roller pigeons

[agnes_day]

i was watching some videos on youtube..they are amazing! what though, do you have to do to train them? i would love to get some but i am wondering how people train them to come back, and all of that. so interesting! i had pigeons as a child but i didnt know they were that smart.

 

[seedcorn]

1) Get them use to their home, open up door after a week. After opening for a little while feed them. (look for pictures of kit boxes)

2) Most important thing to train them is to make sure they are hungry (not starving) before you turn them out. That way, when they hear feed pan, they will come a flying in.

3) Young birds won't want to fly very bad, so get a long pole with flag, make them stop sitting on roof, make them fly. Some are harder than others to get them to stay flying.

4) They will fly together (kit) naturally and as they age they will start the rolls (genetics). As you work w/them (every day is best) they will bond and roll in unison (a great thing to see).

A word of caution as with all animals, some strains are much better than others. In NE Indiana the VERY best (not even a close second) were Harder birds that Dick Davis kept. Dick has been dead close to 20 years now. If his g'son kept them, that would be a source for pure. I gave mine away after Dick died. Between his death and hawks, lost interest altho there are days I miss them.

The sight of 20 birds 400' in air spinning in unison 100' down (gestimates) and then rekitting and doing it again was a sight my neighbors would stop and watch.

 

[agnes_day]

oh how interesting!

 

[HeelerDawg]

Rollers are a real blast to keep, I couldn't imagine not having them anymore. I keep Danny Horner Jaconettes. If you watch the BMC roller videos on youtube, that's what he keeps. You'll get different results with different families.

Good Luck!!!

 

[canada-goose]

I searched Youtube and Oh My God. They are so cool! Best of all, my sister was playing some music that went perfectly with it! Amazing.

 

[HeelerDawg]

Quote:
Cali huh? There are some serious roller guys out there. But we got the goods here on the East coast too lol!

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

Some of the best roller guys in the country were right out here in the Southeast

I used to have rollers, but forced myself to give them up so I could focus on racing pigeons. They are a lot of fun though! I would have probably had an easier time with them (to the point where I could keep a small kit of them even while racing), if we didn't live in a hole in the trees. I think a more open space would allow them to fly more easily and longer without tree-sitting

 

[chinbunny]

Want to see something intersting get some performance rollers. they can't fly. they roll around on the ground. It will be the strangest thing you have ever seen.

 

[shelleyd2008]

What about parlor rollers? Those are pretty cool too! We have 2 of them, one is more of a tumbler than a roller, but the other one we have to chase down before it hurts itself like the guy in the video

This one is even better...

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Oops, didn't see this post. I think you mean parlor rollers, those are the ones that don't fly. The young fly till about 4-6 months old, then quit.