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Weaning & Training Young Rollers - Dave Henderson |
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You should have one bowl on the floor of their breeding box and the other
off the breeding box floor about 4-6 inches mounted to some type of shelf. This will enable you to have young babies and eggs at the
same time. What I do is move
the 2 week old babies from the upper nest bowl, birds
tend to want to nest in the highest box first, at around 2 weeks old
to the lower nest bowl so as to enable the hen to lay her next set of eggs
in the top nest bowl without being molested by these juvenile squeakers.
Having this type of breeding set up will drastically speed up baby
production throughout the season.
The handling
of young birds is very important in getting a good kit of rollers flying.
Training for my birds actually starts in the nest when the babies
are around 3 weeks old. It’s
very important to not let the babies stay in the nest too long. I remove them from the nest before the feathers under their
wings are totally grown in. Here
are some things I do before weaning the babies to get them going in the
right direction.
I like to place a feed dish and waterer in the nest box when the babies
are between 2-3 weeks old so that their parents can show them how to drink
and eat before they leave the nest. I
think this is very beneficial in getting the babies flying as fast as
possible. I think if they can learn to feed themselves somewhat before
leaving the nest they will be able to fly much earlier then if they had to
learn how to eat after you take them from the nest.
If you wean before they learn how to drink and eat on their own it’s
most important to put them in a “weaning pen” so they can learn how to
do these things before you put them in the kit box.
Young birds naturally eat slower then older birds that have already
been weaned and are flying. You
should never starve babies so make sure they are getting plenty of feed
but remove any feed from their kit box that is not eaten in 30 minutes so
it doesn’t get contaminated by droppings.
In fact it might be best to feed in a “feeding tray” that can
be removed from their loft when not being feed as to let them know when
it’s time to eat.
If young birds are not feeding or eating properly they will become
stressed out and can contract a number of diseases.
It might be a good idea to give some type of friendly bacteria
builder, vitamins or even some Sulmet in the water after they leave the
nest to help with this stress that is brought on during weaning.
Young birds can become ill very easily if you don’t pay attention
to their health at this stage of development.
I use a training cage that wraps around over the traps and then goes on
top of the kit box roof. This
cage will assist me in training the birds where they live by exposing them
to the outside surroundings and also to show them how to get inside their
loft to get fed. It’s very
important that the birds learn where their loft is.
That’s why it’s important to start them out early.
If you wait till they are too old at this stage they might become
very “flighty” and when you set them on the roof they can just take
off before they get totally “homed” in to their loft. ****remember
that birds are flown or let out on the roof before they are fed so as to
make them want to come in the loft when you want them too. A little whistle or shake of the feed can trick them
into coming in even if you aren’t going to feed them at that time.
If your birds don’t want to come in to the loft when you are
ready to feed them then they are overfed or may be paired up with another
pigeon. Birds pairing up and
laying eggs in the kit box is another sign of overfeeding.
A good starting point is around 1 tablespoon per bird per day.
Feed is the total source of training birds and many other animals.
Some just start the babies out on the roof from day one but with my work
schedule etc… it just seems to work best for me to use a training cage. The training cage makes the birds feel secure to be on the
roof and makes me feel secure that no predators can get them either while
in this cage. After being in
this training cage for several days on the roof it makes them more secure
to be on the loft roof without this training cage. You must watch them
closely once you put them on the roof to make sure they aren’t landing
in any trees, telephone poles or even the ground etc…
They can pick up bad habits if you don’t let them know where
it’s acceptable for them to land. Being
strict at a young age will make them easier to manage as a kit.
I personally like my birds to land on my landing tower or on the kit box
roof, anywhere else they land I will chase them off until they land in an
acceptable spot. If they
persist in landing places other than where I want them to, then I will be
forced to kill them within a couple of weeks,
if they don’t change their ways. I have zero tolerance for this
type of behavior. If they can’t figure it out in a couple of weeks they are
just too stupid for my taste.
I normally let my young birds stay in this training cage for about 3-4
days before I place them on the roof on their own.
I will set them on the roof for approximately 2-3 days before I
start to toss them up for short flights.
This is really a minor toss and one that they generally only fly
long enough to get their composure to land back on the kit box roof.
I will do this for about 2 days before going to the next step.
The next step is boxing them up in a carrying cage or box and releasing
them from about 40-50+ feet from the loft.
They usually will go up and fly around the yard for 5-10 minutes
before realizing where the kit box loft roof is before landing.
You might have some at this stage landing in trees or on telephone
poles so unless you think it’s acceptable for them to land in these
places I would suggest chasing them until they land somewhere that is
acceptable to you. I will
normally do this for a couple of days before I move them farther away.
The next step is to take them several hundred feet away and preferably
tossing them up from behind a structure or group of trees so they will
have to fly up substantially before they can identify where they are.
This step is usually about 6-7 days after I’ve taken them from
the nest and this will force them to fly.
You might also incorporate them in with several older birds, 3-6
older birds, at this stage that will take them up to a substantial height
before they get tired and want to come down.
I will start to mix them in with older birds at this stage and notice they
tend to want to fly with these older birds when I open my kit box door. They love to fly. The
flying times take a week or so before mine start to stay up with the older
birds the entire time. If I
notice a weaker bird having some problems at this stage I will move it
back down to a younger group and start the stage again.
I notice that some that struggle at this stage are not getting
enough feed usually.
I rarely have problems with birds flying after this final stage but if I
do I will box them up with a small group and take them maybe a ¼ mile
away and let them loose. This
will usually get them flying but if they don’t figure it out after this
they are usually culled due to being too lazy or are just too damn stupid.
You can get a natural dummy once in a while.
You have to be very strict with your birds and “bum” birds as if you
aren’t careful they can “rub” off on other birds and you could get a
whole bunch of lazy suckers that will eventually have to be culled if you
aren’t careful. Strict
management of your pigeons is very important.
I think this about covers this topic but if you are personally having any
problems and need some advice feel free to contact me or write to; Dave
Henderson-DA Henderson Roller Lofts
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