# Training roller pigeons



## czarkos

i have nine rollers in my loft. three are young bird and the rest are older birds. i'm not sure if any of them have been flown yet beacause i got them from a lady who didn't know if they had been. my question is, can i train them all to return back to my loft or just the young birds?

Thanks,
Calder


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## bundyray

Some people may say you'll need to let the olders 1's have some young (I did) , but you definately can train them all too return to your loft just make sure you trap train and turn them out hungary


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## blongboy

yea just take a few week lol


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## MaryOfExeter

If the young birds are 2 months or younger, I'd keep them in for 2 weeks. Old birds for a month. Rollers have virtually no homing ability so there's no worry about resettling them. However, older birds who have been flown before, may come bounding out of the loft wanting to fly too much, and could get lost. That's why I always kept them in for a month so they know their surroundings and how to work the trap before coming out.


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## pattersonk2002

*flying*

I have been told when you are going to fly older birds that have been flown from another loft you should keep them in an open avery so they can see there surrounding are differant before flying. Like I said this is only what I have been told but it makes sense, they may look for there old loft surrounding if they bolt out like Mary said. >Kevin


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## czarkos

sweet!!! thanks for the advice i'll be sure to try it out. right now i have a pair of rollers that are in the process of breeding


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## velo99

Czarkos
Make sure you fly them hungry. Cut em to half a ration the day before. The point of the first 5-6 times you let em out is to get them going in the box on command and learning the neighborhood. If they go out and come right back in five - ten minutes give them 1/2 a tablespoon of millet. Let em rest 30-40 minutes and shoo em out again. This time close the door and make em stay out for 30-40 minutes after they land. They should go up and fly around for a few minutes at a time.Put em up for the day or put em in a cage on top of the box. Repeat the next day. 

Dont overfeed em. It wont hurt them to cut the feed back for a few days while you`re training them. Fly em for three or four days then feed em up on a days rest and go three or four days again. Once they get rolling and steady in their flight , fly them every other day after the young birds have gone thru the first molt.
As they learn the neighborhood they will fly longer and wider. It takes a few weeks for them to get back into and develop flying shape.

Are you shaking the feed can when you feed them? Birds are easily trained in Pavolvian response to come down on command when you whistle and shake the feed can. You can also use a dropper to help them come in faster. Feed is YOUR control over the behavior of your birds. Quality, amount and types of seed will affect the performance of your kit. 

have fun


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## czarkos

velo99 said:


> Czarkos
> Make sure you fly them hungry. Cut em to half a ration the day before. The point of the first 5-6 times you let em out is to get them going in the box on command and learning the neighborhood. If they go out and come right back in five - ten minutes give them 1/2 a tablespoon of millet. Let em rest 30-40 minutes and shoo em out again. This time close the door and make em stay out for 30-40 minutes after they land. They should go up and fly around for a few minutes at a time.Put em up for the day or put em in a cage on top of the box. Repeat the next day.
> 
> Dont overfeed em. It wont hurt them to cut the feed back for a few days while you`re training them. Fly em for three or four days then feed em up on a days rest and go three or four days again. Once they get rolling and steady in their flight , fly them every other day after the young birds have gone thru the first molt.
> As they learn the neighborhood they will fly longer and wider. It takes a few weeks for them to get back into and develop flying shape.
> 
> Are you shaking the feed can when you feed them? Birds are easily trained in Pavolvian response to come down on command when you whistle and shake the feed can. You can also use a dropper to help them come in faster. Feed is YOUR control over the behavior of your birds. Quality, amount and types of seed will affect the performance of your kit.
> 
> have fun


Thank you for the advice, this is what i have been looking for! i have been shaking the feed, but i haven't been whistling which i should start doing. 

thank you so much,
Calder


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## czarkos

how do you know when they are ready to be let out? i am in the process of teaching them how to trap in, but how do i know when they are ready?


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## BillfromNJ

czarkos,

V99 is right on the money with the information he has given you.

Regards,

Bill from NJ


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## velo99

Czarkos
They should be ready after 3-4 days. Try letting one go from across the yard. Kinda slow pitch him towrds the box and see what happens.


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## czarkos

K thanks. 

also i have three young birds that i am planning to fly but can i also let an older bird out with them, or should i wait for the younger birds to build some muscle before letting the older bird fly with them? As far as i know the older bird hasn't flown in a while.


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## velo99

I have an old(er) hen I usually fly with the yb`s. Normally it keeps the flyaway losses down. Be prepared though, it happens to everyone.
g/l


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## czarkos

today i let out two of my birds and they came back to the loft, the only problem i had was that they stayed out for five hours before coming back in, what should i do to make sure that they come back earlier?

thanks,
Calder


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## rririe

czarkos, It sounds like you may be feeding too much. Cut the food back. Try cutting the food in half, or less than you normally feed the day before you want to fly the birds. Make sure they know your whistle and the shaking of the food can. If they're hungry they'll trap shortly after the sounds you have trained them with. Believe me, it's hard at first to give them less food, but you will see the results immediately. From then on keep an eye on them. If they fly too long again, cut the food back a little more. Once you have the right ratio they'll be trapping soon after you give them the sounds. Never stop with the sounds of the whistle and can shaking. The YB's will learn the sounds too and train quicker for you. Give it a shot. Randy


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## rririe

czarkos, I forgot to mention, you should feel good for having birds out for five hours and no hawk attacks or ambushes! I recently was roof training some yb's and it lasted about two minutes before the ambush occurred. Two coopers attacked and scattered the birds, then came the peregrine. I only lost one bird, and thank god it wasn't to a bop, it got lost. Then just after sun down it circled the loft, I whistled and it made a dive towards me and the loft. The cooper hawk again swooped at it but missed. It was by then too dark for my bird to return. I've never seen it again. My kids were devistated. My birds have been in lockdown ever since. Tomorrow promises to be a great day, and I plan to fly. The birds ate a light meal tonight. They'll trap immediately if any sign of a BOP by the trained whistle and can shaking, plus the light meal. Randy


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## czarkos

sweet thanks I'm going to be flying them again tomorrow so I'll try that.

Thanks,
Calder


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## pigeonmanjones

*p*

to help keep the hawks away try using an air horn or even two. I wont fly my birds without having one in my hands at all times when my birds are out! It must be explained to the young or new breeders of pigeons that hawks love to eat tame pigeons and can detect which ones are tame or wild! the hawks will pass up sparrows, robins, starlings, cardinals, mice, rabbits, etc. to get to YOUR birds and will even wait perched in a tree till you let them out and wont stop until ALL of your birds are GONE! you can even use a long pole (bamboo if possible) with a garbage bag tied to the end of it to make the loud noise (that hawks hate) when waving it back and forth. also, some of the terms we older fanciers use should be explained to the beginers as well as not to confuse them, some of them still confuse me lol.. by the way, what does "BOP" stand for anyway????


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## TheGame

BOP stands for Birds of Prey like falcons, hawks, eagles and etc...


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## czarkos

I was told not to fly rollers in the winter because the snow confuses the birds when they roll. what do you guys do?


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## becege

I fly Oriental Rollers all year long. The snow does not confuse them. Just scrape of the roof so that they can see the shingles and they will land like they always do on the roof.


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## czarkos

Thanks I did this and they came back just fine.


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## velo99

Good to see you have made it this long with your birds Calder. 
Looking like an old pro now buddy.


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## 4 the love of pigeon

*true*

This is so true! I had the same problem my birds wood sit all over the Damn place at first, but now that I stopped feeding them so much b4 I let them out they respond to my feeding call and now trap....... ( pigeon talk is makeing me a better fancier )


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## steven h123

I have 15 young rollers. Three of my rollers are good flyers but the rest just want to sit on the roof. Not sure how much food to give them? I let them out everyday should it be only every few days? Any advice is welcome.


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## Part Time Pigeons

When flying them daily I usually go with a table spoon per bird. Sometimes it helps pen them up for a few days, when you finally let them out they usually are ready to fly. if that don't work sometimes I toss a large soft ball at them something like a beach ball from a blind corner where they cant see me so they don't associate me with getting spooked only the ball it self. That usually gets the young birds to getting up consistently if they are having trouble like yours. I let them out before they are fed for that day. I feed them when they come back down. They soon learn that they only get fed when they go up and fly and come back, soon they are eager to get out and fly every day. If you have a problem with them coming back down too soon waiting for food then increase their ration slightly till they fly as long as you want them.


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## willygog

dont scare them up, if you do you will be sorry, they will hang in the trees, and if you continue to scare , they will find a tree even higher or farther away.. when there ready to fly they will..i give mine 1/2 table spoon of seed twice a day.. mine are now just getting over tree sitting.. my advice is dont scare them or flag them,, also hand feed them.. that takes all the fear away.. 

I put them back in a training /settling cage on there loft roof for a few days. that worked fine.. also i was told to box them and release them away from the loft if there flying into the trees.. it makes them fly right away, and they seem to understand release means to fly.. worked for me in three days....


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## Merced man

*Newbie Alert with question*

HI all,
I recently rescued a roller pigeon at my house that was out of sorts from a lack of water and food. Took the bird to the vet and did a run of baytril to clear some loose stools and cleaned him/her up.

While the bird is banded, the band is just a blank blue seamed band. I have posted locally in several places including craigslist, but no claims. 

I love pigeons and never thought I'd have one so I am glad to take this bird in. 

While I have a million questions, my question now is; Can a bird or birds be flown less than daily? Once a week, twice a week? ??

Also I am in Merced California. Is there anyone here that is near that part of the world with pigeons?


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## willygog

you can fly the bird as much or as least as you want.. totally caged is a bit rough for a bird bred to fly, but a nice aviary with room to fly a bit is fine.. but i think if you train it well, give it a nice home outdoors, it can fly enough, as long as you let it out occasional and teach it to come in on call.. for safety, say a BOP arrives,, you can call it in ...


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## Merced man

*Thanks*

Thanks Willygog I appreciate your response. That helps me a lot.


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## Merced man

Ok, so i have let the bird fly several times and he has returned. He returns primarily for food and not to a call. I do whistle and shake the feed can when I feed him though. But he has returned before afternoon feeding each time.

What I am interested in understanding now is, he flies around and off in the neighborhood yet I have never seen him roll. I would like to get him a hen and let him breed. If the hen is a true roller will the babies have a better chance of rolling? Is it unlikely they will be true rollers? Do I need to do something to train them to roll?


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## willygog

Now that is a question for sure,, will it roll, maybe.. it depends on the blood line of the roller, but even a poor roller will roll, its natural,how long how fast and how deep??? you need to have a performing roller.. 

If they dont come right when you call then he is getting to much food.. it should come a runnin when you call it.. I give mine 1tblspoon of mixed 14% protein, pigeon seed.. 2x aday, and they will come in 3 mins or less.. but they dont wander the neigbor hood, they fly above the house in big circles... i always let them out hungry, never feed before letting them out..

If you breed some , yes you have a better chance to train them , and they will roll if there rollers,,,, but it depends who you get the new roller from.. look for a roller guy around you.. there all over ,, some seem to hide LOL .. but if you find one,, you can surely buy a bird or two.. and get you on your way, but then a coop outside is gonna be neccasary,, for breeding and sooner than later you need a box for the new babies.. etc etc ,, it can grow into a nice hobby..

Im really just learning and have some now that wont fly LOL it is what it is, a bit of work , some trial and error, a lots of prayers  But its pretty fun .. I enjoy the fact they come in when called .. lol


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