Training roller pigeons

[czarkos]

i have nine rollers in my loft. three are young bird and the rest are older birds. i'm not sure if any of them have been flown yet beacause i got them from a lady who didn't know if they had been. my question is, can i train them all to return back to my loft or just the young birds?

Thanks,
Calder

[bundyray]

Some people may say you'll need to let the olders 1's have some young (I did) , but you definately can train them all too return to your loft just make sure you trap train and turn them out hungary

[blongboy]

yea just take a few week lol

[MaryOfExeter]

If the young birds are 2 months or younger, I'd keep them in for 2 weeks. Old birds for a month. Rollers have virtually no homing ability so there's no worry about resettling them. However, older birds who have been flown before, may come bounding out of the loft wanting to fly too much, and could get lost. That's why I always kept them in for a month so they know their surroundings and how to work the trap before coming out.

[pattersonk2002]

I have been told when you are going to fly older birds that have been flown from another loft you should keep them in an open avery so they can see there surrounding are differant before flying. Like I said this is only what I have been told but it makes sense, they may look for there old loft surrounding if they bolt out like Mary said. >Kevin

[czarkos]

sweet!!! thanks for the advice i'll be sure to try it out. right now i have a pair of rollers that are in the process of breeding

[velo99]

Czarkos
Make sure you fly them hungry. Cut em to half a ration the day before. The point of the first 5-6 times you let em out is to get them going in the box on command and learning the neighborhood. If they go out and come right back in five - ten minutes give them 1/2 a tablespoon of millet. Let em rest 30-40 minutes and shoo em out again. This time close the door and make em stay out for 30-40 minutes after they land. They should go up and fly around for a few minutes at a time.Put em up for the day or put em in a cage on top of the box. Repeat the next day.

Dont overfeed em. It wont hurt them to cut the feed back for a few days while you`re training them. Fly em for three or four days then feed em up on a days rest and go three or four days again. Once they get rolling and steady in their flight , fly them every other day after the young birds have gone thru the first molt.
As they learn the neighborhood they will fly longer and wider. It takes a few weeks for them to get back into and develop flying shape.

Are you shaking the feed can when you feed them? Birds are easily trained in Pavolvian response to come down on command when you whistle and shake the feed can. You can also use a dropper to help them come in faster. Feed is YOUR control over the behavior of your birds. Quality, amount and types of seed will affect the performance of your kit.

have fun

[czarkos]

Originally Posted by velo99

Czarkos
Make sure you fly them hungry. Cut em to half a ration the day before. The point of the first 5-6 times you let em out is to get them going in the box on command and learning the neighborhood. If they go out and come right back in five - ten minutes give them 1/2 a tablespoon of millet. Let em rest 30-40 minutes and shoo em out again. This time close the door and make em stay out for 30-40 minutes after they land. They should go up and fly around for a few minutes at a time.Put em up for the day or put em in a cage on top of the box. Repeat the next day.

Dont overfeed em. It wont hurt them to cut the feed back for a few days while you`re training them. Fly em for three or four days then feed em up on a days rest and go three or four days again. Once they get rolling and steady in their flight , fly them every other day after the young birds have gone thru the first molt.
As they learn the neighborhood they will fly longer and wider. It takes a few weeks for them to get back into and develop flying shape.

Are you shaking the feed can when you feed them? Birds are easily trained in Pavolvian response to come down on command when you whistle and shake the feed can. You can also use a dropper to help them come in faster. Feed is YOUR control over the behavior of your birds. Quality, amount and types of seed will affect the performance of your kit.

have fun

Thank you for the advice, this is what i have been looking for! i have been shaking the feed, but i haven't been whistling which i should start doing.

thank you so much,
Calder

[czarkos]

how do you know when they are ready to be let out? i am in the process of teaching them how to trap in, but how do i know when they are ready?

[BillfromNJ]

czarkos,

V99 is right on the money with the information he has given you.

Regards,

Bill from NJ

[velo99]

Czarkos
They should be ready after 3-4 days. Try letting one go from across the yard. Kinda slow pitch him towrds the box and see what happens.

[czarkos]

K thanks.

also i have three young birds that i am planning to fly but can i also let an older bird out with them, or should i wait for the younger birds to build some muscle before letting the older bird fly with them? As far as i know the older bird hasn't flown in a while.

[velo99]

I have an old(er) hen I usually fly with the yb`s. Normally it keeps the flyaway losses down. Be prepared though, it happens to everyone.
g/l

[czarkos]

today i let out two of my birds and they came back to the loft, the only problem i had was that they stayed out for five hours before coming back in, what should i do to make sure that they come back earlier?

thanks,
Calder

[rririe]

czarkos, It sounds like you may be feeding too much. Cut the food back. Try cutting the food in half, or less than you normally feed the day before you want to fly the birds. Make sure they know your whistle and the shaking of the food can. If they're hungry they'll trap shortly after the sounds you have trained them with. Believe me, it's hard at first to give them less food, but you will see the results immediately. From then on keep an eye on them. If they fly too long again, cut the food back a little more. Once you have the right ratio they'll be trapping soon after you give them the sounds. Never stop with the sounds of the whistle and can shaking. The YB's will learn the sounds too and train quicker for you. Give it a shot. Randy