet is to acquire stock from someone who is a dedicated flyer. The best way of getting birds, if they will let you in, is to pick birds from the air. Be sure to get the owner's input on your selected breeding stock because they will know if the bird you select is a consistent performer or maybe just had an unusually good day. Since some birds will quit on you when they get older, it is best to select from at least two year old stock. Most breeders of performing birds know that this is still no guarantee of getting a good breeder. These birds will probably cost you more than squeekers. Buying squeekers from the same breeder may give you as good a start as the more expensive "air tested" birds. More birds, especially more unrelated birds, will give you a larger genetic pool to work with. Once you have good birds working in the air, select your stock birds from them. Add these air tested birds to your breeding program, replacing all but the best of the stock birds you originally bought. No matter which birds you've selected as your breeding stock, they must prove themselves in the breeding loft.

Another factor to consider in your breeding program is the connection between strong flying birds and the dive. I have found there is a tendency for strong flyers to resist the dive, where as a bird that only follows other birds up will, most often be the first bird to dive and often your best diver as well. Still, the stronger flyers serve to pull the other birds up with them so they do have a purpose in creating a good team of flyers. You should consider keeping a pair that produce these types of birds.

SIZE OF PROGRAM - A minimum size program should have four pair of breeders, five teams of three flyers, and four droppers. Of course you can have as big a program as you have the time. Count on losing birds in your flying program, so you should continue breeding even when you reach your optimum size. Also, you should always be striving to make better divers. By removing the poorest divers, and replacing them with young birds, you can continue to improve your program.