# Advice for rollers



## Part Time Pigeons (Jul 27, 2012)

I have a small kit of 6 Birmingham rollers. The problem i have is after about 30-45 mins of flying at a good height of 200ft or so, they will drop to about 20-40ft and continue flying tighter circles at that height for the duration of their flight, which is usually another hour before they finally come down. I would rather see them at a good height for 30 mins to and hour and come on down to the loft. 


Is there anything to try with the feed? I am feeding 50%wheat and 50% milo about 1oz per bird a day.

Maybe this is normal? Just looking for comments or suggestions

Thanks


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## Ross Howard (Nov 26, 2009)

1tablespoon per day of feed ?sorry one oz I think is 1tbsp. Try a little less


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## Part Time Pigeons (Jul 27, 2012)

Ok thanks, 
1 tablespoon = 1/2 oz. I will start triming their rations down to see if that will help. Ross, how do your birds fly? After going to a good height, do they ever come down and fly low for extended periods of time? I havent been around good rollers to really see how they should fly. I used to have some tumbles and they would go way up and come right back down to the loft, but that was when i was a kid so i dont remember what i even fed them.


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## windycityflyers (Apr 26, 2010)

How old are the birds?,feed them more wheat until you get them at the height you wan't.


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## Part Time Pigeons (Jul 27, 2012)

Thanks for the suggestion. 3 of them are around 9 months old and the other 3 are 6 months old


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## Ross Howard (Nov 26, 2009)

PT pigeons all depends on what u want . Some folk like high some like low. Feed same type & amount of feed to all & cull what doesn't do what you want . I.e cull low flyers if u want high flyers & visa versa . Some birds take 2-3 yrs to mature. As for types of grain to fly higher longer to much for me I have other things to do. My rule is keep it simple.
P.S is best to have all birds 1st year around same age . May be ued be best to breed these & fly there young (sameage) 1st ) learn how to feed, & control kitting& times flying with feed can & then worry about roll . Try your own different ways & learn much better than someone else telling u & not understanding . These are animals not machines all different . But the most important thing is time it doesn't happen overnite & ain't worth it if it does. 
Just my thoughts.


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## Part Time Pigeons (Jul 27, 2012)

I appreciate your input. I guess if i lived somewhere different, like out in a more rural area it would not matter to me at all if they were to fly low the entire time. As of now i live in town next to a busy road and when they start flying lower and lower they often dip down in the middle of the road with each cirle they make. So i don't fly them as much as i would like and try to fly only at cerian times like early in the morings on weekends or later in the evening when the traffic is not as heavy. I have lived in town for about 4 years and I plan to move (hopefully) in a few years to get as far away from town as i can; its not for me.


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## Ross Howard (Nov 26, 2009)

PT do all of them do this at once or do some try to stay up higher before kit mentality brings um down?


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## scott70 (Feb 22, 2011)

*Hi PT*

Hi PT what family are you fling I fly Masons and they can really fly low when they are young if you can try and get some older birds to put with them to help lift them up it really helped me


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## Part Time Pigeons (Jul 27, 2012)

Now that i think about it, when they do come lower i have noticed some birds acting as if they want to come on down and land on the loft but dont untill the entire group is ready. It maybe that i have some wanting to land and the others that are not ready to and want to keep flying. Maybe in a sense, the whole kit just kinda meets in the middle by not staying high and not landing, but just flying low? I may have to experiment with pulling a bird or 2 out till i figure out who likes to do what.


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## Ross Howard (Nov 26, 2009)

Either that PT or get. 10. - 16 foot stick tie a rag on it & swing it around abit to flag um back up. Make sure there good & hungry & well trap trained you don't want to starts another bad habit & have them landing on you neighbor's roof. Use flag sparingly don't want um scared of loft.


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