Dunn2701
1 post
Jun 24, 2005
1:49 PM
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Hello everyone once again. Last time I was on this website it changed because you had to pay to get on. Well I am back now and I am flying portable. The Cooper's Hawk family in my neighborhood just did me in last fall. I am from Indianapolis, IN and I am just going on a year actually flying rollers. I have raised 10 babies this year so far and more to come. I have 9 older birds i am flying with 5 babies trained and 3 in training. It has been a great experience for me. I fly at a near by park about 6 miles away from my house. So many people out there know about the Homer Pigeon but no one knows about our rollers. so everytime i fly i get to re live the history of the Birmingham roller !! Anyway my birds are doing so good with the portable. I think it is a great way to fly, your birds really get close to you and get attached and as you do to them. You have to handle the birds three times as much with portable flying. You really test how smart your birds are. I am flying the Jacqonette ( spelling i hope its right) blood line. Great birds !! I am breeding all half brothers and half sisters together !! I am throwing all colors so my kits are very colorful and enjoyable to watch not only for me but for the spectators. Is there anyone else out there experiencing the joy of portable? I sure hope so. I hope everyone around the midwest and other parts are watching the huge heat wave. I am flying late evening for my birds !! Stay cool and hope to hear some comments !!
Take care
Dunn2701
Cameron
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Mount Airy Lofts
10 posts
Jun 24, 2005
8:54 PM
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Do you find that your birds develop faster from flying portable vs stationary? What have been the improvements in performance from flying portable? I find that a team can be ruin if it is continously chased by a sky shark.
I too have found Birmingham Rollers to be naturally smart. It would be interesting to here how they fly in a portable situration. Because I have notice these little critters go to panic mode when they don't know their surroundings. This usually happens when trainning in new old birds to a new location or in-experienced young birds taking their first flights up. When in panic mode, they will shut off any performace(if they have developed) and just dart around aimlessly. Similar to being chased by a sky shark. I usually can tell if a bird will not come back on release if they show me this fast flying sign.
I remember one time when I was trainning in a old bird. The old bird was flying and performing well with the kit but when the kit circled low to land, the old bird started flying higher and out of range... darting in the sky aimlessly looking for its old home. I looked at it and knew right away that it was gonna to be lost if it didn't come lower. I kept on tossing young birds on the loft until the old bird spotted the team hanging about on the kit box loft and it drove 200 plus feet straight down (like a sky shark looking to pick off our birds) and landed. You can clearly tell it was scared out of its mind by its expression when it landed.
Thor
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Dunn2701
2 posts
Jun 27, 2005
7:03 AM
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I feel you really don't see the rollers true prutential when you fly stationary. I think the bird is a lot smarter than some people give them credit for. To answer your question yes or no, i say yes. they train the same way you train them at home. I train my babies as they are ready. They are on top of the portable at about 2 1/2 weeks of age. Then by the time they can fly they are picking up on what is going on. So about three or four times before they are even able to fly. They pick up a lot faster being with the older birds. Well the improvements with my birds, so far i have mostly babies. One big improvement is if there is ever a hawk attack. Pick up and move and fly elsewhere. You handle the birds three times as much as flying stationary. I mean i handle them about five times each time i fly. they birds learn you as a person, your car, and they know when you put them in certain cage and they ride inn the car they are going to fly. While i am in the car i play some good music, a lot of acoustic, I am a big Dave Matthews Band fan. I play them, and just Dave playing acoustic guitar. Then seem to like that, and stay pretty calm and relaxed. It builds the relationship with your birds and with the babies. See last night I took the birds to a new spot at a another roller buddy's house. And at first the birds were sort of scattered but after about 4 min.25 sec they started to form their kit and started doing there own thing and going up. They only flew for 12 in half minutes but in the heat that is good. The roll was a little out of whack and i think the surroundings had something to do with that or the heat. I love it, if i had a choice i would fly at home, but i can't. Because sometimes you have things to do and you can pop birds up and not worry about them and do your things but with portable you are away from the house and family so its a little out of my way. But when you get good results, its all worth it.
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Velo99
30 posts
Jun 27, 2005
4:03 PM
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If we don`t get more flyers where I live I might have to go portable to compete in the W/C and FF. Then even at that I would have to drive a hundred miles. :(
Hey Brian Middaugh. Could there be a seperate class for portables one day?
yits
v99
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