My Kit Box

[amoonswirl]

I made the decision a little while back to start with Birmingham Rollers. I've been researching it for awhile, attended the World Cup Regionals here, and joined the NBRC. A local NBRC member was kind enough to help me start by breeding some birds for me from his best stock.

More on the birds later, but here is the Kit Box my carpenter friend built for me. I'm really happy with how it turned out:

[spirit wings]

cute! how many will that hold?

[amoonswirl]

Originally Posted by spirit wings

cute! how many will that hold?

Good question! Really not sure. I have 8 squeakers in there now. Once flying season is over I will probably move them to the big loft until Spring.

[Trees Gray]

That is really a great little set up, Karen.

How about sharing a picture of the new youngsters?

[little bird]

Great set-up and I love the skylight.

[amoonswirl]

Thanks! Nona, I like the sky light too. My friend found clear plastic for the roof, which is great for the birds, and sturdy too. One side has a shade panel to keep it from getting too hot. And the side opens up too - it has a hardware cloth panel inside...My friend does cabinetry and woodworking for a living so he's a top notch craftsman.

Anyway, here are 5 of the birds, in a settling cage getting used to their surroundings:



I got the remaining three about a week later and still don't have photos. I'm busy training them every night after work and it sure has been an adventure!

[Lovebirds]

Well, that's cute. No one has ever been able to explain to me the purpose of such a small space for these birds.
Homers are kept in a regular loft and can fly for hours if trained properly. Why do Rollers have to be kept in a tiny space like this?
What's the difference in what they do and what a homer does besides the fact that a homer "homes" and a Roller doesn't necessarily? They both can and will fly for hours.
Homers can live in a "regular" loft, chasing thier hens and just doing what pigeons do and still fly 400, 500 and even 600 miles with no problem.
Rollers, as far as I know, go up high and roll down and I guess they do this for long periods of time, except they tend to stick close to home. So they do their flying in a semi-local location rather than across many miles.
Homers fly in "flocks" or "kits" if you will. I understand that Rollers fly in "flocks" or "kits".
So, has anyone told YOU why this is? I just don't understand why it's ok to keep 6 or 8 or however many Rollers in a space this small, but if someone comes here and posted a picture of something like your kit box and told us they had 6 or 8 homers in there, we'd very quickly tell them they were overcrowding thier birds.

[amoonswirl]

Originally Posted by Lovebirds

So, has anyone told YOU why this is? I just don't understand why it's ok to keep 6 or 8 or however many Rollers in a space this small, but if someone comes here and posted a picture of something like your kit box and told us they had 6 or 8 homers in there, we'd very quickly tell them they were overcrowding thier birds.

I don't know. But I can say that the competition kits I have seen while learning about the Roller sport have seemed healthy, happy, well cared for, and well-adjusted. If they didn't I would not have gotten into this. I definitely had the same concerns at first.

The birds are generally wintered over in a regular loft, while the weather is such that they can't fly daily. Which is why I am trying to save enough room in my new loft for the kit to move in come November.

Also worth noting: Birmingham Rollers are about 1/2 the size of Homers. Not that it makes a huge difference...

[LokotaLoft]

from what I have read in other places and was lead to believe is that they are confined in smaller coops to keep them quiet to conserve their energy for when out and about flying but I could be wrong ,never understood it myself

[TAWhatley]

Well, I certainly don't know all the ins and outs of this, but roller folks DO keep their birds in kit boxes and the one Karen has looks TERRIFIC. I think we need Dexter here and Velo99 and any of our other roller folk .. can't remember if Ezemaxima has rollers or not ..

Renee .. the roller folk do keep them differently than the racer folk ..

Terry

[bigislerollers]

Aloha Karen,
That is a nice kit box.
One question. Do you have vents on the backside near the top?? I ask this because the way that the roof slopes, thats where the hotter air will collect and some vent holes there will keep the box a lot cooler. I also like the wire floors as this will also help with ventilation.
A lot of roller flyers use smaller and darker kitboxes than yours and the birds do quite well. Looks like you did your homework before jumping in, good for you. Just remember, the best place to get information on how to manage your birds is from the person you got your birds from, so don't be afraid to ask questions.
Good luck and happy flying.

[amoonswirl]

Originally Posted by bigislerollers

Aloha Karen,
That is a nice kit box.
One question. Do you have vents on the backside near the top?? I ask this because the way that the roof slopes, thats where the hotter air will collect and some vent holes there will keep the box a lot cooler. I also like the wire floors as this will also help with ventilation.
A lot of roller flyers use smaller and darker kitboxes than yours and the birds do quite well. Looks like you did your homework before jumping in, good for you. Just remember, the best place to get information on how to manage your birds is from the person you got your birds from, so don't be afraid to ask questions.
Good luck and happy flying.

Hi Dexter,
The box does have vent holes near the roof in the back - 3 large ones that are covered with hardware cloth to keep predators out.

I have definitely been in touch with the person who gave me the birds - probably driving him crazy with all of my questions, lol. He has been very patient.

[bigislerollers]

Aloha Karen,

That was the only concern that I had about the kit box. I really like the side panel that opens to hold your settling cage. Very sharp.....

So how did you like the World Cup competition?

Here in Hawaii we are lucky to be the last stop for the World Cup and the Fall Fly judges and get to hear first hand the judges evaluation of the kits flown. I was really lucky to be able to house the World Cup Judge, Eldon Cheney, at my home for a night, and got to learn a lot from him.

Good luck with your birds and happy flying.

[amoonswirl]

Originally Posted by bigislerollers

Aloha Karen,

That was the only concern that I had about the kit box. I really like the side panel that opens to hold your settling cage. Very sharp.....

So how did you like the World Cup competition?

Here in Hawaii we are lucky to be the last stop for the World Cup and the Fall Fly judges and get to hear first hand the judges evaluation of the kits flown. I was really lucky to be able to house the World Cup Judge, Eldon Cheney, at my home for a night, and got to learn a lot from him.

Good luck with your birds and happy flying.

The World Cup was exciting! For the first round, the judge let me hold the score pad and write the scores down. My heart was racing - trying to keep track of the "out" birds and the scores at the same time.

I got to meet Eldon Cheney too - at the finals. He showed me how to judge a bird by the way it flexes in the hand, and how to look at the length of the flights vs. tail. I wished I wasn't such a newbie so I could've learned more from him, but my questions at this point are all so basic...

Not sure if I will ever compete, but I will definitely attend the Fall Fly & next year's World Cup. It's great fun to see everyone's lofts and watch their birds...see how everyone has their own style.

[warriec]

Thats a very good design.