Jimmy
1 post
Jun 07, 2005
5:56 PM
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I am flying 21 birds that will not kit. I have been flying them for 5 weeks and have had them in a kit box for 9 weeks. Thir ages range from 1-1/2 years to 7 months with most of them about 1 year old.
I am new in rollers and I am frustrated. These birds are all over the place and some are high; some are low; and they are are all kinds of directions. Several are rolling, but none of them are kitting...........
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motherlodelofts
51 posts
Jun 08, 2005
11:42 AM
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Jimmy , Just keep flying them hard , it may take a while to get them to get it together expesially if they are out of condition from sitting, five days isn't long.
Just my opinion
Last Edited by motherlodelofts on Jun 08, 2005 12:39 PM
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nicksiders
129 posts
Jun 08, 2005
4:18 PM
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I am having problems in getting my birds to kit. They are flying 30 minutes to a couple of hours, but are only kitting for short periods of time. They go up kitted and kit for avout two minutes then break up all over the sky. Then come back together (most of them) for a brief period and then scatter again. My birds too are 5 months to 1 year old and I have had them together for about five months.
I am going to keep putting them up everyday and hope they get it together. Are there any other things I could be doing to speed or quicken the process? Feed? Play music for them (LOL)?
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Velo99
8 posts
Jun 08, 2005
5:05 PM
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Jimmy and Nick. Box em up and take em down the road a block or two and let em go. They should kit up and fly a bit higher to find yer house. You might cut back just a bit on the feed too. I feed my y/bs up a couple of times a week. After that they have to compete for seed with the others.
Jimmy, my birds are in the same age range as yours, and my experience is a year. You might have to find/pull the non kitters. Kick em out three or four at a time and see which ones are the trouble makers. A couple of these birds can mess up your whole kit. Good luck!
mtc/yits
v99
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fhtfire
145 posts
Jun 08, 2005
7:46 PM
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Just keep flying them...I had some new birds that were new to my loft that had never been flown...they were late hatch 04 birds...were on lock down because of hawks....they took about a Month before they started kitting....what helped me is flying the shit out of them twice a day....they finally started kitting....if you have some older birds...that do kit...let them out after you let out your young birds...they will stay with the old birds and kit..Keep flying them..it could take up to a Month with new birds...but fly them hard.
rock and ROLL
Paul
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big al
2 posts
Jun 08, 2005
7:48 PM
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Hi Jimmy and Nick,
Are the birds from the same family? Sometimes different families have different tendencies. Velo99 made a good point about picking out the birds who are kitting together. Even if you find yourself only flying 7 birds from that team, if they're kitting together you can start introducing the others 1 or 2 at a time. Usually the newcomers will want to kit. It's time consuming but it has worked for me when I had that problem. The ages of the birds will also make a difference sometimes. The best way I can describe it is take 8 twelve year old kids and put them on a track with 12 thirty six year olds. The youngsters will probably take off fast laughing, joking, running backwards, and just generally expending a lot of energy. More than likely the older guys will group together and pace themselves. I think if the age difference is too great in birds you'll get the same thing in the air. However there are times when seasoned older birds need to be put with younger ones to help them get the hang of things. In this case I add a few youngsters to an older team to get them trained. I usually don't add an older bird/s in with youngsters I've heard some guys have a special kit team designed for this.
Hope this helps.
Allen
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J_Star
8 posts
Jun 09, 2005
4:37 AM
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Jimmy,
Feed them plain Wheat for a while. Wheat make them to kit but will tend to get them to fly high. Once you correct the kitting problem, then work on getting them to fly lower.
Jay
Last Edited by J_Star on Jun 09, 2005 4:39 AM
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nicksiders
134 posts
Jun 11, 2005
11:54 PM
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I did box them up and took 'em about 1/10th of a mile away and it worked. They kitted for some time; I did it again and they kitted yet for a longer time. I am going to do it a couple more times and see if they don't get the message.
Appreciated............
Last Edited by nicksiders on Jun 11, 2005 11:55 PM
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spinnerpigeon
19 posts
Jun 12, 2005
9:38 AM
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Hey all,
I think sometimes it just takes time! lol. Just give 'em a little time. Jimmy are you flying these birds everyday? Everyother? It can really depend. I just got back from vacation and the birds, before I left were starting to kit pretty good. But after a week of being gone it is takeing them a little while to get it back together. So if it is possible fly them as much as possible, I think this will go a long way in helping them kit. Also if the birds are 1 year old they can be harder to handle than squeekers. I tried flying out several birds that were about 8-12 months and they can be a pain. Just give it time. Just my 2 cents.
Caleb
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Alohazona
12 posts
Jun 12, 2005
11:28 AM
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Nick, just a thought here,if you have them in a kitbox and are able to darken it,you should start to see them bunch up tighter,sometimes when afforded light,they will start alittle pigeon kissing which may detract from the fly/kit mentality,this should work almost instantly,it has for me.Try it for a week till they are re-conditioned to kitting,then you can start bringing the light back,and use it as a tool,also if they are not used to dark/light releases you can introduce the light about 5 to 10 minutes prior to temper them to the light alittle,sometime 1 or 2 might bump if this is new to them.If this is not an option,just keep boxing them up.Hope this helps.Aloha,Todd
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DHenderson
2 posts
Jun 13, 2005
8:48 PM
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Nick,
I would say that it's several things but as you were instructed boxing them up will take care of that early on.
I box up all my young birds and take them away from the loft for several times when I notice them kitting up better but I never have kitting problems so it's hard to say if that is my problem here. I think yours might be a combination of things, different families, over feeding and other training issues, hard to say right off but I recall you discussing some issues at Joe's during the BBQ that weekend in Yuba City.
I know for a fact that all birds aren't going to be compatible, so the more different lines you keep the more kitting problems you will see, but some guys lines just normally don't kit very well even if they tell you otherwise.
Again if you emailed me your entire situation you might get to the bottom of it much quicker, most of it you will find is just common sense.
Dave
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nicksiders
137 posts
Jun 17, 2005
11:03 PM
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I tried taking my birds away from the loft for release and this improved thier kitting. I darkened the kit box and this improved thier kitting. I cut back on thier feed from two cups per twenty birds to 1 3/4 cups and this improved thier kitting.
They are getting better almost everyday now. They are even rolling better with more frequency as well.
I have them on a mixture of 25% peas; 25% wheat; 25% safflower; and 25% milo. High protien; high fat; and high carbohydrates. This has quickened thier flight and roll and I am getting a full thirty minutes from all of them even when I fly them twice in a day.
I ain't there yet (a long way off) so, if anyone has any more suggestions or comments I would appreciate them.
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Velo99
17 posts
Jun 18, 2005
12:51 PM
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I have made kitting a non issue in my loft by starting the kit training at around 14 days. The only birds that do not kit quickly are older birds I get from other flyers. I put the squeaks on the floor and let the dads feed them at 14 days or so. I only had one squeak go sour and he was from a big /little nestmate. He made it tho and is now with the flying squeaks. This round of squeakers has been together for a month now. I release them from a crate from across the yard so I can see which ones get to go to the next step. All 9 went across the yard in a kit and landed on the roof in a kit. Probably 1 1/2 secs for them all to land. It is only 15 yards,but these guys haven`t flown over 15 feet off the ground either. They are really interested in the kit when they come in low. I think they will bail in a day or two.
The first round went with the kit on a slow circle before they landed and never outbirded. All six went right up
and kitted admirably. I do not push my y/bs. I might hurry a stragller a bit but never push. I make them fly over to where the kit lands right before the kit comes in. A couple of them trapped with the kit today. They will be familiar with the kit before they even take to the air.
With a bit of planning you can have really good results but training has to start early.
v99
Last Edited by Velo99 on Jun 18, 2005 12:58 PM
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Richard A.
11 posts
Jun 20, 2005
8:01 AM
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Jimmy< I completely agree with Big Al!!
Richard
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nicksiders
170 posts
Jul 09, 2005
10:09 PM
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Those that gave me the advise of just keep putting them up in the air was probably the most sound advise. They just kept getting better (not where I want all of them, but they are getting there). I am getting 10 to 12 kitting extremely well and they are active.
"Just keep putting them up" Those that will kit do kit and the rest are culled.
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