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anybody got any ideas how i can keep my rollers flying longer, i recently got a few more birds from billy mc and they have settled nicely, i now have 16 birds this is the most i have kept, usually they fly for at least an hour but now they are doing only 5 or 10 minutes, i let them out every day weather permitting, as far as feeding is concerned i dont know whether to let them eat till their full or just give them like a dessert spoon each or summat, they dont get fed till they have flown and get fed once a day .........          any ideas would be great cheers  

there is a possibility you are feeding them too much,feed rollers for flying and that means the minimum amount !!!  feed too much get too heavy to fly !!!

cheers ted what would you say is the minimum(a spoonfull)

Suggest you feed mix of wheat, dari, barley,watch and make sure its not same birds that are dropping first,if so remove until they have got out of habit

according to my mate who keeps rollers yes !!!


but,vary it as to there flying times,,,now you have them too heavy,then you must reduce food,,,its finding a right balance !!!  you might have to find the right size spoon in time and then sort from there !!!

                   hope that helps some what to you flying them longer !!!

a cup of tea may help as well Ted   :

we only have ladles in our house

thanks for the help lads

I don't know anything about rollers but, if I don't feed my Logans enough they won't fly much either - they sit on the roof waiting to be called in; if I feed them too much, they fly more but won't come in when I call them. It's a case of getting the right balance.  

ill try them on the 1 spoon a day see if that works....thers nowt worse than your birds sat on the roof , but i suppose its me to blame

mikkey ...steve o on here is 1 of the best roller men ive ever seen pm him he can help im sure.....do you use red band...???

no mate the feed is called slim and healthy i got it because they had run out of the roller/tumbler mix and it seemed to work ok

id deffo cut there food level down.....ill try contacting steve he really is the dogs nuts with rollers..

cheers mate

Quoted from LISTER

a cup of tea may help as well Ted   :

    



                 L M F O    BIG TIME  

I was told an ounce a day got lot of information on what to do from Jack Prescott he was one of the top tippler men years ago from Sheffield hes dead now but his site is still going you might find some useful info on there http://www.tipplers.com/jack/index.html

Thank you Rose as regards above site,found it fascinating reading as regards Tipplers,something I vaugely knew about.

The feed has to be right with them, try 2 mugs full & work from there with 16. Also i flagged mine, they get the message real quick & still very tame. flag means keep in air once the routine of half hour flying comes in no need to flag. Too much food & the may fly for a while but barely roll, food i've found affects the consistency of rolling.

thanks for the advice ill let you know how i get on

what about the barley feeding thing  like lads do with racers . lad near me s  birds only fly about 10 mins then down.  what colours do you keep  ?

Quoted from tractorboy

what about the barley feeding thing  like lads do with racers . lad near me s  birds only fly about 10 mins then down.  what colours do you keep  ?

the longest they have flown for is 4 hours, maybe they are a tippler/roller or maybe a westie x or summat but just recently they only been doin 5 or 10 mins, i got all sorts of colours yellows /reds/ but mostly grizzles ill post a few pics when i got camera sorted

Hi
Rollers and Tumblers should be in the Air or in the Loft!
If they are sitting around on the house roof they need re-training
First they should be hungry or you will have no control over them
Keep them in for at least 3-4 days
Then let them out (with empty crops but not starving) in the morning when the sun is shining
They should be excited after being cooped up and should want to fly
If they try to drop too early they should be 'flagged up'
by waving a flag on a long pole.
If they persist in wanting to land after a few minutes then their general health needs checking
My own birds are fed on young bird or squeaker mix with a little poultry chick crumbs added when the are rearing youngsters ( I believe the extra protein builds good strong flights which they need as it is a hell of a strain on the feathers when the birds 'break' from a roll)
and will fly an average 2-3 hours for the Portuguese and Orientals while the Pakistanis average 4-6 hours but they are only flown 3 times a week
hope this helps
Lofty

cheers for that lofty .....the birds had a good feed yesterday it was one of them all you can eat for a fiver jobbies...... i let them out this morning and they did almost an hour so maybe i wasnt feeding them enough????  ill just have to wait and see what they do in the next few days.........who was it who said that keeping pigeons was a calming and stressless hobby............lying swines

Mikkey 1 tin will serve 20 birds in (fly condition) i use wheat only but give a good young bird mix once a week if the quality goes ill give them some maple peas. If the birds are landing on the houses you must get them in or get them back flying or they will make a habit of it. I use water balloons to keep them of the houses.
Steve0...

the water balloons are a good idea and i agree theres nothing worse than your birds sitting on the house roof not only does it look awful but they are easy target for hawks

I have 2 pairs of rollers. one pair are grey and the others are what my friend calls "Reds" the cock in this pair is a very deep roller and ends up hurting himself, one time so bad he is now blind    I only let him and his hen out when the rest of my birds are in just in case he sets of flying with them.
In all your opinions what actually makes them roll, I think it's sometimes showing of. My friend say's it could be some kind of dizzy spell. I let mine out everyday and most days they roll.

How are Billy's birds doing, I hope you are not overfeeding them like Chickadee did

Quoted from mikkey

cheers for that lofty .....the birds had a good feed yesterday it was one of them all you can eat for a fiver jobbies...... i let them out this morning and they did almost an hour so maybe i wasnt feeding them enough????  ill just have to wait and see what they do in the next few days.........who was it who said that keeping pigeons was a calming and stressless hobby............lying swines

  I AGREE!

Quoted from DOVEScot

How are Billy's birds doing, I hope you are not overfeeding them like Chickadee did

the birds are doing great mate.... afraid to say i lost a couple though but one of them laid an egg so i put it under one of mine and it hatched on monday..........i think im getting there...................i hope i dont get threatened today

if i were you i would reduce the feed a bit at a time and try to fly them the same time
each day but remember competition rollers only have to fly about 20 min in competition
sort out the idle ones
  keep at it  good luck  chico

What family of rollers are they?

Al.

IT COULD BE DUE TO THE MOULT, THERE WINGS GET SORE WHERE THE NEW FEATHERS GROW THROUGH