INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION SOMBOR, SERBIA – 2014 Text and Photos: Hristo Lukanov (BG)

Proud owners, top animals and striking breed products

Part 1

Sombor photo (source: wikipedia.org)

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION SOMBOR, SERBIA – 2014 Text and photos: Hristo Lukanov (BG)

Traditionally, at the beginning of each year, one of the largest exhibitions in the Balkans takes place in the city of Sombor (Serbia), on display being pigeons, poultry, cage birds and rabbits. It is visited by breeders and fans coming from different parts of the Balkans, Hungary and Romania. Annually in the cozy halls of the exhibition, filled by thousands of visitors, are presented over 3000 exhibits. Sombor is a very beautiful city, located in the province of Vojvodina, North Serbia. This is the old town, combining the spirit of the West and the magic of the East. The inhabitants of Sombor are cheerful and hospitable people, something of which I managed to convince myself during my stay there.

The Club of breeders of small animals in Sombor was created back in 1871, making it one of the oldest organizations in Europe. To my delight, I was invited as a guest of 38th International Exhibition in Sombor, held in late January. Besides being able to witness first- hand a very well organized show, which presented exceptional birds, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with some of the best breeders on the Balkans. As I mentioned above, our friends from Sombor are excellent hosts. During my visit I had the opportunity to taste traditional Serbian cuisine and drinks. The exhibition was situated in the large and comfortable showrooms in which pigeons, rabbits, chickens and cage birds were shown separately. There were presented over 3 000 animals, of which the most part was in pigeons (around 2200) and chickens (about 600 birds). Although I am a poultry lover primarily, I couldn’t overlook the extremely impressive pigeon presentation. The large number of Serbian pigeon breeds represented at the exhibition, including all breeds created in Sombor, made a big impression on me. Some of the best represented breeds were: Serbian Highflyer (Serbishe tümmler, DE), Bac Owl (Batschkaer Schauposter, DE), Sombor Blue-hard Flyer (Somborer blaugeelstert, DE), Nis Highflyer (Nis tümmler, DE), Nis White-tail Flyer, etc and from foreign breeds: Barb pigeon (Indianer, DE), English Pouter (Englischer Großkröpfer, DE), Fantail pigeon (Pfautauben, DE) and others. I must say that the heavy breeds of pigeons were presented very well, unusual for this part of Europe.

Right: Vera Petkov and Mladen Cvetkovic with their Sombor crested chickens (Somborska kaporka, SR).

I will not hide that the most of the time I spent in the two poultry rooms, where they also held three Special Breed Shows: Cochin bantam, Brahma and Somborska Kaporka. A total of about 600 birds presented, in good quality; what impressed me the most was the rather large collection of Cochin bantams, Australorps, Brahmas, Minorca and other breeds. All Serbian breeds were exhibited (except for the Svrljig chickens, which are almost extinct), the majority consisting of Sombor Kaporkas, presented by the doyen of the breed, Mrs. Vera Petkov. The special exhibition of Cochin bantams was in memory of Dragoslav Suboticki, one of the most eminent breeders of this breed in Serbia. I dare say that the displayed Cochin bantams were of exceptional quality, that usually can be seen only in Western Europe.

The hall of cage birds was interesting to me- besides a wide range of colours and sounds, a great attraction was a huge “house” for cage birds- a work of art. Besides canaries, finches, parrots and other cage birds and hybrids, they presented very well lots of colour mutations in Chinese quail, Virginia Quails and Diamond Dove. In rabbits, the breed diversity was also at a good level. Next to large breeds, decorative ones were displayed as well.

I want to express my gratitude to the hosts of the Sombor Club, the Serbian Association of Small Animal Breeders and the Bela Palanka club for their hospitality and the wonderful memories!

Left: The Cage birds hall. Below: A Parrot from the Cage birds section.

Left: Waterfowls in their aviary.

Below: Cochin bantam (Pekin) pullet.

Above, left: Banat Naked Neck rooster (Banatski gološijan, SR). For this breed for show purposes the birds have to be Na/na.

Right: Head study of Serbian/Kosovo longcrower rooster. (Srpski pevač, SR)

Above: Black Cochin bantam rooster. Below: Black Australorp hen.

Below, right: Chinese quail.

Above: Sombor long-face Tumbler. (Somborski dugokljuni letač, SR)

Below, right: Maltese pigeon.

Above: Sombor, blue- pied High flyer. (Somborski plavosrcasti letač, SR)

Right: Nis shortbeak Tuimbler. (Niški kratkokljuni, SR)

Left: Segadin highflyer. (Segadinski visokoletač, SR)

Above, right: Nis Highflyer (Niški visokoletač, SR)

Left: Apatin Roller. (Apatinski letač, SR)

Below: Strasser.

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