National Modena Standards

SIZE. Medium in size and as short as possible. Where birds are of different size but of the same proportions, the medium sized bird should be preferred, but a medium bird lacking in type and stoutness should be placed below a rather larger bird of more cobby build; style always taking precedence

SHAPE. Chest broad, round and prominent. Back wide at the shoulders, short and well rounded not flattened. Body short and cobby.

CARRIAGE. Proud and erect with head high and held a little back. The tail should be tilted upwards. The flights must never be carried below the tail, but should rest on it, with the tips of the wings just meeting.

HEAD. Medium length. Face well filled in and not pinched. The top of the skull should be well rounded, forming a graceful curve with the neck. It should not be flat topped.

BEAK. Medium length, fairly stout, and with scarcely any stop. Dark or horn coloured according to the colour of the bird. Dark coloured birds must not have a light coloured texture.

EYE AND CERE. Iris, red or orange. A pearl eye is undesirable. A broken eye is an objectionable fault. The cere is small.

NECK. Of medium length, with a gradual but well marked increase in fullness from the throat to the chest. It is slightly arched and the head carried a little backwards.

WINGS. Short, slightly folded, carried well cocked up and rather prominent at the chest. The tips of the flights meet above the tail, which they should never equal in length. The flight feathers should be short and broad.

TAIL. Very short, tightly folded and broad webbed. It should be tilted upwards, but not carried erect or above the flights.

LEGS AND FEET. The legs are very straight and rather long, but length must not be carried to excess. The thighs are well shown, the legs bright red and unfeathered, the toes fine and well spread out. Crooked legs or cow hocks are a great fault.

MARKINGS. Modena pigeons are divided into Gazzi or Pied, Schietti or Self Coloured, and Magnani or Harlequin. The Gazzi have the head, the upper part of the throat, the wings, flights and tail coloured, all other parts are white. On the head the colour ends at the back of the skull, and the line of demarcation runs in an even curve about a finger’s breadth below the eye to the upper part of the throat. When the beak is pressed down on to the throat, the coloured bibs should not extend beyond the tip of the beak, and the coloured marking should then appear egg-shaped when viewed from above. There must not be more colour on one side of the head than the other, and the bib must be well rounded and not end in a point. Too deep a bib is objectionable. White feathers under the tail is a bad fault.

An even more serious fault is white flights or tail feathers. (White flights are permitted in Mottles. These should not be confused with Magnani where this is a fault.) The back should be white, and coloured feathers here are objectionable, also on the thighs and hocks.

 Keep in mind I am not a professional photogragher. I can't tell you how many times I get told that my pictures don't do the birds justice. I don't pull feathers, or crop pictures, and don't spend alot of time trying to get that perfect pose. Birds listed are down from proven shown stock and are priced so everyone who wants to get involved in Modenas has that opportunity.

09 NPA 1874 Hen (pictured on right)

Price is $40 plus shipping. SOLD CD

09 NPA 1857 Hen (pictured on right)

Price is $35 plus shipping