A fairly recent addition to the pouter family is the Bavarian Pouter. Developed in the German state of Bavaria by Karl Zausinger in the late 1950s and early 1960s this unique breed bears a strong resemblence to the Hana Pouter and Saxon Pouter. Differences are a less developed foot feathering and the white flighted gazzi marking found on all Bavarians. The list of colors found in the Bavarian is quite extensive with most colors being available.

At the huge pigeon/poultry show in Nürnberg, Germany in December, 1995 there was a good number of Bavarians on display. I was surprised to note that the foot feathering was not very well developed. Although some birds showed good length and shape of foot feathering there were a number of birds which had very small muffs, somewhat like a Lahore.

The most striking color in Bavarians is black, no doubt due to the sharp contrast of white and black feathering. Few blacks were shown in Nürnberg but I recall an excellent black hen shown in a "Voliere"--a community pen with perhaps 20 Bavarians in it. To my knowledge there are no black Bavarians in the United States.

The difficulty in breeding the Bavarian is achieving the proper markings. At this point, the U.S. birds do not breed true. That is, a mating of two nicely marked birds might yield young with too much white in the wings (bishop marked), pied marked young (marked like an English or Pigmy Pouter), as well as some properly marked young. The percentage of well marked has increased in the last several years so perhaps we are getting closer to having the markings "fixed".

Another difficulty is the presence of the pencilled gene in the breed. Pencilled can create some very attractive washed out laces as found in Czech Bagdads and Hana Pouters. However, when attempting to breed properly colored blue bars pencilled distorts the color by washing out the bars somewhat and giving a grizzled effect in the secondary flights and tail not unlike undergrizzle. A true white bar cannot be achieved by using the pencilled gene. I mention this because there are some expressions of heterozygous pencilled blue bars where the bars are nearly white. Again, the effect is reminiscent of grizzle rather than toy stencil. A breeder interested in the washy "laces" would do well to combine the effect with spread. In blue bars the color washes out in the wings to produce a white bird with a colored head. The typical markings of the wings are lost. We have specifically selected to eliminate pencilled from our stock of Bavarians and believe it to no longer be present in our stud.

The highest quality is generally found in the blue bars. In the United States the breed has a small following and has been exhibited since the 1980s. The bird pictured is a recent winner in the National Pouter and Cropper Club. Bred and owned by the team of Jay Beals and Layne Gardner this cock bird shows nice type with long legs and very nice markings. He was not only champion of breed but also overall champion pouter/cropper over more than 525 birds.

Click on the hyperlink to view a photo of a past National Champion Bavarian Pouter. This blue bar young hen was bred by the team of Jay Beals and Layne Gardner and is part of a developing stud of wonderfully typed Bavarians. National Champion

Various Colors Found in Bavarian Pouters

Blue bar in Zausinger's loft

A very nice blue bar Bavarian in the loft of the originator of the breed, Karl Zausinger. This photo was taken by Frank Barrachina during Frank's visit to Zausinger in the 1980s.

"E" rated Blue Bar

This lovely blue bar, shown at the 2009 VDT show in Leipzig bred by the breed originator's son, Karl Zausinger.

HS rated Blue Bar

Another very nice blue bar from the 2009 VDT show. Wolfram Richter exhibited this nice pigeon.

HS rated Cream Bar

Cream bars have really jumped in quality within the last few years. Zausinger scores again with a lovely old hen that was rated Excellent!

HS rated Mealy Bar

Richard Moser has, for many years, exhibited outstanding quality in a number of colors. His mealy bars have been consistently rated highly.

HS rated Silver Bar

Silver bars are not seen in large numbers but there are some very nice birds in this coloration. Congratulations to Engelbert Dietlmeyer for a beautiful Bavarian.

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