Mount Airy Lofts
1 post
Dec 08, 2004
11:13 PM
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I was just curious how many other people's young birds don't moult at all?
My birds when flown hard and kept hungry hardly ever moult. If they do, they never moult right. I have some birds that are 9 months old and still have not moulted. They almost still look like they are 2 and a half old birds.
Am I curel or is this normal for kit birds?
What have been your experience with delayed moulting?
Flying them,
Thor
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J_Star
106 posts
Dec 09, 2004
6:58 PM
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Thor,
This is just my openion, When it comes to young birds you need to feed them good and more than a flyer that started the roll. Plenty feeding of youngsters is good for their health and bones. A healthy roller will molt good and quick, rolls good and will have silky looking feathers. Poor or deficient molting is a sign of unhealthy birds. You might not see it now but as they age, the problems will surface. Being crule, I don't think but being careless I would say... Good Luck with them rollers...
Jay
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Mother lode lofts
322 posts
Dec 10, 2004
7:09 AM
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Thor you gotta remember that these are pigeons "first", never should birds allways be kept hungry which by the way will retard the moult. Moult,wintertime,health ect. have to be taken into consideration when it comes to feed. to many things are taken literaly such as the "one" tablespoon thing,feeding only Milo or wheat, ect. there are times for this stuff and there are times for feeding up plenty with Rich feed. Moult is one of the times for plenty and Rich on a consistant basis.
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Mount Airy Lofts
3 posts
Dec 12, 2004
8:31 PM
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Hi All,
Thanks for your input. I might of come off as tho I am starving the heck out of my birds but this is not so. I'm just using a feed that keeps them hungry and very under control. So much that they would land on my hands if the feed call is given. This same feed seems to stop the moult and keep them looking ragged and beat up from time to time.
My kit birds would fly a good 20 minutes and no more then 40 minutes. This is ideal for the purpose of my kit birds. My family of birds are very strong fliers and if not monitored, you might as well give up and find a new family of rollers. These guys wouldn't hesitate to overfly on you! This is why I keep them under harsher conditions then most family of rollers out there. Most on their first or second flight will sky out. That why it is important to keep their feed under control. Altho this is not the case when they are very young. As they transition from breeding loft to kitbox, they will get a assortment of feed. Once they show that they are ready to take off, this is when the feed is kept in check and rationed as they age.
I once asked a flier here who has the same family if his birds have a moulting problem. He said that his birds if kept in flying condition will hardly go thru a moult. He states that his kit birds would of never moulted if he didn't trick them to. Now it got me thinking to the question... is this just a problem I'm having or is it a nationwide issue. The fellow above is due for his NBRC Master Fly award anytime now. If I recall correct, he only needs so many more points to qualify.
It seems by the response that most guys birds don't have this high strung flying gene in their line of birds and don't keep their birds hungry. If not for the Yo-Yo-system, I wouldn't be able to keep these birds at a viewable height, yet alone keeping them to not over fly.
Still trying to right the right fomula,
Thor
P.S. I'm not for NC. I did hear that there is such a town in NC by this name but look more towards the Midwest... Minnesota
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