Alan Bliven
13 posts
Oct 07, 2004
1:07 AM
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I have 8 rollers I just bought and would like some advise on selection of breeding stock from them. They are from good stock, have not been flown and range in age from 8 weeks to a year.
Should I fly them before I breed to cull from these original 8? Or should I breed them and fly their progeny and cull from them?
I'd hate to fly them and lose some because their numbers are so small but on the other hand I'd hate to breed some that may be poor quality.
Any advise?
I'm new and want to start out right.
Thanks,
Alan
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J_Star
33 posts
Oct 07, 2004
4:38 AM
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Alan,
You need to fly them first to know if they are worth the breeding cage. You could end up wasting a year or so breeding culls. Train your birds first, fly them and get to know them, pick the the best that you think have the best of the 5 traits and the type. And if you like what you see then breed them. The birds should be of a least two years of age b4 you breed them, in my opinion. That would be after their second molt. Good Luck.
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Mother lode lofts
222 posts
Oct 07, 2004
7:45 AM
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Alan, breed them and see what produces. keep moving the mates around after so many young so that you can figure out who's producing and then go from there. It's far to easy to loose them exspecially this time of year. Besides by flying them you would be lucky to get a couple of truelly good one's out of the air anyway. Out of the right families sometimes the better producers are the sibblings to the good one's and may not have been that good in the air themselfs , you just never know.
Scott
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Siddiqir
112 posts
Oct 07, 2004
8:58 AM
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Alan, since they came from good stock you probably need to breed from them and fly offspring.
This is not good time of year to fly the birds any way because hawks/falcon will be probably in full swing soon and plus they may get lost as you try to settling them at your place(new place for birds) you may end up losing them.
Even good stock birds produce junk, roll down etc...So if first round did not come out good that does not mean you have to cull breeders. You need to do couple of rounds from single pair and see what offspring capable off. Practically out of 5 rounds from the same pairing you should get min. of 1 or 2 good birds(if good gene is there). If not then they are junk.
The hobby really requires lot of patient. I see this is a negative point of roller's hobby. Plus you have to deal with all predators which make thing even more complicated
What I said above is ture only if birds came from "Good Stock". If they are not you probably end up wasting your time.
If you do not mind would you able to tell me where your stock came from and what family of birds
Good Luck
Last Edited by Siddiqir on Oct 07, 2004 9:06 AM
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Siddiqir
114 posts
Oct 07, 2004
9:31 AM
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Jay, Just wondering why you said "birds should be 2 yrs of age before you breed them" pigeons get mature in 6 months and should be ready for breeding? Thanks, -Rauf
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fhtfire
59 posts
Oct 07, 2004
10:03 AM
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I would just do what Scott says. I would breed from them and see what happens. Yeah you could waste a year and not get anything...But you could also waist years getting young birds and losing them. This is what usually happens and it happened to me. You get some birds and say I want to fly them to see what I got....then you get a couple that are rolling good. Then as human nature has it...the roll excites you and you want to fly them just ONE MORE TIME...then BAM! Hawk nails one.....the other bird shits and gets because it scares the crap out of him...because his buddy just got nailed...the bird flys so fast and so far to get away from the danger and can't get back. Then you feel like someone just kicked you in the balls because you lost your two good birds. This could be a little far fetched...but it can happen...and then gues what...you have to start over again. If they are from good stock and the breeder is repitable...then breed and switch them around to see what gives you the best. Sometimes the ones that are good in the air....don't produce and the ones that are just ok spitt out good ones.
I have a pair right now that have produced my highest percentage of good rollers. When I got the cock he would roll a little lazy not super fast and the hen was super fast and not very deep. I thought these birds are crap...but the breeders that I got them from told me that they were good when they were in the kit....well...they were out of shape, older and I was not flying them in a true kit form. So, if I did not take the word of the breeders and just try for myself I would have just got rid of them. I am sure now that if I wanted to get them to roll better...I would have kitted them, flew them hard to get them back into shape. So, breed and see...I am glad that I bred this pair...they have some pretty good offspring so far.
Take Marion Jones the sprinter......She was at the top of her game..5 gold medals...fast....world record holder...then...took some time off from sprinting,,,had a baby.....came back and was not close to her old form....So, if you saw her run this year you would have culled her lol....but if her coach said she was the best 2 years ago and is just a little out of shape but has good genes.....then you would keep her....Make sense.
BREED THEM>>>AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS
rock and ROLL
Paul Fullerton
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Thor
36 posts
Oct 07, 2004
3:50 PM
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Hi Alan,
I would ask more detailed questions about the above birds from the owner. Like for example, are they from Click Pairs? Click Pairs usually will produce top quality birds in every round. This would mean almost everything off this pair would be breeding material quality.
Another way is to let the owner pick out the best birds out of these 8 for you. Usually if you have been raising a certain family long enough, you will be able to cull them right off the nest. This is only possible if you take alot time observing your family in the air and on the ground. Because in a closely knit family, the best birds will all have a same type to them. These same birds will also have piecing bright eyes, noting the quality behind them.
I know, I know, people don't care much about eyes but it's just something I look at as well as the overall makeup of a bird on the ground.
If I were in your situration, I would fly out the ugliest-most-off type birds and try breeding out the birds that would most meet my type standard. Remember to switch the mates around after 3 or so rounds. Not every bird will click so moving them around will give you a idea of what certain birds are capable of producing.
Keeping good records is key!
Just my opinion,
Thor
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