# ROLLERS : How do i kit them?



## Revolution Lofts

Hey mates, well i got 20 rollers from a friend of mine. I just wanted to know, are 20 good enough to be a kit? And also, i have never had rollers before. Mostly fancies, and high flyers. I let them out today and all they did was come out, fly for 2 minutes and then sit on the loft. I have noticed that they follow each other a lot. So i was wondering, how do i kit them? Do i let them out in a different way? All together? I'm really confused, can someone tell me exactly and everything i need to know on how to kit these birds? Any help will be appreciated.

P.S. something else i need help with... how many birds can fit in a 8ft by 8ft by 8ft loft? What about a small 4ft by 3ft by 4ft loft? And what about a 6ft by 6ft by 6ft loft? I know this is a lot of information but i really need to know this because i don't want to cram my birds. 

Thank you


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## bigislerollers

Aloha Gurbin,
Yes, 20 birds are enough for a kit. In fact 15-20 birds make up a competition kit.

Sounds like these birds might be overfed. Rollers need only *about* 1 U.S. measuring cup of food for 10 birds, depending on the weather. As it gets colder they need more food. Start with 2 cups of feed for your 20 birds and work from there. They should start flying a little more in about a week.

As for your loft size, the 4 x 4 x 3 is a good size for a flying kit of 20 birds. Just make sure the have enough perches, ventilation and that it stays dry. As for the larger loft sizes, the only comment I have is not to make it too tall. 8 ft high is too tall and you will not be able to control you birds in a loft that tall.

Ask the person who you got the birds from on how he managed his birds and you should be ok. Also you can search for roller pigeons on the web, there is a lot of information out there. Check to see if there is a roller club in your area and join them, most roller fanciers are willing to help out someone new.

Good luck with your birds.


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## Revolution Lofts

thanks mate


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## bigislerollers

Aloha Gurbir,

Here is a club located in BC.

BC INTERIOR ROLLER CLUB
Aaron Johnson, Kamloops, BC. 250-372-7734


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## TheGame

How long have you had the birds for?? Do they know how to trap?? If not sit them ontop of the loft in a wired cage so they can learn their surroundings.

Other than that control the feed and just give them some time to learn how to kit and fly together. They will just fly around in random directions the first few times to learn the area. After that they will start kitting... give it about a week.

To encourage your birds to fly you can take them a couple of houses down and release them. Thats what I did with my young birds and it worked for me


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## Revolution Lofts

thanks mate, these birds were given to me by the president of the vancouver fancy pigeon association and he also happens to be the Treasurer for CPFA, Ernie Silveri. Great guy  Umm i've had them for about 3 weeks now. I've let them out to fly about 4 times now. But i won't be letting them out from now, until March or so, since the weather here tends to get rough, windy, rainy, and just non flying type. And i see numbers of hawks in the area so i don't want to let them out. I'll use your plan once it gets warm again. For now i'm trying to build a 5 ft high, 6 ft wide, 6 foot long loft, to store all my breeders.


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## sufiness

*Birmingham Rollers and Kitting*



Gurbir said:


> Hey mates, well i got 20 rollers from a friend of mine. I just wanted to know, are 20 good enough to be a kit? And also, i have never had rollers before. Mostly fancies, and high flyers. I let them out today and all they did was come out, fly for 2 minutes and then sit on the loft. I have noticed that they follow each other a lot. So i was wondering, how do i kit them? Do i let them out in a different way? All together? I'm really confused, can someone tell me exactly and everything i need to know on how to kit these birds? Any help will be appreciated.
> 
> P.S. something else i need help with... how many birds can fit in a 8ft by 8ft by 8ft loft? What about a small 4ft by 3ft by 4ft loft? And what about a 6ft by 6ft by 6ft loft? I know this is a lot of information but i really need to know this because i don't want to cram my birds.
> 
> Thank you


seems a little funny me telling you about Birmingham rollers.

However the simple way to kit them is keep them all together. 

Also do keep the birds of same age together as the flying ability differs.

ie Young birds, Yearlings and old birds.

any bird that does not kit has to be removed.. in competition some of the marks are for kitting....one of the birds may roll too much and fall behind again that has to be removed. The ideal is they kit and break together.. (the more birds who roll together simultaneously = more points) 

during my years i kept rollers i saw the small kit boxes and large kit boxes.

My late friend who had a very good strain, He usually ways won the club competitions, he would enter the nationals and would even represent us in the in the world cup fly (JIm white of barnsley) ,his kit boxes were approximately 8 feet long 6 feet high 4 feet wide. My own used to be 4 feet high n wide.

I think the kit boz sizes were constrained by the size of the gardens and budget. 

As long as they are kept together they keep together. Separate the ages.. and remove non kitting birds.

Do remember the rolling competitions categories are according to age too: Young bird, yearlings and Old birds.

hope this helps.


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## fresnobirdman

TheGame said:


> To encourage your birds to fly you can take them a couple of houses down and release them. Thats what I did with my young birds and it worked for me



if you just had them for not too long, you shouldent toss them a couple of houses down cause they arent going to come back.

trust me.


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## MaryOfExeter

Depending on what kind of neighborhood you live in, you may not want to release rollers from anywhere but your own yard  Like for example, if you have a lot of trees around, they could get lost. But as long as they can get up and see the loft, they'll be fine usually. But having them in for 3 weeks is plenty enough time to settle rollers to a new location and start letting them out.


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## RodSD

I think kitting is breed into them. Roller fanciers chose a bird that kit with the group. Non-kitters are frowned upon. During competition kitting may earn you points.


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## Revolution Lofts

My god this came out of no where :O lol...I asked it in September and then gave the rollers away....yeah they were SHOW rollers haha..no wonder they wouldn't fly. 

Anyways I'm joining the BCRC and I've gotten a lot of help and know almost everything I need to know. Building a kit box this weekend. 12 foot long, 4 foot high, 3 feet wide. With 3 sections and will be raised at least 2 feet cause I'm almost 6 foot tall and don't want back problems lol. Its 3 foot wide so i won't have to reach in that far. Kelly from BCRC is helping me out a lot. Gave me a couple ideas for the kit box. Around the end of June I'll start on a breeding loft capable of keeping 10-12 pairs of breeders. Hopefully by then I'll be able to aquire some birds from some very great people when it comes down to rollers. CoughcoughJohnWienscough haha  

If all goes well I'll be a great competitor in rollers by next year although it'll take a season or two to get fully settled in.


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## sufiness

lol I see.

Not sure how the seasons are in your prt of the world but any rollers bred afterAudust september are not worth the hassle as the cold sets in and the days become short by December.

In our practice we would pir the pigeons for breeding in December and hopefully would have young in January. The Kit of yearlings would ths be devloped by the summer.

Your kit box sounds just like what I had except two sections : 8 feet long 4 feet high raised toe feet above the ground, It helps to have it pointing in the direction they would fly towards especially if they have little view thus getting excited for getting out.

I used to jus have a little dylight getting in.. 

I have one really good pair of rollers which I am not sure what to do with, they are from one of the tob flyers in the uk.. someone gave them to me when I went to visit. probbly thinking I was flying rollers again. I wasn't able to refuse them. Shame you re not here in the Uk for me to pass on to you.

if I ever took pigeon flying seriously again I probably would strt with just one pir of top birds and over a few years build up a stock of birds to breed from.I noticed over the years they all seem to have different temparaments when it comes to rolling. I think kits of bird of the same temparament would be much better. 

Good Luck building everything up.


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