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#Post#: 9692--------------------------------------------------
Don't roll
DIR By: Jon
Date: October 24, 2011, 11:21 pm
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I have not been able to fly my birds at any regular basis due to
work, BOP and weather problems. When I do turn them loose they
don't roll. They were not frequent to begin with but hardly roll
at all now. Is my problem my flying schedule or the birds. I
have a couple that were very radical the first season but now
don't hardly do anything,they are a little over a year old now.
I'm thinking of getting rid of all my kit birds and starting
over next season. I didn't know if the problem is the birds or
the schedule. Jon
#Post#: 9693--------------------------------------------------
Re: Don't roll
DIR By: windjammer loft
Date: October 25, 2011, 6:49 am
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Jon...are these birds this years breeding?? It sounds to me
like your flying schedule is "not" consistent enough. Try and
fly them more often and see what happens. Patience is the
"key"....
#Post#: 9695--------------------------------------------------
Re: Don't roll
DIR By: Jon
Date: October 25, 2011, 9:32 am
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About 1/2 are last year and the rest are this year. My main
problem this year has been BOP. They have been around all year
off and on. Don't know what time to fly the birds because
sometimes I'm hit and sometimes not. I fly morning and late
evening. I know my flying schedule is bad but I don't like
feeding hawks. Jon
#Post#: 9697--------------------------------------------------
Re: Don't roll
DIR By: markmidmo
Date: October 25, 2011, 11:13 am
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Jon, Here is my long answer to your short question.
I'm in a similiar situation. I'm gone every weekend and it's
hard to find good fly days during the week, especially with the
BOP. It's taken a long time to figure it out, but the best
fly days I get are determined by feed.
Because I leave Friday afternoons and can't check on birds till
Monday evening, I have to set them up for free feed the entire
weekend. I've just about learned how to make sure they run out
of feed on Monday so that I can fly during the week. I do not
feed the flyers Monday evening!
I've split my kit into 3 groups, based on how they were
performing back when I could fly them almost every day (before
BOP invasion). Each bird has a colored band to indicate their
group. I toss the C (poorest performers) group into the air to
test for BOPs. If none appear, I quickly put up the A group.
Because they are hungry they only fly about 1/2 hour. when
they come in, I send up the B group (which happens to be the
biggest group) and let them fly. When they trap in I finally
feed them 1T wheat per bird.
In this way I can fly the entire kit and test the waters for BOP
at the same time. The birds have adapted to this schedule and
gradually I'm seeing results.
The A group is 8 birds. One little red and white bird in the
group has stopped flying. As soon as I put her in the air she
lands, but she has a good reason, she was hit by a Cooper
mid-roll a few weeks back . I'll give her another month to
gain her confidence, and if it doesn't return she'll sit out the
flys for awhile. The other 7 kit tight and I'm happy to say
they are performing "good", not "competition good" but good
enough to keep me interested in rollers.
There are some weeks when the A group doesn't get to fly because
of BOPs hitting the C group right after I put them out. I've
been lucky the last week as my Cooper hit the fly pen really
hard and appears to have injured itself and doesn't come around
much. If there is any doubt about the flying conditions I do
not send up the A group. I'd rather lose a C or even a B bird
rather than lose one of my 8 better performers.
Now, let's talk about Wednesday. On a good week I've flown
AB&C on Tuesday. Wednesday morning I follow the same program,
except I have to watch the birds because they will want to fly
longer. Because I haven't consistently used whistles to call
in my birds (remember I'm away almost 1/2 the week) I have to
wait and watch them carefully. As soon as they enter the fly
pen I call them in for feed and put up the next group. On
Wednesday's if the fly is going good I don't overlap the groups.
This way I can continue to evaluate them.
At the end of the fly I feed a mix per bird - 1& 1/2tsp wheat,
1/2tsp milo, 1/2tsp peas, 1/2tsp safflower. This gives them
fat and protein to recover from two days of work.
On Thursday I feed wheat and then we are back to Friday where I
give them a mix of 1/2 wheat, 1/4 milo, 1/8 peas, 1/8 safflower,
feeding enough to last them through Monday. And we are back to
where we began.
In summary: Feed heavy part of the week, let them go a little
lean for the fly, then beef the feed back up. Try not to
overfeed. Fat birds are like fat people, they can't be
gymnasts.
Now let's talk about the quality of the roll on this erratic
schedule.
The fly on Tuesday when the feed trough was empty on Monday
seems to be the best. This morning I'm on cloud nine. I tossed
out the 8, RedBird landed and the other 7 started flying low and
slow. Twice the brother of RedBird started flipping and all the
other birds rolled. Nothing deep, but to see all 7 birds roll
at once is one of those "jump up and down moments"
Because they were flying so low, I gave them a little treat of
safflower to lift them tomorrow (assuming BOP and weather
permits). Most weeks I only fly one day.
The other groups aren't doing anything worth reporting other
than this. These once a week flys appear to be helping improve
their kitting and I'm seeing more tail-riding and sloppy flips.
However, some days they just don't work. Last week all they
did was fly, so this past weekend I cut the feed back a little.
This process is very slow. We do a lot of work for just one
day's fly, but I've finally reconcilled myself to the realities
of the situation and now I'm good.
I hope my long winded reply gives you some ideas. Keep your
chin up and tweak your management of the kit.
Mark
#Post#: 9708--------------------------------------------------
Re: Don't roll
DIR By: Jon
Date: October 25, 2011, 9:26 pm
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Mark. What a routine. I'll give something like you do a try. I
don't fly many birds because the city I live in only allows me
to have 10 birds and I have a neighbor who watches closely. If I
have a full kit box I'll fly two kits of 10. My neighbor doesn't
know he is looking at 20 birds (10 at a time). Now I'm down
birds because of BOP but what you said gives me a different
approach. Thanks. Jon
#Post#: 9710--------------------------------------------------
Re: Don't roll
DIR By: JEFF WILSON
Date: October 26, 2011, 6:33 am
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like thom said your better off not to fly early or late.that is
when i see the cooper's more good luck
#Post#: 9711--------------------------------------------------
Re: Don't roll
DIR By: windjammer loft
Date: October 26, 2011, 6:40 am
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Sounds like you got a plan Jon... One suggestion... I wouldn't
fly last years birds with this years birds. Keep the age
differences separated....
#Post#: 9713--------------------------------------------------
Re: Don't roll
DIR By: wannaroll
Date: October 26, 2011, 9:56 am
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Usually when birds are flat it's because they are too strong,
try feeding them less and especially the days before you fly may
help. Good luck and Keep em Flying
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