[colbyjack]

Well contacted site member Kieth C about some of his rollers. We chated back and forth all week. Decided that saturday we would make the trip. so Friday night i went to bed at 9:15 pm woke up 2 hours later at 11:15pm. We were on the road at 11:30PM we drove straight thru to Ohio. Stopped for gas on the way there, filled up once there, ate breakfast at Mc Donalds. Then called and woke kieth up and said were here we got there at 7:00amish

Hand picked 10 rollers, i wanted. loaded them up shot the breeze for a hour. then hopped back in the Jeep and drove straight back stopping for gas once. got home at 2:30pm wow what a loooooong day

my son, wife and dog is all excited about the birds. fed them and put out a bath bowl didnt take long and they did what they do best... play in the water

they have 11 perches and the hickory stick perches. so far they havent sat on the perches that were home made. all they sit on is the natural hickory sticks, they love it.

here's the trip back,

Dayton, OH

Indianapolis, IN

Peoria, IL

Well im still up and excited, anyone have any extra bands they could sell me if these have little ones? what do you want for 5 bands 2009 or any year for that matter.

pictures of the birds uploading stay tuned.......

just want to say thanks for all the info. you guys and gals here at pigeon-talk are great. thanks for the emails, PM's, and phone calls. -chris

 

[colbyjack]

heres the birds

-chris

 

[colbyjack]

-chris

 

[colbyjack]

Any way more on the trip the numbers are 14.45 hours in the trip, 12.55 hours driving time, 67.8 MPH average moving speed, 18.1 MPG, 845 miles we logged from home to pick up to back home, 3 tanks of gas, 4 cans of red bull, 6 pack of 20oz coke a cola, 6 snickers candy bars, and 10 roller pigeons. lol wow im getting tired now.... -chris

 

[colbyjack]

-chris

 

[colbyjack]

Mack likes them he hasn't barked, he whines a little then just points. I'm going to wrap the fence with black landscape fabric so he cant see them. the loft is locked and theres a gate with a 5 foot space between where he can get and the loft. i dont want him to get close or spook the birds.

-chris

 

[RodSD]

Wow! Beautiful rollers. That Keith guys have beautiful birds. You must also be very dedicated to drive that long!

If you wondered why the rollers chose the tree branches is because they are situated higher up than the perches. Basically pigeons want to perch high up. I also noticed that some birds have chosen the box. Those are probably cocks or mated birds.

 

[colbyjack]

went out there this morning, they seem to be doing fine. some are in the nest box, others are messin around in the perches.

i opened the box to get them to trap in. i caught 2 birds put them in the box, they walked in thru the trap fine.

i think im spooking them when i am trying to catch them. whats the best way to catch them? by hand or by a net for like butterflies? i dont have a net though.

should i put them all in the box or just catch one now and then and put them in there?

also should i be around them this much yet or should i let them settle in?

should i try to feed them bread or raw peanuts or whole corn by hand as a treat? -chris

 

[colbyjack]

I set in the loft with the birds and put thed feeder at my feet and let them come over and start eating

interesting, thanks

raw peanuts in the shell or raw spanish peanuts for cooking -chris

 

[Lovebirds]

interesting, thanks

raw peanuts in the shell or raw spanish peanuts for cooking -chris

Raw unshelled peanuts. Raw SPANISH peanuts are the best, because they are smaller. I've never even seen a roller in person, but I'm assuming that they are quite a bit smaller than homers, so my may need to break up regular peanuts for them. I don't know really.
You have to be VERY careful with your peanuts. They can go rancid in a short amount of time and then you'll make your birds sick, if not kill them all together.
Go to Wal-Mart and get you a bag of shelled sunflower seed or safflower seeds and use those as a treat. They sell 7 or 9 lb bags where the wild bird seed is.

OH PS: The birds ARE very pretty. Also, as long as the dog can't get to the birds, don't worry about him spooking them. He lives there too, so they need to get used to him being around and barking or whatever. After a few days, they will ignore him completely.

 

[colbyjack]

sounds good ill give it a try, just went in there and caught one so the boy could "pet" it on the head. that made them mad.... lol they were flying around one was hitting me with the wing when i tried to grab it out of the nest. finally got one away from the rest and i was able to pick it up by going very slow.

really overcast today, rainy and they all wanted to stay up in the perches and in the shelter. im just going to leave them alone the rest of the day.

i left a 30" long chick feeder in there where its dry and out of the way of droppings. after this weekend ill get a pan and try to feed them at the same time and get them used to a cycle. -chris

 

[colbyjack]

How many did you buy

bought 10 birds. my son named the black one with the green/purple neck tweety.... hehehehehe so i got a tweety bird.

hopefull i have a hen and a cock and not all of the same. -chris

 

[colbyjack]

cool, these are all 2009's he said. he told me some where around 5/6 weeks old. post up some pics when you get them.

i stuck a couple more in the trap training box and they walked in today. so far so good -chris

 

[ThePigeonKid]

Your pigeons look really happy, please keep us updated on how the pigeons are doing on "Every Day at the Loft".