Doc Romaker would not sell me any birds back when he was still involved in the sport, he only lived about 60 miles from me and didn't want to meet them in the pit. But when he retired, Doc told me he sold his whole flock to Bill Morris. I was the first person to buy any of the Romaker Albanys from Bill Morris. I received birds with Romakers bands on them, some of Doc's own brood fowl it appeared (they were not "spring chickens" so I assumed Doc had been saving them for a reason). They were kind of on the short stationed side, dark red with a few white feathers in the wings or tail, white legged, fairly muscular. The cock would fall on his side after almost every fly when sparring, but he always got up so quickly the other bird could not take advantage of it (this transmitted to the pure stags, so it was not due to an injury, although the crosses never did it). The two hens I received were buff colored, white legged and rough looking. The hens molted all year around, and would only lay about 18-24 eggs a year. This molting year round of the hens was a genetic trait that passed to the pullets, once they were three years old they started doing this and the egg production the same way, they did alright the first year or two but by three years they laid 18-24 eggs a year only. I had heard (or Doc told me, I forget which) that Doc Romaker got these birds directly from Doc Moll and that Romaker never added any new blood, and that Doc Moll had inbred them for 30 or more years himself. I calculated that these birds had had no new blood added to them in 80 years or so....and they looked like it! These were the best foundation brood fowl I had ever owned, crossed on anything that was even mediocre would produce very good birds, when bred to decent birds they produced exceptional offspring, and when bred to exceptional birds, the offspring never lost in my hands. The Romaker Albanys were equal to the gamest and toughest birds I've ever seen.
Unfortunately I lost those Albanys due to a strept infection that was very antibiotic and disinfectant resistant. I bought some more off of Bill Morris a few years ago, but this is 10 years or so later from the first purchase....the new ones are taller and the hens don't continuously molt....I haven't talked to Bill about it but it appears he added some new blood to them. They are still very good birds, they even look better than they used to, but I would still like to get my hands on some of the stuff that was bred from only Romaker's stock.
Anyone that knows of someone who bought some of these off Doc Romaker or got them from Bill Morris right after he got them from Doc, let me know, that is if they are still being bred as pure Doc Romaker Moll Albanys. They would also need to be someone that keeps their birds in a healthy fashion.
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