# Rollers and Tumblers outwit hawks?



## Lost in France (Apr 4, 2007)

Hello,

I have read that rollers are excellent at evading hawk attacks as they are acrobatic and dip and dive so the hawks don't want to expend the energy and probably miss them anyway. I've had lots of my doves taken by hawks and am wondering whether to get some rollers. I also read that one chap who lost his flock to hawk predation, bought rollers and mixed them with other birds and stopped losing his birds as the hawks didn't bother and even left the non-rollers alone! Has anyone out there tried this and how successful were you?

Judi


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## joefi2 (Aug 11, 2005)

*Old Timer*

 I DON,T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT THE ONLY TIME I HAVE TROUBLE WITH HAWKS IS WHEN MY BIRDS ARE SITTING ON THE LOFT ,THEY COME IN FAST AND QUIET,ALL OF MY BIRDS SCATTER,I HAVE NEVER SEEN A HAWK GO AFTER MY BIRDS IN FLIGHT ,AND IM OUT THERE WHEN MY BIRDS ARE FLYING BUT I HAVE HAD THEM GO AFTER MY BIRDS WHEN I WAS IN THE BACK YARD ABOUT 10 FT FROM ME,SO I DONT THINK MIXING ROLLERS WOULD HELP ,BUT WHAT THE HECK TRY IT ,ONLY PROBLEM IS ROLLERS AND HOMERS LIKE TO MATE ,NOT A GOOD BREED FOR RACEING,,ALTHOE THEY COULD GET TO THE LANDING BOARD FASTER IF THEY ROLL TO THE LANDING BOARD


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Lost in France said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have read that rollers are excellent at evading hawk attacks as they are acrobatic and dip and dive so the hawks don't want to expend the energy and probably miss them anyway. I've had lots of my doves taken by hawks and am wondering whether to get some rollers. I also read that one chap who lost his flock to hawk predation, bought rollers and mixed them with other birds and stopped losing his birds as the hawks didn't bother and even left the non-rollers alone! Has anyone out there tried this and how successful were you?
> 
> Judi



If you look hard enough, you can find someone, somewhere, who's written or said exactly what you want to read or hear.  
I know people who have rollers and routinely put their rollers out to fly BEFORE the racers. That way, if there's a hawk in the area, it can "take" a roller instead of a racer.  Sad but true. 
There is a video on YouTube of a hawk hitting and killing a roller in mid air. Not a pretty sight. 
If a hawk wants one of your birds and he's hungry enough, chances are he'll get one eventually. Just the way it is. 
There's been quite a few posts recently about how to deter hawks. You can't. They eat pigeons. Nothing anyone does is going to change that. If a bird can escape it will, and it doesn't matter if it's a homer, a roller, a tumbler, etc...........
You might find some method that works for a while, but hawks are not dummies. You might confuse them, but they'll figure you out and change their stratedgy. 
People have been trying to figure out forever how to keep hawks from killing their birds. No one has come up with a fool proof solution, cause if they had, we'd all be using it. 
That sucks.........but that's the way it is. 
There's only ONE way to keep a hawk from getting your birds. Keep them inside.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

joefi2 said:


> I DON,T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT THE ONLY TIME I HAVE TROUBLE WITH HAWKS IS WHEN MY BIRDS ARE SITTING ON THE LOFT ,THEY COME IN FAST AND QUIET,ALL OF MY BIRDS SCATTER,I HAVE NEVER SEEN A HAWK GO AFTER MY BIRDS IN FLIGHT ,AND IM OUT THERE WHEN MY BIRDS ARE FLYING BUT I HAVE HAD THEM GO AFTER MY BIRDS WHEN I WAS IN THE BACK YARD ABOUT 10 FT FROM ME,SO I DONT THINK MIXING ROLLERS WOULD HELP ,BUT WHAT THE HECK TRY IT ,ONLY PROBLEM IS ROLLERS AND HOMERS LIKE TO MATE ,NOT A GOOD BREED FOR RACEING,,ALTHOE THEY COULD GET TO THE LANDING BOARD FASTER IF THEY ROLL TO THE LANDING BOARD


I'm with you mostly. Most of the attacks that I have seen here were when my birds were lolly gagging around. We have so few hawk attacks that my birds pretty much aren't worried about them. I know people who's birds trap faster than you can say "scat" simply because they know if they don't, a hawk will get them. They have that many hawks in their area.
A few weeks ago, we did have a hawk chase our OB race team all the way to the loft and into the aviary. He didn't get one, but he was on their butts big time. My husband was out waiting for the birds to come home, so he started yelling and scared the hawk off. But MOST of what I've seen was while the birds weren't paying attention to their surroundings.


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