Peter Schauer
Boonville, Missouri

I have been breeding Kelebeks since 1990 and have flown various size flocks and solo birds. The source of my stock was Wray Reece of Minnesota, one of the original breeders in the United States. Ulrich Reber of Germany was the first to import kelebeks to Germany and subsequently through his efforts and those of the Messenger Pigeon Project the breed was imported to the United States in 1983. Seven breeders received kelebeks from the importation and since~then kelebeks have been distributed throughout the country. However, it is still a rare breed and, as with some of the other high performance, rare breeds, such as Wutas and Dewlaps, they are not easy to train.

The Kelebek truly is a do-everything breed. An easy breeder, it has beauty and spectacular flight characteristics. The flight characteristics of the Kelebek are unlike any of the more common performance breeds. The birds do not kit tightly like Rollers or flock like Homers but swarm like insects. (The Turkish word 'Kelebek' means butterfly.) A flying group of fifteen kelebeks requires approximately ten times the air space used by fifteen Rollers. Typically, Kelebeks are flashy bell necks in red, black, yellow and other colors. Some birds are pied and some selfs are being bred. Kelebeks are grouse muffed and sometimes shell or peak crested, however, the majority of the Kelebeks raised are plain headed. Structurally they look somewhat like small Lahores and are slightly larger than Rollers. Dan Konen ("A Rare Man [Ulrich Reber] and His Rare Gift to America," American Pigeon Journal, December 1983, page 24) described the Kelebek as a neat, attractive bird of the same general structural characteristics as the Dunek/Selanik, but are more short and cobby, with tighter feather and broader heads with more frontal. Their colorful markings, alert station, and booted feet make them a quite fancy looking performer."

The Kelebek is not a breed for the easily discouraged. They do not like to be handled and frighten easily. To train a flock to fly successfully takes patience. I am aware of two breeders who have disposed of their Kelebeks because they would not fly." Indeed the instinctive dive and scatter flight characteristics of Kelebeks are so highly developed that a young bird virtually needs ~ be convinced it can fly in the open sky. If breeders are patient enough to teach'their Kelebeks to fly they will be rewarded with a medley of flying patterns which will excite the experienced pigeon breeder and amaze the casual observer. I have observed individual Kelebeks in the following flight patterns and combinations: Figure 8; Large and small circle loops with portions of Loop up side down; Rolls with nose over tail; Flip with tail over nose; Corkscrew with wings outstretched; Wings tucked in steep dives; Horizontal barrel roll; Sitting back on tail and "falling" from great heights; and Steep vertical climb. Each bird adopts a repertoire of flight behavior and has a tendency to perform more or less regularly in a predictable manner. You can select the loop high fliers or corkscrew flyers and fly them solo.

Iam less interested in a fast drop of the swarm which will cause the corkscrew flyers to dive quickly than I am with sustained swarm flight. In a swarm the birds perform corkscrews anyway and then go back up and fly some more.
 

While in general the Kelebek is an erratic flyer, they can be determined and fast, oufflying hawks. I had a young hen that, when chased by a hawk, out flew, dived,, and escaped the attack.

The approach to the loft after a successful flight is as interesting as the flight itself. It is not uncommon for my Kelebeks to overshoot the loft, going below the plane of the roof, and have to climb steeply to avoid a collision with the loft. Chandelles are frequent and flips or rolls immediately before alighting are not uncommon.

The length of the flight seems to be inversely related to the complexity of the maneuvers conducted by the individual bird. I have some longer flying Kelebeks that fly large loops. Most of my bird's fly from five to fifteen minutes. Some breeders will say that a five-minute flight is not long enough to be worth the effort. However, when Kelebeks are airborne there is always lots of action. Some birds are ~flying clockwise, others counterclockwise, some looping' and others corkscrewing through the swarm. Unlike rollers, you do not have to wait for the action to begin. With Kelebeks you will see action on every flight. Further, when the birds are flying upside down and making abrupt directional changes a considerable amount of energy and, I suspect, concentration is required to remain aloft, so long flights are probably physically not possible. After a fast paced flight of ten minutes, the birds land, breathing hard. (The cooler the weather, the longer they fly. This is a bird that does not like hot, humid weather for flying.) One observer of my flock remarked that the Kelebek can hardly fly. And indeed, until the bird gains confidence in its abilities, they do seem to be afraid of flying. Kelebeks are like some Rollers who becorne afraid to fly after a roll-down or who are exceptional performers and seem to need a rest to perform well again.

My Kelebeks are trained in a manner similar to Rollers and are flown out of a kit box. Once trained to the kit box the birds go in quickly hungry or well fed. They seem to have an aversion to being out in the open. Even in the breeding pen they seem to prefer small spaces. They have the ability to get in and out of the smallest crevice and seem to prefer the security of a small, closed space or perch close to the roof. Squeakers are placed in the kit box and are allowed access to the kit box roof to acclimate themselves for about a month. (Some Kelebek flyers teach their birds to only land on the ground.) After they have acclimated themselves, they are placed on the landing board when hungry and encouraged to push through the bobs to gain access to the kit box for feed. After they understand the process of going through the bobs, the birds are hand placed once a day in the morning on the roof of the kit box and ideally return immediately to the kit box to feed.

After about a week the birds are chased off the kit box roof with a flag. It is important to limit the use of the flag because chasing the birds with a flag may result in the birds alighting in trees or on roofs or houses. If a Kelebek learns to land outside your reach it is virtually impossible to train them in any other behavior. (Wray Reece, a veteran Kelebek flyer, uses, as I do, a stuffed toy animal on a stick or string to chase birds off the roof of any building except the loft.) I have had Kelebeks who learned some bad habits. I could release those birds individually and tell people within a few inches the spot where the bird would land. I cull those birds and focus only on those birds who fly in a swarm after being flagged up once. The use of a dropper is recommended but I have flown flocks both with and without droppers.  The more dramatic corkscrews seem to be the result of the use of a dropper. However, since the flights are relatively short, the birds drop quickly on their own.

When training young Kelebeks, my best results come from putting them up on a windy day. After they are accustomed to circling the loft a couple of times with no wind and returning, I turn the birds out in a wind. A moderately strong wind gives the birds more lift for their maneuvers and makes it more difficult for them to dive for the loft. This seems to enhance their confidence. All my best Kelebeks are excellent wind flyers. I have no hesitancy about tu~ing up Kelebeks in a strong wind and I look forward to cool fall windy days for the best flights. As wit'h all pigeons, no training method is perfect and as the saying goes "If you can't afford or stand to lose the bird, don't fly it."

Last fall I began flying over 50 Kelebeks; by the end of the winter I had approximately 45 flying in two kits. Both kits flying together were a stunning sigh~, and comparable only to large groups of swallows or seagulls who had suddenly taken to flying upside down, in figure eights and with other spectacular maneuvers. While the Kelebek from my experience does not fly for long periods of time, the breed is weI~ adapted to our modern schedules. Many of us do not have lots of time to watch our pigeons fly. The KeIebek~s considerable beauty and spectacular fast action makes the training effort worthwhile and well adapted to the typical pigeon breeder who has to dash off to work every morning. I recommend the Kelebek to those experienced pigeon breeders who have an eye for beautiful birds, the patience to train them, and the heart to watch one of the most exciting
 performances of the entire pigeon world.