"Russian Grivun"

By Kelley D. Spurling

With the recent boom in Russian breeds of pigeons, we are finding more and more Russian breeds coming to North America each year.

One of the newest introductions to the U.S.A takes the form of the Grivun Tumblers which just arrived in the Summer of 1998 to my own lofts. However, many years ago and just before theSecond World War, a handf ull of Grivun were being bred in the USA or so rumors claim. These pigeons were owned by two brothers, Slavic immigrants to the Mid West. The names of the two brothers and the details of their pigeons have been lost to time, along with the birds themselves; which happens all too often with rare and unusual breeds.

In type, the Grivun are nothing special to look at on the ground in that they resemble a medium large Birmingham Roller, but a bit longer in leg, head and beak. The birds are always white with bull eyes, and a Red, Black or Blue Bellneck marking on the back of the neck. In fact, "Griva" means "mane" in Russian and this refers to the bellneck marking.

The Germans have bred these birds for some time and prefer to split them into two varieties:

Firstly, the Moscow (or Perm) Grivun with clean legs.

Secondly, the Odessa Grivun with grouse legs.

In the meantime, the German NPA and the German Specialty Club for Russian Tumbler Races have accepted a standard for the breed. This standard describes the Moscow type, and the Oddessa type has largely dissappeared in Germany. This has come about largely due to crossbreeding between the two types.

One of the primary misunderstandings in regards to the Grivun is in their performance and until only a year or so ago, even I remained largely scrambled, due largely to the fact that there are many types of Grivun

bred  and flown in Russia and while these birds share a common marking and simularities in type, they do not neccessarily share simularities in the air.

The Grivuni class is basically split into types of flying pigeons. Some Grivun varieties being strictly Highfliers. This applies to the Perm type indefinitely in that a better English name should be "Perm

Highflier" in that these pigeons should not perform in any manner, but are to fly at high altitiudes for

6 to 10 hours.

In the mean time, the Odessa type is a true Highflying Tumbler.

Thirdly, are the Yekaterinagradski Grivuni from the city of Yekaterinagrad (formerly Sverdlovsk) in the

Siberian Urals which are by the Russian definition "Boinije" or in the American terminology, are simple

Crack Tumblers.