My father (Link Sr. 1916-1994) began raising pigeon as a kid that he caught in barns in the 1920s. Then off and on he had pigeons and finally in the early 1950s while living in Louisville, KY he was able to build a loft and then kept a wide variety of breeds in Louisville and then in Owensboro, KY until health and moving forced him to give them up in 1988.

So I grew up around pigeons, feeding, watering and caring for the 600+ that my father raised. A a boy I raised Dragoons, Magpies and a few others. My father raised many different breeds over the years but his focus was always his Birmingham Rollers. He raised all self colors (red, yellow, white, black) and every possible color of baldheads and his favorite: Almonds.

I was out of pigeons for many years, between school, moving, and raising a family. I did try chickens, ducks, parakeets and diamond doves, but finally came back to pigeons.We belong to several clubs and like to read the various club bulletins and participate on web discussion groups. Also we show at local shows and have attended the Young Bird Show in Louisville for the past few years.We keep pigeons for the fun of it not as a business.

While growing up our family social life revolved around pigeon shows and pigeon people.  My father (Link Sr.) was for many years the Superintendent of the Pigeon Exhibit at the Kentucky State Fair. So the whole family would spend over a week at the fair from opening to closing. In the 60s there were always weekend visits to other fanciers homes, lawn shows and then the regular club shows.

	Lawn show at our house (1964 or 65), outside of Owensboro, Kentucky
Jesse and grandparents 1983	Jesse visiting his grandfather's pigeon loft in 1983. At that time he had about 600 birds. In the background is Link's swivel chair that he would sit in and watch his rollers perform. He could lean back and swing around to watch them as they circled.
	Daviess County Fair, late 1960s pigeon show Link Sr. (on left) Andy Hockenberry from Louisville, KY judged the show
We're expressing our feelings at the end of working at the week long Ky State Fair in 1973. Link Sr. on right and yes that's me on the left (it was the 70s) The pigeons for many years were on the 2nd floor of the stadium. The Ky State Fair Grounds have added many more building since this photo was taken. The National Young Bird Show is held at the fairgrounds. A show my father never missed..