Until about four years ago, I had only seen picutres of the Gaditianos. I always loved the looks of the birds, the style and everything. I had seen some pictures in a magazine of the Gaditanos that Frank Barrachina had and I thought they were real nice. Then one day I received a phone call from Len Treviranus of Dearfield, IL. He told me that he bought Frank Barrachina's stud of Gaditanos. Frank imported the Gaditanos. Len had the birds for a while and due to reasons I don't remember, he let Bryan Neuner and myself have what he had left. He had already sold some to John Kusekoski of Aberdeen, SD. Bryan got four old birds, I got four old birds, plus a couple of young ones each. The Gaditano pigeon is a very friendly breed. They blow a big globe, they kinda throw it out in front of them and they sure know how to strut.One thing for sure, you have to have feeders for the Gaditanos. If they try to feed their own babies, the size of the globe will cause sour crop and you will loose them. I have Homers now to put their eggs under to raise them for me. So far this year I have banded about fourteen babies. With about that many eggs being set on. I have about fifteen breeding pairs now. When I take the young birds from the Homers, I'll put them in the hallway in some cages for a few days to get them started eating and drinking on their own. Then I turn them out in the hallway where I keep the feed, this helps them to get familiar with me. Always there will be one or two young birds that will always want to be close to me and see what I am doing. Two of the 2002 young Gaditanos likes to get on my arm and take a bite of the feed before I put it out. They will untie your shoes too.Another thing for sure on the Gaditanos you do not cull the birds when they are young. It takes a while for them to develop. When Bryan and I first received the Gaditanos and Bryan picked his up, I saw the young birds he received and then a couple months later I saw them again and I couldn't believe they were the same birds.This year I'm getting some real nice colors going. It takes a while when you first start out with dark colors. If you are not familiar with what the Gaditano Pouter looks like, it's in theNPA Standard book. A very interesting bird to raise. They will grow on you if you are around them very much they sure did with me.Good luck to all the Pouter and Cropper Breeders for 2002.
