olgadelkhman
1 post
Sep 16, 2004
10:55 PM
|
hi
i have some tumblers that are very young and they have not began to tumbel yet. the hawks in my area have came back and i don't want to let them out becuse i dont want them to get eaten. i will lock them up for about six months do you think they will go bad and not tumble if they are not trained when there young?
and i have troble geting them to fly. they usualy fly from place to place and thats it. what can i do to get them to start flying?
thanks
|
highroller
34 posts
Sep 20, 2004
6:21 PM
|
My experience has been that any bird I quit flying before it developed the roll never did roll when I began to fly it again. Now I quit breeding in late June/early July so by the time the hawks come in September/October my birds are all starting to show what they've got. I lock down the best 4-6 birds and keep flying the rest until losses become severe. When I start flying in the spring many turn out better after several weeks flying than when they were locked down. But they all had started rolling before lockdown.
As far as getting them to fly, be sure they are not overfed and maybe take them a little ways from home to release them, provided they know the area well. Also use a flag of some sort
to get them up. I sometimes use the water hose with a spray nozzle to get any off the roof that didn't go up with the kit.
If they have become accustomed to roof sitting it may take a lot of chasing them from spot to spot before they learn you mean business. You either need to keep at it till they learn or cull them all and start over with new birds and train them right from the start.
Dan
Last Edited by highroller on Sep 20, 2004 6:31 PM
|
J_Star
20 posts
Sep 22, 2004
7:29 PM
|
Let me ask you, when was the last time you de-wormed your birds? If you live in an area that has alot of humidity, worms would be the problem that is causing the birds not want to fly. It causes the birds to have soar wing joints and it bother the birds to fly. There are alot of good deworming products in the market. Hope this would help.
|
Thor
30 posts
Sep 22, 2004
9:17 PM
|
Hi olga..,
I have no idea what to look for in a competition quality Tumbler so thrus can not give you any insight in the breed itself. Altho if you are referring to the Birmingham Roller... that is a different story.
Any Birmingham Roller who has not stablized before being locked down for a long period of time will not perform once reflown. When I say stablized, I mean a bird who has been rolling for months with stablibity. Altho if it was rolling already for a couple of weeks before being locked down, you should gradually see it regrain it's performance with acouple of flights. Having said this, any bird that hasn't done anything before lock down (flipping or less) will be retarded back to being of unflown quality. Hence when reflown, it will be as tho it had not logged in any time at all before being locked down.
Most birds locked down at a very young age will have a hard time developing right after reflown. I'm talking about being locked down for a 1 month plus.
Remember, in young birds... it is very important to get them their air time. This is due to their ever developing muscles. A very important muscle that needs to be developed is their back muscle (or their rump as I call it). This is the muscle that gives them their control. I have locked down young birds in the past for 3 months and after flying them hard, they never seem to recover. I mean all the birds showed some sort of sloppy performance. I believe this is due to them not logging in any air time before being locked down because I was losing atleast 1 on each release.
Feed the hawks or giving them no chance to develope correctly. It's a crap shot either way. I say if you can, fly them. If not, it's better to cull them now then later and start over with next year's young.
About geting the young birds to fly. How old are we talking about here and are your family of birds naturally strong on the wings? I think your problem lies more in your feeding rations tho. Sounds like you are alittle too kind on the feed, hence creating a bunch of lazy birds. Are the birds staying out all day and only trapping in at night or are they hitting the traps once the trap door opens? If you are doing everything by the books and they are still not flying on you, maybe try flagging them up. Of course I don't recommend flagging young birds up but it is something to think about when you are out of options.
Just something to think about...
Thor
P.S. It is very important to give the young birds the time they need in the air to develop correctly. Of course if you are just back yard flying than you have more leave way in what you choice to feed than if you are competing.
|
