J_Star
30 posts
Oct 05, 2004
6:35 AM
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Scott, Brain or whomever can contribute,
In an ealier post I asked how to distance the hight of the birds flying and the duration of their flight based on the amount of feed I give them. I was told to keep on giving them a tblespoon and a half of feed each because they are youngsters and they need all the neutrition. When I give each about a tablespoon and a half of feed, since they are a little more that four months old, they fly for one hour every day and so high at about of 500-600' and some times they go out of sight but not for long. At least all of them kit all times flying. I don't wish to cut the feed down this time of year because the weather in North East Ohio is already very cold at night and will get snowy and cold soon.
How can I get them to fly for less time and stay around and not fly so high. Do I want them to fly for less time? I am still evaluating their performance because some of them still working on developing their spin and roll. If I want to start compeating, I would like for them to hang around and close enough to be able to view their performance. When the breeder told me that his family of birds LOVE to fly, good kitter and can roll, he was not lying. He also told me that he feeds his birds wheat and milo, a tablespoon each for his flyers.
I fly the birds once a day in the evening hours, and they trap for me very easy when I shake a can of feed and they eat like there is no tomorrow and when they are done, they beg for more. I really wish not to cut the feed down just yet, therefore, is there other ways that I can do to be able to get them to behave the way I want them?
Many of the rolles are breaking many times and roll with good spin willingly and with ease. So I think the feed is doing them good. I feed them a commercial pegion mix consist of Candadian Peas, Maple Peas, Australian Peas, Wheat, Milo, popcorn and corn and some other grain that I don't remember the name. The mix is at 13.5%. I also mix a little of human consumtion wheat with their feed. The feed is triple washed and sun dried at the manufacturer.
I am open to all suggestions and comments... Thanks
Jay
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dmitch
1 post
Oct 05, 2004
7:12 AM
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if you just feed wheat or milo for a week you will start to see them fly lower the cron and peas will make them fly to high
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Mother lode lofts
219 posts
Oct 05, 2004
7:43 AM
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Jay that mix that you described doesn't sound like 13.5 unless it has a very heavey Milo/wheat base , probaby Milo because it's cheaper. But with the corn it's probobly higher in fat than I'm used to and is what is helping to push then up. But you also need that where you are due to the cold. Here I don't mind if my Y/B fly an hr and they normally do. But what I don't want them doing is going high as they will make a habit of it to easily. The guy that you got your birds from said "they like to fly" that tells me something, it tells me that fly wise they are more like my own birds. I would fear cutting them back in both qaunity and a weaker feed such as wheat/milo due to the cold and moult (by the way my staple is wheat here and I use a lot of it). If you want to bring them down you need to put wt. on them. Lock them down for at least a week and pound the mix to them, forget tablespoons,give them what they want, the whole idea is to get them fat and out of to good of fly condition like they are now. Jay when was the last time you saw a over wt. out of shape, balding fat man run a marithon (shit I described myself LOL). Jay this is how you get birds that like to fly down. I would also quit flying them everday at this point since it sounds like most are all ready in the roll. They hit a point where everyday flying only makes fliers out of them, As long as most are into the roll to some degree I think you will like what you see by not flying everyday.
Scott
Last Edited by Mother lode lofts on Oct 05, 2004 7:56 AM
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Siddiqir
111 posts
Oct 05, 2004
7:54 AM
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Jay, since you feed good amount of peas the only way to bring them down is to feed them less (try a tablespoon per bird) or you can get Milo and cut 50/50 with pigeon mix. This will help bring them down early but they may still fly higher.
The pigeon mix you feeding is excellent for breeders but not for flyers as it sounds like high in protein. Straight wheat/milo and some peas will do the good job for flyers and may be once a week you can feed them pigeon mix.
This is just my thought and what I experienced with rollers in past 2 years. -Rauf
Last Edited by Siddiqir on Oct 05, 2004 8:01 AM
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J_Star
32 posts
Oct 05, 2004
11:01 AM
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Very good advise so far thank you.
Fatting the birds up and lock them down are not an option for right now since in at the end of this month we will be losing an hour of the day due to time rollback. The birds will only be flying in the weekends and that if the weekends are nice enough for flying. Then they will get fat a little to handle the cold weather for the next of couple of months.
I like the idea of wheat/milo mix to get them to fly a little lower. The question is where do you buy just wheat and milo separetly? Is there a particular franchise store that sells them? I would like to try it as a mix with the pegion mix that I am giving them now to get them to stay closer to earth instead of touching the clouds.
scott, the breader is Danny H. I think you said that you have a few birds from him also. The mix is at 13.5% and the fat content is very low. It is true that is heavey on the milo a bit. I don't have the stat on me right now to state the break down in percentage for protein, fiber and fat. I buy the feed from Tractor Supply chain. It is processed by NutriMix somthing. Thanks for the input guys.
Jay
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redneckhippie15
19 posts
Oct 05, 2004
11:18 AM
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I also feed a pigeon mix @ 13%. When they get thru the molt I`ll mix it 50-50 with chicken scratch.they are flying for an hour and get pretty high sometimes,mebbe 400 feet or so.
Some of the high flying could be due to the weather simply cooling off. I hear they like it cooler. Do ya wanna run when it`s 95 out or 55
good luck
rnh15
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redneckhippie*blue dot lofts*
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dmitch
2 posts
Oct 05, 2004
12:50 PM
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Jay look for a farmers co-op around you they will have wheat and also milo and see if you can get a bag of purina nutriblend green i feed my breeders and mix twice a week with wheat and milo for my kit bird as it get colder i will mix the nutriblend more then twice a week
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
275 posts
Oct 05, 2004
2:02 PM
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Jay, where Danny lives and where you live are two totally different areas. Danny is in the south where the coldest part of winter comes in short spells whereas you are in the frigid arm pit of freezer hell..lol. Trust me, feed his birds very well during the winter or they will turn into rollersicles. Of course if you are only going to fly them on the weekends then just feed them good and they will do the rest okay. The mix is probably the best for the cooler weather. I use wheat/milo/peas all year long with very good results.
Brian.
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Mother lode lofts
220 posts
Oct 05, 2004
2:16 PM
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No Jay I don't have those birds, be very careful on what you feed with the cold nights or they will wither up on you quick. Good luck.
Scott
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
276 posts
Oct 05, 2004
4:23 PM
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Jay, here is kind of a classic example of how feed and temperature relate. My A-team consists of many birds off Danny's birds and crosses of those to another family. I am yo-yoing this team and the performance has been great. They fly then get fed well, damn near two cups of wheat/pea/milo mix for the 20 birds. Then they sit for the next two days, each day being fed a little less of straight wheat with the third day being a half ration. This has been working well for the past month. Over the last few days when they were parked the temps got a little chilly at night, colder than they had been yet this season. This morning when I woke up it was pretty chilly, probably in the high 40s which is significant given it is usually in the low 60s at night here this time of year. Needless to say when they came out, one crashed, one wouldn't fly and wanted to land and the rest rolled way too much. They were unorganized and pushed passed the edge. All these things they never do. What was the difference? The drop in temp over the last couple of nights and my failure to adjust accordingly with the feed. When you consider your birds will be facing sub freezing temps on a regular basis, it would do well to make sure and feed them up really good. Their production of body heat is directly related to food consumption.
Brian.
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J_Star
35 posts
Oct 07, 2004
4:59 AM
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Very good guys and your comments are noted. I will make sure they are fully feed everyday. I will start the wheat/milo mix next spring but for now they need all the body heat they can get.
Brian, 'Frigid arm bit of freezer hell' and 'rollersicles' I like that, we should keep a special post for those special phrases and keep track of them (lol). Thank you all
Jay
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