highroller
54 posts
Nov 21, 2004
6:56 PM
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What has been your experience with rolldowns? Once they roll down are they forever doomed to repeat it? I locked down my good kit for 5 weeks because of hawk trouble and when I began flying again one of them rolled down every time out. It could not go up more than 20 feet without rolling down. After a week or so with several times out it was beginning to take longer flights without rolling down but still just making it from the kit box to the house top a hundred feet away. While sitting on the house it was attacked by a hawk and feathers flew all over as they went over the peak to the other side of the roof. I thought that bird was history but then it flew back over the roof and just kept on going into the sunset. The hawk was re-located and the roller did return at dark minus most of it's tail and rump feathers. After getting it's butt kicked by the hawk it cowered in the kit box the next few times I flew and I let it stay in but the last time I flew them it joined the kit and flew the whole time without rolling down. In fact it only rolls about 5-10 feet now but VERY fast. In your experience, do these birds recover to fly and roll normally or once a rolldown, always a rolldown?
Thanks for any input,
Dan
Last Edited by highroller on Nov 21, 2004 6:59 PM
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rollerpigeon
Site Moderator
182 posts
Nov 21, 2004
8:46 PM
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Hey Dan, I think the time on lock-down messed with its training and conditioning so it was out of kilter for awhile while getting back on its routine. The hawk attack did not help...
Under the circumstances, I would not call it a roll down as it does not do it anymore as indicated by your post. However, you may have problems again after the next lockdown.
You could hand toss the bird in the future until it is back on its routine. This may help prevent rolling down. FLY ON! Tony Chavarria
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Rick Mee
14 posts
Nov 21, 2004
8:56 PM
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One of the surest ways to find out if a bird is going to be unstable, is to lock them down for a few weeks, or months, then start to refly them. If a Roller can't handle being locked down, or bred for a few months, and reflown after doing so, then it isn't worth it's salt. Breeding from those who have to be pampered during their development, will just produce more on down the road. The old analogy, what you put in, you will get out.
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rollerpigeon
Site Moderator
184 posts
Nov 21, 2004
9:24 PM
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Ahhh, I just knew I would get in trouble for suggesting to hand toss. lol
If you don't mind the extra trouble of babysitting this bird, and you like its performance, then hand toss it. If not, then culling is in order.
I bet you have birds that don't have this problem, better to use them to breed. FLY ON! Tony Chavarria
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Ally Mac
11 posts
Nov 22, 2004
2:37 PM
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I have a lovely wee hen i got 2 months ago, after i settled it i let it out and it rolled down 3 times in the space of 1 minute. it broke a leg and lost half its tail feathers.
Now it has heeled i have fed it up on a good mix (it was only on wheat and very hungry the first time it flew)I think i am going to try and fly it again this week end. Should i hand toss it to help it up, bearing in mind it has never flown here before, it has however been in the aviary most of the time so it has had plenty time to look around its new home.
All advice appreciated.
Al.
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highroller
55 posts
Nov 22, 2004
5:38 PM
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Ally, If you are flying it with a kit you may want to hold it back and toss it when the others are up. If not flying it with a kit you may want to just let it sit on the coop and fly at will, especially since it has not flown much since being settled to your place. Just some ideas, I'm sure others have helpful thoughts as well.
Dan
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Steve S.
17 posts
Nov 22, 2004
5:42 PM
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Dan,
Keep flying the bird.
You said it adjusted to rolling 5-10 ft.
If it is a problem bird just don't waste time on it. These type of birds are not worth the time.
The bird will answer your question for you.
It will cull itself if it is not stable.
Good rollers don't need tossing or special treatment.
Move on and work with breeders that are produceing the good stable rollers with speed and good Quality.
Later
Steve
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Siddiqir
127 posts
Nov 23, 2004
8:46 AM
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This statement is true "Once they roll down are they forever doomed to repeat it" no matter what you do.
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K.Naylor
72 posts
Nov 23, 2004
9:54 AM
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Dan, I believe that anything you have to do special for a kit bird is a problem bird. The only thing I would ever think about is if I have a bird that is really working hard and needs some extra feed. Other than that it needs special treatment then it is a problem. Ask alot of top flyers how many birds they hand toss. Young birds will have accidents and bump once in a while but if it keeps on doing it it should be culled. I believe to make it to the next level you must cull hard and make no excuses for the birds.This is my opinion.
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highroller
56 posts
Nov 23, 2004
2:12 PM
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I did not ever hand toss the bird and it is flying fine with the kit with no more rolling down. It does not roll far and ends up rolling to one side now probably because most of it's tail is missing. I will let it re-grow the tail and see what happens. Thanks for all the input.
Dan
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rollem42
3 posts
Nov 25, 2004
1:13 PM
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highroller, there have been some excellent posts on your topic. They are filled with good suggestions and I wiil only add a short story of one of my experiences.
I had a young bird that did almost exactly as yours did and I was giving it that special attention mentioned by some of the other gentleman. I guess it was because it was from a family I was almost losing. Well, this bird bumped
often and from various heights. It did finally stop so I tried it in the breeding loft. Over 75% of it's offspring
either bumped continuously,and the others had problems kitting. In short, I learned a valueable lesson and wasted some valueable breeding time for the birds I mated it to.
So, learn from those who have had experience and save yourself some heartache. If you want to fool around with it in the kit, well that may be a little different but that could potentially damage some of your other kit birds also.
It's hard enough to develop a family of rollers without wasting time on those who don't have a chance to make it to the breeding loft. That, after all, is our ultimate goal, to breed potential stock birds. Spend your time on them.
rollem42, Greg
Last Edited by rollem42 on Nov 25, 2004 1:22 PM
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redneckhippie15
77 posts
Nov 25, 2004
2:55 PM
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Hi Guys,
I have a young bird that has rolled down three times in a row on the first roll. I thought she was toast today when she hit the roof. After an hour she got up and back into the kit box.She seems to be okay. I was thinking about upping the wheat in the ration so maybe she could get high enough before she rolls to find the bottom of her roll.
She kits well and usually flies pretty good. She came into the roll about three weeks ago with a pretty nice group of thirty footers
I only have 10 birds and the loss of this bird would be a huge blow to me. Of the ten I only have three or four that I would use for stock. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Kenny
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Never watch you birds fly with your mouth open!
redneckhippie*blue dot lofts*
Last Edited by redneckhippie15 on Nov 25, 2004 3:03 PM
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J_Star
93 posts
Nov 25, 2004
5:22 PM
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Kenny,
If she took an hour to get up and fly to the kit box means she realy hit extreamly hard. She is very lucky this time, but I don't think she will be that lucky next time. The only thing I can suggest is not to fly her very hungry next time until she gets the hang of it. Good Luck..
Jay
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K.Naylor
73 posts
Nov 26, 2004
11:24 AM
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Kenny, if she came into the roll with 30 footers and she is now rolling down three times in a roll. loosing her might not be a blow it could be a blessing. Just my opinion, Kevin
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redneckhippie15
81 posts
Nov 26, 2004
11:39 AM
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But those thirty`s were so sweet,she came out clean and went back to the kit. I hope I can feed her out of it.
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Never watch you birds with you mouth open!
redneckhippie*blue dot lofts*
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