Training Rollers - Ken Easley

     I have found that if I wean my youngsters when they are still fairly young, I can get them up easier.  I wean them when the neck feathers are just about all in on the back of the neck and the tail is about 2 inches long.  I put them in the kit box and feed them once a day all they can hold but only once a day and they must eat within 15 minutes. I keep a small bowl of water close to the drinking fountain which I remove after each one has had a drink and I know they are drinking. They find the fountain quickly with no worries after that.

     I start putting them on the roof before they can fly more than a few feet.  I make them jump in the box at feeding time.  I feed them in a tray. As they fill out I cut the feed back to 2 cups for 20 youngsters.

     I begin to move back away from the kit box a step or two each day with the feed tray on my lap sitting in a chair. I do this til I am across the yard and they are making circles.

     Then when I see them make a few loops I cut the feed to one cup for a week.

     Then on Friday morning at 5:45 am I don't let them out and I feed them two cups.

     Then Saturday morning at 6:00 am I load them up in a box and haul them to the front yard and release them.  These birds are still squeaking and have maybe one purple feather on the oldest one or twos chest.  They will go up and begin flying and usually kit perfect for 5 minutes.  Then they break up a little.  I do this for three mornings in a row. By the third they are going up to a nice height for about five minutes then drop back down. Some times they go up and down a couple times before landing. Within a couple weeks they will fly for 1/2 an hour.  I give them 1-1/2 cups of feed during the summer for 20 birds. This keeps them steady. Not too much and not too little.  About 65% milo and 35% hard red wheat with 12 ounces of peas mixed into a half full five gallon bucket of the wheat milo combo.

     This is the best young bird feed for my birds. I thought it might help. I don't know if you have time or want to mess with this but they develop out nice this way. It lessons the waiting.