Acquiring Birds
To begin with you will need birds, either through your own breeding. or through
a knowledgable fancier. Preferably you should start with squeekers as they are
much easier to train than older birds. If you start with older birds these training
methods will work, but it will take more time, and breaking bad habits can be
difficult. What I recommend is to purchase breeding stock from a loft known for good
birds and then raise and train the youngsters that you have bred.
Click here for Gary Taylor's Starting Out Info.
Training Starts When They Are Still In The Nest
When my babies are starting to move around in the nestbox I will put a little
feed in the box for thier parents. When I do this I whistle at my birds and they
associate this with food. Before long the babies will peck at the feed, and soon
realise that I am the food source. Soon they will squeak and beg for food whenever
I am in the loft. My breeding pairs and young kit birds get fed twice a day.
Out of the nest
After the babys are eating pretty well on thier own, I take them out of their nestbox
and place them on the lower perches of the breeding loft. Here they will get to
know the other youngsters and their parents can still feed them. Soon they will
be going to the flying loft and I think that it is less stressful if they know other birds.
I feed them twice a day and always whistle. Make sure that they are eating and
drinking enough, or put them back with thier parents for a few days. Also watch
for scalping from the cock birds. I have a box near the floor for them to hide in and
this seems to help.
To The Kitbox
Some fanciers remove youngsters to the flying loft as early as 18 days, I prefer to
wait until around 25 days myself as I feel that the extra size and feathering will
keep them more comfortable in the flying loft. At any rate move them before they
are flying well as they will be hard to control if you don't. Hopefully you will have a
group of several youngsters around the same age, If some are a week or so older
you can hold them back and train them with the rest. If the ages are much different
you should probably train them separately.
The Kit Box
A kit box is simply a small loft for flying rollers. Its small size prevents birds from
flying much inside it .It is usually built on legs and has doors
that open wide for releasing birds. Most kit boxes can be shut to keep out most
of the daylight, as this will help the birds to kit and perform better. I think that it is
good to be able to let light in after the birds have flown for the day.
I recomend that you have a separate section in the kit box for your young birds.
Click here to
view Jimmy Hill's Kit box.
Ideally the
kit box should be placed out in the open where it is highly visible from the air. My
yard is obscured by trees, and this creates problems training and viewing birds. I
have been told that I should just cut down the trees, but I also enjoy my trees and
gardens too much to do that. To add visibility to my loft I have a windsock on a
flagpole flying above my house. It is bright yellow and red GO KC CHIEFS.
Trap Training
After a couple
of days in the kit box it is time to start trap training. A trap will allow
the birds into the loft, but not out. The simpelest traps are just small
windows that the bird can squeeze through. There is a landing board on the
outside but not on the inside of the loft. The birds can't get out because
their flapping wings won't fit. Your landing board can be hinged to fold up
to form a door for the trap.
I simply cage the birds on top
of the loft so that they can see their surroundings. My training cage hangs ovet
the loft so that they can get to the trap. I show each bird how the trap works and
push them through it several times. When I do this I am whistling and food is
available in the loft. My kit box is set up so that I can retrieve birds out of the loft
and easily put them back into the training cage. As they trap in I let them eat just
a little then back to the training cage they go. I get kind of an assembly line going
with birds going to the training cage, through the trap, a little food, then back to
the training cage, Five or ten minutes of this and every bird has trapped many times.
The slower ones won't get as much food and will trap faster the next time. Keep
this up twice a day for a couple of days and your birds will trap readily.
Settling The Birds
At this point I remove the training cage. and carefully place the birds on top of the loft.
They have not eaten recently and are quite hungry. I close the trap so that the
birds have to spend some time outside. At this point the birds still can't fly well
and are easily caught if they try. They usually just lounge around on top of the loft.
After a short time I open the trap and call them, they should trap right in. There
is food waiting in the loft and again the slow ones won't get their full share.
Again they should be faster next time. I try to do this twice a day, but feed them
lightly
in the morning or they will want to loaf around.
Also I would only put the birds out on fairly calm days for the first few weeks.
Releasing The Birds
After your birds are setteled you can just open
the door and clap your hands, and some of the older more adventureous birds will
fly out on thier own.
For a few days I will still set the other birds on top of the loft. After a couple of
days the ones that stay
in the loft will be lightly tossed . Be careful at this point so as not to scare them too much.
They will soon understand that clapping means time to fly.
Getting Them To Fly
At this point you may have a few birds that are fluttering around above the loft when
you release them. The ones that are not flying can be lightly tossed into the air and
they will usually fly for a short time. Do not fly any birds that are strong flyers with
this young kit yet. After a short fly the birds should land back on the loft.
Once you have a group of birds flying, insist that all of the youngsters fly a little
after release them. Some birds will require tossing for several days to get the idea. My
point is that when the door is opened and you clap, the birds know that they
are going to fly like it or not. Don't insist that they have to fly very long, and let
them land when they want to. Just make sure that they all fly a little. At this point
you will have birds all over the air, some hovering, some roaming a little and some
that do almost nothing. Performing
rollers love to fly and will soon do so without your encouragement.
Landing Area
When your birds have finished flying you should insist that they land on the loft.
One problem with my yard is that some of my birds would rather sit in the trees than
fly. If you let this happen you will have real problems later on. I make note of the
birds that like to do this and when I release the birds these get a good toss, If
they still land in the trees or on the house roof I will throw balls or frisbees at them.
Some fanciers use a flag and this is known as flagging.
This is a last resort and I certanly do not want to scare birds that are behaving.
Whenever I throw things at them I clap my hands as I want them to understand
that clapping hands means FLY. If you are consistant most birds will straighten up
If they don't you will want to separate them from the rest of the kit as the other
birds will pick up these bad habits. Problem birds can be trained together and you
may get them to behave later, just don't let them ruin your kit in the meantime.
I give problem birds a few weeks and If they don't straighten up by then they will
not be used in a kit.
When your birds have all landed call them in and feed them. I like to go through
this procedure twice a day.
Flying Your Kit
After a week or two your birds should be starting to kit and should be flying for
several minutes to half an hour or so. At this time you can introduce a couple of
older birds to the kit. I like to fly the older birds first and when they start to slow down
release the youngsters. Your old birds should like to fly fairly slow and stay close
to home. If you can, fly your kit twice a day in fairly nice weather, and in a month
or so they should be kitting well and starting to roll. My family of birds start rolling
around two months old, and are spinning well at four months. I've read
of familys that take over a year to develop into spinners. It is important to know
your family of birds so that you know what to expect from them.
Feeding For Performance
Proper feeding is very important for top performance. Your birds will kit and
roll better when hungry.
When your birds are mature you should cut back their food and only
feed once a day. Some fanciers will even give separate measured rations to
each bird, adjusting the quantity according to the way the bird flew. I just measure
feed in a coffee can. Figure out how much feed your birds will quickly eat
at one feeding, and adjust from there.If the birds fly too long and are seldom rolling I will cut the
rations for the whole kit. If the birds don't fly for at least 45 minutes,
I will give them
a little more food. Each family requires a different amount of food to be at peak
performance and if you fly several different families together adjusting feed will
be difficult. Feed requirements will also vary depending on the weather and
several other factors. Your birds may also perform better with different mixes of
grain. Most fanciers cut back on protien, and some will feed only wheat or milo
before a competition. I feed a pigeon mix with 10% protein. In the winter I add
popcorn to the mixture.Click here for a
Kaytee Feed dealer near you.
Birds Behaving Badly
No matter how well you train, or how good your stock is you will have some individuals that just don't
get with the program. One of the major problems will be birds that don't
stay with the kit (outbirds).
Outbirds may perform well but if they won't kit you will have to get rid
of them or they will ruin your
whole kit. Birds that like to land early or just don't seem to like to fly
will also have to go. Some
very deep birds will have trouble catching up with the kit after they have rolled, but if they are always
trying to kit I will usually keep them. Some birds will roll loose and
sloppy, I will keep them only if I need more birds to fill in. Some birds
will not have much depth or may not roll very often. You can fly some of these
birds so long as they are not effecting the rest of the kit. One problem bird
that I should mention is the rolldown (no airbrakes)these birds will usually cull themselves and save
you the trouble. Some birds are not quite rolldowns but will sometimes bump when taking off, or may hit
a tree now and then. You can hand toss these birds and fly them often and sometimes they will grow out
of it. I will sometimes fly problem birds, but they will never make it to
the breeding loft. If you want to get the most enjoyment from your kit get rid of all of these problem birds, or at least fly them
separately from the main kit. Last year I separated out my best and flew
a kit of only 6 birds. These birds kit tightly, spin together regularly, and
really put on a show. I get more satisfaction out of this type of performance than a large kit of
mediocre rollers.
Competition Flying
Here we get into a subject in which I have very little experience. The
only kit that I ever flew in competition was in 1973 when I was a sophomore in
high school. These birds were of unknown and certainly mixed familys, I
didn't
even know what a strain was back then. My birds flew well (as far as I know)
but I have no idea how they scored. The judge just told me that I had some good
birds, and that was fine with me. I just enjoyed letting other pigeon guys see my
birds, and the kit made me proud. Since then our local roller club is exclusively a
show bird club, perhaps I can generate enough interest to get some flyers involved.
Rollers are usually scored for a 20 minute fly. The kit typically consists of 20 birds.
A roller kit is judged on the quality, frequency, and depth of the birds. There are
a few different sets of rules, but basically when several birds roll together, they
are counted and scored as a turn. The turns are added up and multipliers are
figured for quality and depth. Out-birds that don't stay with the kit can stop the
scoring, and early droppers or rolldowns can cause disqualifications. If you want
to know more about competition I recommend that you join
The National Birmingham Roller Club and
subscribe to the Roller Journal.
In Conclusion
Rollers are basically easy to keep and train, and I think that if you follow the
suggestions outlined here you will get much enjoyment from your kit. One thing
that needs to be mentioned is consistency, your birds must know what you expect
from them. If you follow the same routine every day they will be much more
predictable. It is best to fly them in the morning as the winds are usually
lighter. Feed them right after they trap and you will have less loafing. If you
have any questions or suggestions, please E-mail me. I will add to or edit this
article so as to allow us to get the most out of it. Now all you have
to do is get out the chaise lounge, open a beer, light a cigar, lay back and...
...Jon
