Introduction:

In a series of three I will report about my journeys to Wurenlos(Switzerland)
Killeagh (Ireland)and the europa show (Karlsruhe Germany).

I will be writing about different subjects which will all have in common the birds of Daniel Lutolf.

Part 1, will report of the sales of the birds from Daniel Lutolf to Jos Reynders (Ireland)

Part 2, will report about the bought birds and the theoretical matching of these with the rest of the birds owned by Jos Reynders.

Part 3 , will give an impression of the Daniel Lutolf birds on the show in Karlsruhe .Part 1 : The impression of the sales of the birds from Daniel Lutolf to Jos Reynders by Peter van Amelsvoort, former judge and member of the WBO (Holland)

The journey to Wurenlos
A few weeks before Jos was going to Holland for a family visit, he rang me and invited me to go and visit Daniel Lutolf in Switzerland.
I happily accepted the invitation and so we went on our 1600 km long journey to Wurenlos. The journey which we also done two years ago, was not so bad but the temperature that day would rise up to 37 C and the airconditioner of my car had broken down.
Just befor the Swiss border we had to stop and get a roadtax sticker , every visitor or anybody passing through Switserland has to get this , it’s a kind of toll to drive on the Swiss roads.Once we got into Switzerland somewhere near Zurich we had to stop for roadworks and the temperature was nearly getting unbareble, so the minute we drove into Wurenloss we stopped to get a very cold Swiss beer, a two hands job.
Afther inquiring for directions to Daniels house, a local barvisitor drove up with us, we both found this a very friendly gesture.
The warm weather was getting a bit of a concern for the next day not for our self but the birds on a 8 to 9 hour journey. It would be a big risk and bird unfriendly, luckily for the birds and us the next day was not half as hot and all the necessary precautions as forcing water to the birds a sunshield and good ventilation, were taken.
By the time we entered Daniels birdroom (approx 6 pm) we saw that the birds were not very active, this over the extreme heat, they did not really present themselves. Catching out birds in that heat would be very unwise and it could stress out the birds .We decided to pick out some birds to catch them later that evening , it’s a good thing to see the birds in this state for you can see the faults which they could hide when they would present themselves so it gave us a good chance to pick out the best.
Photographing birds is a very hard job but for who ever visits Daniels website can see the extreme quality of his birds. The pictures are made of his birds in different phases of life as babies ,young birds and showbirds.
Going through the last few years on his site you cant help noticing that there is an improvement every year.
I heared a lot of critics about fixing photographs etc. , but what we saw the Saturday morning was even better then the photos on the site and this is not a word of a lie.
The way Daniel approaches and handles his birds is unice, he is a master in training them and can put them in a showcage with no front and they will present themselves and stay on the perch until Daniel put up his judging stick to bring them back to the flight .There is only one more person I know who is capable of doing this and this is Andre Vermeir from Belgium.
In this way the birds are well trained for shows, photographing and selling.Its a good presentation not only for the birds but the breeder as well . To often we see birds on a show which don’t present themselves and hang of the cagefronts or sit in one corner or keep on running through the cage and this would make it very hard for a judge to place them.
The preparing of the spots of the birds for a show is another subject we talked about with Daniel. We often saw birds of Daniel on a show with extra spots. His comment on this was that his birds have double spots of the same colour and size and his experience with plucking the spots was that they are so close together that they would drop the other spot within 24 hrs and he prefers the bird to have extra spots then missing them. Cutting the spots is another option but this can give problems with heavy spotted birds.
Charm, Charisma and Size in harmony
The above is the theme on his website and this is bred into his birds. Daniel likes to put fresh blood ,new and better features by getting outcrosses all over the world you could call him the Harrie Brian of the 21st century. This year we saw birds from Brian Sweeting (UK) ,W. Kohout (Austria) and de Beer (SA). These birds are being sold as soon as Daniel is finished with them , so one can buy a good bird for reasonable money Jos Reynders bought one of the de Beer birds for reasons we will discuss in a later part.
Personally I think the best features in his birds are the wedge shape in combination with a big neck and great headfeatures, this is an art only the great breeders in the world can bring to reality. There are plenty of birds that are hanging on the perch like a bag of potatoes or once that are shaped like a carrot. Other good features in his birds are, extreme deep masks and almost hair resembling feathers on the head, which would have an effect on the direction of the feathers. All these things in combination is making Daniels birds very special and different. the most suprising thing is that all these big super birds are still able to fly and they all have no feather problems like most other birds in other studs with this head quality. you also can't fing not even one birds with cysts.
The buying and selling of the birds
Buying birds of Daniel is the same as with any other topbreeder, its hard work.
As I mentioned befor Daniel regulary uses outcross birds , these would be very good birds bought for a certain feature but once used the babies will be kept but the outcrosses are free to go ,so one can get a very good bird for a reasonable price. Personally I was not interested in these birds I was looking for a bird out of his spangle line. I was offered some very good birds with all the features I was looking for but my mind was made up.
This is a good example that everyone is going out to buy birds with different ideas.
For example:
Buying from a breeder to form a bigger and better base of his line, not really looking for extreme quality but more special features.
Buying to start of a new line,one would have to buy a few cocks and several hens (preferable young birds for they would be needed for a few years)
Buying to use the dominant features from a breeders stud in to his own stud(very often one would come home with birds he already has for the extreme once wont be for sale)
Buying one or more birds from the breeders bloodline, the buyer would know very well what he needs and after talking to the seller he would know if he can offer the birds, very often the showquality would not be the most important feature.
Buying to improve and stimulate certain aspects in the buyers own line, this can as mentioned in c) be focussed on a certain feature but most of the time its to improve fertility and or to compensate the negative effects of inbreeding . An allround bird would be the best to buy in this case.
The reasons Jos Reynders had ,to buy several birds from Daniel in recent years were a) and d).
The birds he bought were in my birdroom for quarantine befor they made the journey to Ireland and in the mean time two Dutch topbreeders, Rein Dul and Bertus Kremer , gave their opinion on them .

Skyblue dominant pied cock 314-125-05
Very good mature bird , specially the head and face features, feather quality is good, the bird could do with a bit more body.

Skyblue cock 242-125-06
Young bird just starting to mould, will be a bit flecked on the head (dark shafts), will get long feathers the directional feathering could go down a bit more.

Skyblue cock 244-125-06
Young bird again only started moulting, the bird does not present its self very well but has some very good features as head and neck good length and softness of the feathers, directional could be better.

Greygreen cock 092-125-06
Baby bird not moulted yet, a long bird with big feet (good bone structure)hard to give a further opinion at this stage

Darkgreen cinn . cock 253-125-06
Also a baby bird with big feet and good neck features , hard to judge in this stage

Grey cinn . hen 203-125-04
Very good bird with a good wedge shape and great head features, perfect neck and directional feathers(buffalow effect)

Grey opaline cinn. Hen 134-125-06 (slit dilute)
Young hen with very nice round spots and directional feathers, could do with a bit more body.

Grey opaline hen 14-xb-04 (de Beer)
Very big and long hen ,very deep mask, the feathers on the birds are very close and with thick layer of down, the bird would really fill your hand.

This was an impression of the birds Jos Reynders bought and the opinion of other breeders on them , as you can see in the pictures and read in the comments they are mostly birds bought with the intention to cross them with the birds he bought and bred befor to improve and broden his stud.What can a breeder sell ?
Its not the quality of his top birds but the quality of what he can sell without selling out.This is what indicates the quality of a breeders birds.

For example being able to sell the sky dominant pied cock , Daniel bred a lot of babies from this cock , this would indicate a top breeder. In average Daniel would keep two birds of every mating he does, and would be able to sell the rest.

PROBLEMS IN THE HOBBY.
Both Jos and me left the hobby 14 years ago over pressure in the job but by coincidence both of us picked up again four years ago.So as reasonable newcomers in the hobby in this century we both encountered problems with the loss of feathers. This is a subject we talked about with Daniel and it’s a problem that is not thought to be to lightly about .
According to Daniel this is 100% a genetical problem , this is what was more or less said about it for we did not have much more time left.
We would both be happy when thjs problem would be discussed more openly and maybe some research could be done sponsored by all the clubs joined with the WBO.
On the main Dutch show (one day show)a lecture was given while the birds were being judged, the lecture was given by B. Plooyer ( non practising vet , and working in the pharmacuticle industry).His conclusion was that the tailless wonders were not a mutation but an effect of the polioma virus, the same virus that effects the French moult. Feeding and feather structure could play a part in the severness but immunity or more the lack of it would be the main effect .
In part 2 Jos Reynders will explain why he bought the birds and what his possible matings with the birds he already has are going to be.

PART TWO
by Peter van Amelsvoort

Introduction
In august 2006 I was in Ireland on invitation off Jos Reynders, he lives about 30 min. drive away from Cork airport. He build his house in 5 months time on a hill in the village called Killeagh in the county Cork.The views from his house of the rolling Irish landscape are magnificent. Even the Irish weather was kind to us so we could not only enjoy the birds but also scenic fishervillages and castles, when there was a shower of rain the great Irish pub was a welcome and enjoyable shelter.
His house is a 2 storey with a conservatory build on the right hand side and the garage on the other side , the garage measuring approx 6 by 6 meters is converted to the birdshed , the shed can be entered from and the outside and the inside of the house through the inside there is a corridor to separate it from the house and to keep the noise and the feathers out of the house. There are plenty of windows in the shed to give it good light during the day, fluorescent lights are used on a timer to prolong the daylight hours. The ventilation is well taken care of by natural ventilation through windows and vent opes and a big powerfull extractorfan is in use through a timer the fan is connected to a series of pipes on ceiling and floorlevel, the quality of air is very good to give the birds a good climat.
In the shed Jos chose for one big flight and a small flight for the young birds, the breedingcages are selfbuild with the nestboxes hanging on the outside of the cages , there is also a sink with hot and cold flowing water to maintain the hygiene and to make it easier for feeding the birds.
Afther restarting the hobby 3 years ago the bought birds went through a lot of movement , first they were brought in from Switserland and just when they got settled they had to move to the new house and this was in januari in the middle of the breedingseason. Afther all this , still 80 chicks were reared using 12 breedingcages. At the time of writing Jos has expanded from 16 to 32 cages of which 24 are in use at the moment.
The birds bought in juli were transported in 2 stages first to Holland and then 2 weeks later to Ireland by car. For most of the bought birds were babies they adapted very well and they will have time to settle down before being used to breed .
The bought birds (described in part 1) will be paired by Jos to the birds he bought befor and has bred over the last 2 years. This will be done on paper just to give you an idea of the quality of the birds that are there and the information why these pairings are done this way.

Pairing up
Bird no 1 x skyblue cinn opal hen (424-125-04)the hen has very long feathers and good style, also very big spots and good head quality and directional feathers
Reason ; trying to establish the directional feathers(buffalow effect)see c and a part 1

Bird no 2 to a darkgreen cinn opal. Hen (111-RE13-05) a big hen with good face and head qualities, deep mask and long feathers and a lot of down
Reason;establish the length of feathers see c and a part 1

Bird no 3 to a cobalt cinn opal. Australian yellowface hen (65 RE13-06)the hen is only 8 weeks old and has very good feathers and head qualities paired to a cock with a very good neck
Reason;establish feather qualities and broden the line see a and c part 1

Bird no 4 to a darkgreen opal cinn dominant pied hen (02R3961-06) a very well build only 4 month old hen with good spots and directional feathers paired to the long greygreen cock
Reason;establish size and eliminate the flecking see c and a part 1

Bird no 5;to a skyblue cinn hen (46-RE13-06) the hen is only 16 weeks old but already has a good neck and chest and very good head qualities , paired to the darkgreen cinn cock a very long bird
Reason ; put more length and format in the line see a part1

Bird no 6;to a skyblue cock(114-125-02)a bird with a very high head and good length of feather the direction could be improved, paired to the grey cinn hen
Reason ; improve feather direction in combination with length of feather see a part1

Bird no 7;to grey cock(29-R3961-06)this bird has a nicely closed feather structure and long feathers on the head , the neck could be a bit better, paired to the grey cinn opal hen this would be compensated
Reason;closed feathers and directional feathers see c and a part 1

Note: at the moment Jos is using 2 personal ring numbers ; RE13 this is the code for the Dutch BS to get the early rings and R3961 this is the code for the BS in the UK this to be able to show young birds in the UK .
Some KEYBIRDS Jos is using to build up his line, these are the birds that are predominantly used .
Picture; Skyblue opal (296-125-04)this bird has a very good neck in width and dept a good deep mask and a great style a real punch bird
Picture; darkgreen dom pied cinn opal cock(135-125-04)this bird is also an Australian yellowface, this bird has a nice closed feather structure(medium buff)good spots and size
Picture;darkgreen cinn cock(115-RE13-06)a big bird with good width of shoulder and head long feathers and the right directional feathers
Picture;lightgreen cock(06-RE13-06)very long bird with a very good style a bit of an outcross for a very good hen out of the Moffat line from Gerald Binks was used with the sky opal cock, a different type of feather , not very smooth.
In this second part you have got an impression of the birds from Daniel Lutolf used by Jos Reynders to build up his own line and also his thoughts of how he is going to improve this the next season.Part 3 will give an impression of Daniels birds on the show in Karlsruhe ,Germany.

PART 3 ; Impression of the Lutolf birds on the Europashau 2006 in Karlsruhe Germany.
by Peter van Amelsvoort

In part 1 and 2 I described and showed the sale of birds from Daniel Lutolf to Jos Reynders and the way they were going to be used to build up his line. In the last part to complete the story I would like to give you an impression of Daniels birds on the show in Karlsruhe.

To get a good impression of a breeders birds a show visit and the impression of a breeders birds and his results wont do . You will have to visit the breeder and get a good impression of his birds in the “home” environment.
The showhall in Karlsruhe has a lot of glass and this can make the temperature rise to extremes in the summer. This year the temperature was not to high but the atmosphere was very close and humid so the birds would not really show themselves at their best, Daniels birds also showed to have problems with this.

The show with approx a 1000 entries has in my view the highest quality of birds in the world with a lot of entries from different countries in mainland Europe.

Daniels birds a small selection and my impression .

Foto ; sky cinn hen; a very big and broadshouldered bird with a massive head, this bird must have been on the table for best in show,

Foto; lutino; also a big and broadshouldere bird with a nice and round chest, a bit to heavy so the head qualities did not complete the bird, it would when it would have thrown the headfeathers. I noticed a lot of birds did not do this it could have been the atmosphere in the hall , but I also find Daniel s birds are so relaxed that they forget to show they are not alert enough afther a day or so.

Foto;darkgreen opal hen; a fine feathered bird with great showcondition and very complete , the mask is very deep and the spots that are very big still fit in the mask. It’s a great achievement to breed a bird like this.

Foto; lightgreen cock;this bird was past his showpeak but still showed his qualities as a very wide and high head and a deep mask a few of the spots werte missing.
Foto;grey cock; a very good young bird also past the showpeak, but any breeder with an eye for a good bird could see the extreme qualities of this bird

As I mentioned befor the show does not always give the best impression of a breeders birds. Although Daniel won a lot of prices and they just missed out to become best in show, the comparison and impressions of the birds on the show and in the home aviary would be the best way to judge the birds.

In my case the impression of Daniels birds is , superb , worldbeating and different and all of this in HARMONY.