nicksiders
272 posts
Nov 02, 2005
8:57 PM
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Do you guys who are in the real cold weather (in the teens or near zero) fly?
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Bluesman
Pigeon Fancier
545 posts
Nov 03, 2005
4:39 AM
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Nick. I do but only if the wind chill is not so bad.I limit my time out when it is this cold and watch thru the sliding doors most of the time.I have been trying to figure out how to put some sort of window in my entrance roof to be able to look at them as they fly.Someday I will run into a good used Skylight Window.LOL. David
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ohaus
3 posts
Nov 03, 2005
4:52 AM
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David,
Home Depot and Menards have these little glass "phone booths" for kids at bus stops, I think they would work well.
I have flown mine in all kinds of cold weather and have seen no harm, you must keep them fed well during our cold season.
Jim
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J_Star
99 posts
Nov 03, 2005
5:23 AM
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It is not the cold weather that affects them. They fly some what sluggish because of some extended lock down because the weather was not helping to fly them. And the hawks know it, and BAM you are hit big time. If you don't have the sky sharks in your cold area as a problem, then they will do just fine, otherwise, it’s a loss.
Pigeon are hardy. Just add about 10-15% corn to their daily ration and they will be OK. They keep themselves worm. But if you are not going to fly them regularly, please move them to a larger loft so that they would not get stressed from staying too long in a kit box without the proper exercise.
Jay
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Vibey
26 posts
Mar 06, 2006
3:25 PM
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I live in Southern Ontario Canada, and i have flown lots during the dead of winter when temps were easily in the teens , farenheit. They have flown well under these conditions . But , now that i have limited stock, and the winter is the very worst time in my area for what you all call air sharks aka HAWKS, i generally lock down my birds from late november , until after the first of april. It's unfortunate we have to deal with hawks , cats , raccoons, weasels etc. ina perfect world , well you know ...lol
I have just started my breeding season and have my first eggs, out of a two pr breeding stock to start the season. I think i will be roller shopping in the near future , as soon as i find a reputable breeder in the area. Happy breeding everyone , and may the rollers gods fly close to your birds.
Vibey
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Mount Airy Lofts
131 posts
Mar 07, 2006
1:34 PM
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This has been my second year I flew thru the Winter. Did not work out at all. I pushed my young bird team hard to get them locked into the roll and to get them working more air time together as a team. Big mistake!!
Every cold spell (usually lasting for a week) that came thru, I would lose a bird or two to accidents. We had three cold spells this Winter. It cost me 2 high velocity (one was kind of stiff but no doubt the fastest out of all my old and young birds), 1 promising 10 footer, and 2 very good velocity young birds. The only old bird I lost was my fault. I lost it the second I had my old Cock birds out (I seperate the sex during the Winter months). As they were locked down for 3 months prior to that.
Here is what I have found. Once the temps dips down to below -10 F, all my young birds would crash on release or coming in. I am talking about stable as a rock young birds that has never crashed before. This is how I lost 2 high velocity young birds. I also noticed that it doesn't matter what stage of developement they are at, they will still crash coming out. I had birds that were just still tumbling or flipping singles come all the way down once out of the kit box or swinging of the roof to get into the kit box (English style method).
My conclusion is to not fly the birds if it gets below -10 F. Especially if there is a fresh coat of snow. As I have had a few young birds crash when there is a fresh blanket of snow in the 20s F temps as well. So the combonation of both seems to cause a reaction young birds aren't capable of couping with. I have heard veteran fliers say; cage them out in the snow for acouple of days so they'll get use to it before actually letting them out. I have yet tried this.
This winter I flew in -30 F. Lost a bird and had one injuried. I also flew in -20 F. Lost 2 birds. The rest of the time, it was in the teens or 20s - didn't lose any but did have accidents with a fresh coat of snow.
I also flew thru last Winter but only had roll down problems. I swear not to fly thru the Winter again but the goal was to push the young birds hard so I'll have birds to fly in the World Cup. Big mistake!! It back fired as I have lost some darn good young birds.
A a flip note, my old birds did quite well in the extreme cold weather. On did have a fatal accident but that was more so because it was out of shape and ripped one too close to the roof (5 feet up).
I think I will tuck away any promising young bird thru the future Winters. Kissing away good birds because of poor judgement (know that we should not fly but still) seems to be some thing we all do more then we care to admit.
The lost this winter was: 4 Roll Downed (may be weather related), 3 killed itself having just one fatual mistake (one of these is a old bird), 2 to hawks, 2 on the injury list, and 3 MIA (became confused after bumping to never return again).
That took a big chunk out of my flying program as I only breed a max of 30 birds a year.
Just A fact of life when you open the kit box door... it can be heart breaking sometimes having these birds but I move on.
Thor
P.S. This is just my experience with my family of birds. My old birds that are veteran fliers fair quite well. The only problem I had was they constantly skied out. This has been the normal for all the Winter months I have flown. Winter months are usually when I would suffer overflies.
Why even bother flying in the Winter. There is no better feeling than flying the birds. A way of life when having these birds. All one can do is wish for the best.
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Mount Airy Lofts
132 posts
Mar 07, 2006
1:38 PM
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I don't have any problems staying out side watching the birds in -20 plus F temps. It just takes a day or two to get use to any -0 F temps. Once you do, it seems like just another day. Many times I would be outside for 2 hours in -20s temps. Watching the birds beats looking down at a ice hole in the middle of the lake ICE FISHING. Then again I do both. grin.
Thor
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