Try meal worms or some other type of insect like crickets. You will see birds get a lot excited and willing to perform.
Most cost effective location for mealworms for me is old oat grainery under boards. For short term go to your local pet store or wildlife store. You will see they are pricey. They go a along way and keep well in refrigerator. If they suit your needs, then culturing them yourself can be way to go.ok but where do u get them and will worm work too
Maturity causes decrease in flight capacity for production breeds but that is not the case with my American Games until advanced age on the order of 3 or more years. Even so, I have had 5 year old brood cocks that could be startled into flight from a corn field to fly 800 feet horizontally and shoot through a whole in loft of barn 30 feet from ground. The older birds are a little heavier and slightly slower. Flight capacity declines continuously after that. Some older cocks pushing a decade have a hard time making a 10 foot roost in one flight but that is attributable to fighting as much as to age. We have some hens quite a bit older than that which could fly up to upper manger roost just fine but they clearly lost the dainty mobility of their use. Current cohort of elder hens (4 years old now) will be monitored for long-term changes. Bird referred to as Sallies earlier in thread is used as a teaching tool and as such will be spared culling from all but serious health issues so I can periodically provide updates on her abilities. She can still fly the length of two football fields easily except when in lay and immediately after coming off nest with a brood.
