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#Post#: 12392--------------------------------------------------
Too Light?
By: Quailtail Date: April 20, 2013, 6:20 pm
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Flew one team of birds this afternoon. Breezy but not what I
would consider windy. Birds flew extremely high and looked as
if they were going with the direction of the wind. Lost sight
of them completely. After over an hour they started coming back
to the kit box one or two at a time. Have them all back now
except for 4 or 5 birds.
Do I have them too light? About 24 birds and I have been
feeding them 1 1/4 cups of 50/5o wheat and milo.
#Post#: 12393--------------------------------------------------
Re: Too Light?
By: John Kelly Date: April 20, 2013, 8:05 pm
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I would increase the feed, another 1/2 cup, and keep them in the
kitbox for a few days. This might put a little weight back on.
Having the wind blow them away is not that unusual, but coming
back one at a time is.
#Post#: 12394--------------------------------------------------
Re: Too Light?
By: Quailtail Date: April 20, 2013, 9:11 pm
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I will feed them up a few days. Had them doing well up untill
today. They were flying and working good. Traping quickly
after they landed. Thought I had their feed right but was
fooled.
#Post#: 12395--------------------------------------------------
Re: Too Light?
By: slvrollers Date: April 21, 2013, 12:41 am
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Hi Quailtail
Rollers don't fly high when they are under fed unless their is
some kind of bird of prey hunting close by or something that has
scared them up high. Usually they will have very short fly time
when they are under fed. If you had them under control, trapping
fast and your feeding the same amount something spooked them up.
Even if they are light and it was windy I doubt that feeding 24
rollers 1 and 1/4 cups would cause them to fly so high that
they were out of sight but strange things do happen. I have had
light birds get blown around from the wind and its always out
and not up when they are fed right or under fed. Also I have had
birds come back the next day when they did not show up after a
fly for what ever reason. This is just my opinion and I have
never experienced this. I hope your birds come back!! Good Luck
!!
#Post#: 12396--------------------------------------------------
Re: Too Light?
By: Chuck K Date: April 21, 2013, 4:01 pm
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It is hard to give anyone advise on feeding their birds since
every family of rollers are different in some ways whether it be
body size or metabolism. Different families have different feed
requirements to maintain them so take what I have to say with
that in mind what works for the families I am familiar with,
might not be whats best for your family of birds.
First, unless you are conditioning them running up to a
competition you are not feeding enough for 24 birds. One and a
quarter cup of feed over an extended time would have made any
family I have flown get weak. As slvrollers said weak birds
don't tend to sky out, but weak rollers don't tend to roll as
much. They circle on one wing, and the wind will carry them
away when they get into a circling pattern.
The fact that they came back in groups instead of kitted up
could be due to a couple of things. It could be weaker birds
dropped out of the kit and started for home, while the stronger
birds continued to circle with the kit and the wind continued to
carry them further from home. The stronger birds will often
actually be the smaller birds when the feed is drastically cut
since the smaller birds are getting enough to maintain their
smaller bodies. Everyone of us have heard it,
'it is always the best ones that are lost'. Yeah it is, but
that is because the best ones are the small to medium birds.
Another possibility for them coming back in small groups is they
could have been broken up by predators when they were out of
sight. I tend to think your problem is the first scenario.
Most of the birds I have worked with start to fly higher as they
a put into condition. Some people try to lean them down to make
them stay lower. This mistake has cost me and a lot of others
whole kits of birds. As the fit birds become lighter they will
fly even higher and high altitude winds will carry them further
from home. I have found over the years the best way to bring a
kit back down is to lock them down for a week or two and over
feed. You are trying to take some of the conditioning off them
so that you don't lose them. However, this approach is not
practical if you are prepping for competition, and I believe it
is the reason a lot of kits are flown away each year as people
try to bring them to that fine line between competition ready
and super fitness.
#Post#: 12397--------------------------------------------------
Re: Too Light?
By: Quailtail Date: April 21, 2013, 6:14 pm
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I have all of my birds home now. I will keep them up and feed
them up. I do appreciate the responses to my post. Have only
been flying rollers for a couple of years. The birds I am
flying now were all young birds last spring and summer. I need
all the help I can get.
The reason I had cut their feed back was to get them to trap
quicker. They had a tendacy to hang out too long on the roof of
the loft after they had come down. To me, this meant they were
not hungry, hence, being overfed. I kept cutting the feed back
a little at a time untill I had them trapping shortly after they
landed.
These birds have been getting flown 4 to 5 afternoons a week.
They are Jaconettes and most are Danny Horner birds with Danny
Horner birds I have raised from the original stock I purchased
from him.
#Post#: 12398--------------------------------------------------
Re: Too Light?
By: 2y4life Date: April 21, 2013, 9:05 pm
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Qualtail, you should contact Danny Horner for advice as it is
his family of birds and he may be able to help you with that. Do
they sky out often on you, meaning do you they fly high usually?
Young birds or old birds? Anyhow, lock em down for a few days
and see what happens. Again, contact Danny. Good Luck
#Post#: 12442--------------------------------------------------
Re: Too Light?
By: nephilim Date: May 12, 2013, 4:55 am
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Hey Quailtail.
Can I ask how your birds where flying
before they flew away? Most pigeons when in good condition will
fly a figure 8 pattern. Sometimes if the wind is high they will
fly on one wing, just going in either counter or clockwise
pattern. But some times the birds get into a swooping flight,
where they turn so sharp on themselves they have to dive
downwards to gain height, this can look as if they have been hit
by a strong gust of wind, they keep doing this pattern and very
soon go out of sight! After a few minutes you will get them back
in ones and twos and then the rest will follow. You get them
back like that because those first few birds have broken from
the pattern an gained so height to make their way back to your
coop. If you have the clear space around your location you can
sometimes see them a mile or so away still doing this swooping
spiral flight. It's not a bad thing nor a good thing. But if you
want to compete with your birds you should break them of this
habit asap. Try flying upto 10 old birds with your young, they
are more experienced and will with time and luck get them back
on the right flight pattern. You could also instead of your
usual feed swop it out for barley. They wont like it at first,
but it will bring down their flying time and height, and will
also sort out and digestion problems as Barley is high in fibre
and a much underrated food source. Finally the young will break
themselves of this pattern when they are yearlings. Hope that
helps
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