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"Dedicated
to the preservation of the Oriental Roller as a Flying -
Performing Pigeon."
Training
a Kit of Oriental Rollers
by
Terry Rhodes
Flying a kit of rollers takes more than just a number of birds and a
kit box. The preparations should begin in the breeding loft. It
goes without saying that the right stock is needed to start
with. The biggest mistake made by most is raising the young on
too rich of a diet. If the young birds are too heavy going into
the kit box they will be difficult to get into the air and prone
to develop bad habits before they are able to fly. I like a high
protein and low carbohydrate feed mix, this will give the birds
good feathers and muscles without a lot of excess fat.
Oriental Rollers are usually slow developers so there is little advantage
in weaning them too quickly. I keep the young birds with their
parents until the parent-sibling bond is broken. Then they go to
a holding pen until I have enough birds that are established to
transfer to the kit box. The
Kit box and it’s perches should be larger that those used for
Birmingham Rollers with a non-fouling water system and a
removable feed tray. I want the birds to bond with the box so I
let them live in it a while before I start settling them. When I
do settle them I use a 1x2 inch welded wire cage that covers the
entire top of the kit box with trap open so they can come and go
in and out of the kit box freely. When I am ready to start
changing them from a captive to a free flying system I start
cutting back their feed to a half ration for a couple of days
then skip a day and turn them out the next day. Usually they all
go out then right back in, where I give them all they want to
eat. When I can fly my birds on a regular schedule I like to fly
two kits on an alternating schedule. The day the kit fly they
get full ration of feed and the day before they fly they get
half a ration, more or less depending on how long I want them to
fly. On a maintenance diet they get a regular pigeon feed mix, I
think it has around 14% protein. When I want them to get into
shape for a competition I give them plain old chicken scratch or
a wild bird feed mix that Wally World sales, depending on how
hot the temperature is.
Getting
the birds on the wing is not difficult, I use a empty feed bag
to chase them out of the kit box at first, later they should
exit on their own. Another
point, I recommend never chasing them from the top of the kit
box, they must feel safe there.
Then use the control feed (increase or decrease) the day
before liberation to get the desired results. Unfortunately not
every youngster is a born kit bird, so if they do not respond to
the system after a few weeks (more or less) I cull them, and put
a mark against its parents.
A kit bird will express its energy where you let it, I
prefer to have mine strut their stuff in the air so I keep them
in a semi-dark kit box and the only day light they see is when
they get to fly. I want them to go up and fly then drop down and
trap in with as little cutting up as possible. Be patient with
the young cock birds. It just takes them awhile to get over that
first thrill of testosterone, some outgrow it and mature into
some of the finest birds in the air, others become a bad head
ache. The trick is
being able to tell the difference between that head ache and
merely a temporary pain in the neck, early on. Also remember
that no two rounds of young birds are the same and the trainer
with a large repertoire training techniques will be better
equipped to deal with these variances. Don’t be afraid to
experiment if it works its right, and share it with the rest of
us. Good Luck.
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