# falling rollers



## bird_14 (Jul 4, 2003)

I dont know if any of u know much about rollers. I have two birds one that keeps hitting the ground so we dont let him fly no more, he flys in the loft. The other one only hit once this spring and again today. Does anyone know why they hit?


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## Jeff Eubanks (Jul 27, 2004)

They don't know when to stop rolling, or can't. And it's not a good trait to have in your rollers if I understand what I have read.

I had rollers when I was younger and I had one come up missing one day. I thought a hawk got it.Two days later it walked home, it had a broken wing and was hungry.So I think he must of hit the ground hard.

Then a few years later I had a friend that had a roller that would hit the ground just about everytime he flew. And after awhile more of his rollers started hitting the ground.We thought they where following the "fall guy" pigeon.

He finnaly lost the fall guy pigeon to a hawk and the rest of the rollers begain to do better about hitting the ground.


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

*I dont know if any of u know much about rollers. I have two birds one that keeps hitting the ground so we dont let him fly no more*
I don't know a thing about rollers but *"Yikes"*, this sounds like a sport that could be very hazardous.  

How in the world do you teach them *not* to come crashing to the ground?

Cindy


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## birdboy12 (Jul 27, 2004)

I think the reason is rollers hit the ground is because they have parlor roller in them and for all u that know parlors they cant fly so i think thats y they hit the grounf


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## bigbird (Aug 19, 2000)

Raising and flying rollers is a complicated sport.
Many birds are lost to hawks. A small percentage will have difficulty pulling out of a roll, falling to the ground. Eventually this will kill them. When this extreme behavior is found, the bird should not be alowed to fly outside.
I gave up raising rollers for outside flight because of the dangers awaiting them. Compared to domestic pet loft pigeons, rollers and racers are lost to hawks and other natural outside preditors at an alarming rate. 
Regards,
Carl


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## Snowbird (Jun 24, 2004)

Carl--The hawk dangers seem to vary a great deal in diffferent parts of the world.

Where I live there are at least four distinct periods with different hawk concebntrations depending on the migration and whether the local hawks are sitting on eggs.

If you are on an island in Washington state with few or no ferals to help teach your birds, and there are many hawks, and there may even be Perigrin falcons, and there is heavy forest cover, then the odds may be to high. Others in different situations don't lose many birds and they fly every day. And they keep their fingers crossed.


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## santhosh_pigeons (May 29, 2002)

*crash cause*

 
I had a few experiences of this type and according to me it is because of three reasons 
1) the birds are not 100% pure 
2) the birds are either too old or too scared by nature
3) the bird is in the influence of certain substances which affect its brain, it may be pollutants or some kinds of weed or moss.

I had an excellent 100% pure roller which was too scared at 60 days old he had his first flight with the big ones and they were under a hawk attack and this bird was hit but came down safe. he recovered in a few weeks and then he refuse to fly at all he would either go too high or fly too low dangerously close to towers and terraces. he also started rolling very wierdly and one day he just rolled hard into a mesh wire.
I have had a few problems with my tumblers also.
most male tumblers dont fly or tumble rapidly and fall off after they are abt 3yrs old. 
I have a moss kind of material grawing in my neighbours roof which is very addictive and a few birds who tried it act weird and no matter food or water fly straight to the stuff and peck on it. i have had to cut off feathers for a few mopnths to get them out of it. call it rehab  

well i have got to learn new ways and i had to pay my neighbour to get his terrace cleaned of the weed. it was worth it and now i have less casualties and it is just getting better by the day  

Best of luck guys


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## rollersloft (Dec 1, 2003)

Yes they are rollers with fault. They are not suppose the hit the ground or roof top, should exit roller before craching. They are cull. There is not much you can do about them. They can be useable as foster


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## kirk (Sep 15, 2004)

The old question of why a roller actually spins or rolls has been under discussion since the beginning of time , it seems . This type of flight is actually not normal . It has been bred into the bird over time . It's like parachuting , who wants to jump out of a perfectly good airplane , lol . Generally , the reason a bird will not pull out is caused by excessive inbreeding . The bird is just not right in the head , and if he survives the first flight I wouldn,t send him out for another .


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## ZigZagMarquis (Aug 31, 2004)

kirk said:


> The old question of why a roller actually spins or rolls has been under discussion since the beginning of time , it seems . This type of flight is actually not normal . It has been bred into the bird over time . It's like parachuting , who wants to jump out of a perfectly good airplane , lol


Um, pardon me Kirk, but besides being a fledgling pigeon entheusist, I also happen to have 2600+ sport parachute jumps / skydives.

If you ever happened to see the marginally maintained pieces of CRAP... i.e. jump planes... that we get into, you'd realize that the "head work" is not jumping out of them, its having gotten in them in the first place! ... I've got my parachute and know how to use it... if anything goes wrong, "You just wait here, I'll go for help."  

There is NO SUCH THING as a perfectly good airplane!


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## kirk (Sep 15, 2004)

I really wasn't trying to say anything bad about anyones sport , it was just a joke , really . I hope you continue to enjoy it . As for me , I'll keep my feet on the ground and watch my birds do the flying . Happy Jumping .


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## bigbird (Aug 19, 2000)

Sport roller people have told me that their best performers are most susceptible to attack by hawks because these “great” performers have expended the most energy during a fly.
As a result of the tremendous energy required to roll deep and then regain height to join the flock, the “best” performers are often exhausted when the hawk comes on the scene, and therefore unable to allude the attack.
This makes competing in hawk infested areas of this country (USA) a most difficult sport.
Carl


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## ZigZagMarquis (Aug 31, 2004)

kirk said:


> I really wasn't trying to say anything bad about anyones sport , it was just a joke , really . I hope you continue to enjoy it . As for me , I'll keep my feet on the ground and watch my birds do the flying . Happy Jumping .


Oh, no worries.


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## Simon (Feb 9, 2003)

Theres a lot of posts but i dont see the obvious one wich i was taught. If a pigeon is too heavy it will not fly that high. It sounds crewl but put it on a diet. I use half ounce of corn per pigeon. Loose the pij out once he is on the diet if the pij still does it try cutting it down a bit more. I know someone who uses a mineral block holder for 21 pigeons and they fly great. He had 1 that liked to hit the shed but this rolled from really high and his sister didnt roll but looped. Weird. Genetic default :S
Simon


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