Attributes of Good Kit Birds

by Steve Agent; August 2002

1. They must kit and kit tight. Kit of Birmingham Rollers in flight
2. They must spin, preferably when others spin.
3. If they spin alone, they should cut the spin off shorter than if they spun with the kit. Basically, if they are 30′ they should stop around 15′.
4. If they have the kitting instinct they will cut the roll off (as needed).
5. If they did not spin and some of the others did, they should wait for the others to catch up instead of continuing the fly pattern creating a large gap between them. Read More

Balance Breeding

by Steven Agent, 2011
published with permission from author

I must start with hard and soft feather classifications. In my family, the hard colors are blue check and blue bar self or flights. The soft colors are white, yellow, recessive red, lavender, grizzles, torts, mottles and blacks.

The first factor I consider when selecting pairs is feather quality. I try to always put a hard-feathered bird with a soft-feathered bird, as long as they are not too closely related. What I mean by too closely related is mother/son, father/daughter and brother/sister. Read More