4H Pigeon help, questions on Parlor Rollers?

[CascadiaRiver]

I've sort of got a conundrum. I am part of a pigeon 4H group, while we have a few older kids including myself, theres a LOT of kids who are 13 and under, and with things like showmanship, fair, handling your birds and moving your birds, the fact that pigeons can fly becomes a really big issue, even more so that we get attached to our birds and of course we wouldn't want to lose our winning birds!

My 4H groups is pretty new, the last one dissipated after the "pigeon guy" in the county passed away, at the last fair we made very lose slip knots out of yarn and tied one end to our wrist and one end around the birds leg, looking back, probably not a smart idea, we need pigeons with broken legs just as much as we need pigeons who fly away lol thankfully all birds made it through fair just fine, no escapees.

I'm curious if anyone has some ideas on what to do about this? Even I can stumble with my grip on my pigeons sometimes, I can't even imagine the younger kids. We've thrown the idea around of doing showmanship in an enclosed space with a nets, which is probably going to be our best bet IF the fair board/committee or whoever is in charge of the matter, would let us put up a sort of screened in area.

The other idea that me and the leader had was Parlor Rollers. They dont fly away, so if a kid were to drop them, they'd just have to chase them down (and easily 90% of the pigeon kids also do poultry 4H so they know how to chase down a chicken lol) and while I still have to go through the whole thing of FINDING some parlor rollers, I have some questions about them.

The only thing thats keeping my mom back on giving me the "go ahead" to make space in my loft for a pair or two of parlors is their whole rolling + inability to fly. Apparently she heard that their rolls are individual seizures and she doesn't want to perpetuate something thats "broken" so to say, and I dont really want to either but I'd love to own some (and not breed) to use for showmanship nonetheless, so does anyone know how they roll, why they cant fly and if it is indeed seizures?

Even if I dont end up getting the birds in time for fair (and showmanship) I am hoping this could be a good answer to the whole "flying away" problem, I would let the younger kids all use a bird for showmanship if they'd like. If anyone knows anything helpful about parlor rollers (and possibly where to get them?) or about a solution to the flying away problem I'd love some help. I'm hoping by next years fair we'll have a inclosed area to do showmanship but I think we're too close to fair this year to add anything "crazy" like that lol

 

[cavemanrich]

Can you fashion some kind of a quick harness made from cloth, leather strips, or yarn crocheted into a flat belt. Not sure what the showmanship, and handling actions/activities at the show include??? I am not very familiar with 4H programs. We were into Scouting BTW.
I think the confinement option would be best. Maybe you can utilize a screen house. I used one long ago for my pigeons during the day before I built an aviary.

WISHING YOU BEST........

 

[biophiliac]

https://www.google.com/search?q=pig....69i57j0l5.10590j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...ahUKEwj23aPCidDaAhUL64MKHewPDscQww8IOg&adurl=

 

[CascadiaRiver]

Can you fashion some kind of a quick harness made from cloth, leather strips, or yarn crocheted into a flat belt. Not sure what the showmanship, and handling actions/activities at the show include??? I am not very familiar with 4H programs. We were into Scouting BTW.
I think the confinement option would be best. Maybe you can utilize a screen house. I used one long ago for my pigeons during the day before I built an aviary.

WISHING YOU BEST........

This is something I would love to do and I think would make a great plan, but the fair board is extremely picky about what gets placed on the grounds and where and I think we're too late to "add something" for this year. I've been looking at different harnesses and such for pigeons and might try to recreate one. Showmanship is a lot more about the kids knowledge of the bird rather than the whole handling aspect but we will have to flip the bird over to "show the keel", fan a wing out to "show the wing" and hold it out long enough to name all of the parts, its not as difficult in pigeons compared to chickens but then again your chicken isnt going to exactly fly away lol, thank you so much!

 

[CascadiaRiver]

https://www.google.com/search?q=pig....69i57j0l5.10590j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...ahUKEwj23aPCidDaAhUL64MKHewPDscQww8IOg&adurl=

I think that first link is more on about harnesses for training pigeons for like hunting dogs, I've heard about people using the Aviator, but not everyone satisfied, so its kind of a hefty price for a youth group for each person to get one that would hopefully work. I'm looking into patterns and specifically made pigeon harnesses to sew or at a last resort, try to knit lol

 

[biophiliac]

I think that first link is more on about harnesses for training pigeons for like hunting dogs, I've heard about people using the Aviator, but not everyone satisfied, so its kind of a hefty price for a youth group for each person to get one that would hopefully work. I'm looking into patterns and specifically made pigeon harnesses to sew or at a last resort, try to knit lol

I thought you could copy the design of the simple light-weight one -second link- I saw a vid where a lady made her own very similar to that. I just can't find it again.

 

[LamarshFish]

Doing it indoors sounds like the best and easiest idea.

I don't think tethering their legs is a bad idea either, so long as it's done properly. What I would do is tether them to both legs, and don't make it a type of knot that constricts the legs with force. I have made tethers like this before. Fix zip ties onto each of the pigeons' legs tight enough not to come off but loose enough to be able to tie the strings to it, and tie the two short leg strings to some kind of circular ring like a keychain ring, then tie the long tether to that, but in between the ring and the long string tie on a coil/spring thing (like a telephone cord, but with rings on each end, you can buy them on amazon, see link below) so if they take off there is some springy resistance and not a dead stop that could hurt them, sort of acts like a bungee so they don't hurt themselves. If you have a hard time conceptualizing what I'm saying just let me know and I'll try to take a picture of the one I made.

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Carab...qid=1524499112&sr=8-1&keywords=carabiner+coil

 

[LamarshFish]

Also, whether it is to tie on the tether like I said above, or just handling in general, teach the other kids how to properly hold a pigeon. You reach out with one hand under their bellies such that their two legs go BETWEEN your middle and ring fingers, then with that same hand (with the legs between your fingers) grip them with your thumb wrapped over their wings and around them as much as you can, holding their wings from being used and their tail from fanning out (if you have small hands you might only be able to fully secure one wing, so secure the other wing and tail fan with your free hand). Holding the bird like this, the bird should feel "front heavy" in your hands, as if all the weight is balanced towards their chest (which it is). Then, hold them close to your chest or stomach such that your chest or stomach is touching the pigeon's chest and neck area (i.e., hold the bird against you), which keeps the bird from moving around. Basically, your fingers secure their legs while that same hand grips around the pigeon's body and wings, and use other hand to secure any parts of the pigeon you could not fit in your other hand. You can also use the other hand to inspect the bird, stroke it's tail fan straight, inspect the head, etc. But remember, the key is getting both feet secured between your fingers and the bird held securely against you.

Really, holding a pigeon any other way runs the risk of them moving around, getting away, or even getting hurt.

 

[biophiliac]

Blind tame pigeon in her safety harness visits with the ferals ...