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The Original All Roller Talk Discussion Board Archive >
They've been locked down; now I want to fly some.
They've been locked down; now I want to fly some.
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Shaun
197 posts
Nov 09, 2005
11:19 AM
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My locked down for breeding birds, were just babies when I got them. Now, they're 5-6 months old and it has been evident from about 3-4 months of age, which are cocks. Trouble is, only one third of the twenty odd, have turned out to be cocks. So, gone is the cosy idea of a dozen pairs doing their stuff and giving me lots of youngsters to fly out and evaluate. I could rotate the 'spare' hens on the available cocks, so that remains an option. However, with nine spare hens doing nothing, I quite like the idea of flying them out. I could even risk losing some, so I'm not as frantic about that as I might have been a few months ago.
But, here's the problem: one of those spare hens escaped recently. I got her back and so decided to fly her with the others. She's a nightmare - she won't kit and often she goes in the complete opposite direction and height to the others. Two weeks later and there's been no improvement.
I've received some valued responses, having mentioned the problem with this particular bird. Now, imagine, that potential problem nine times over.
From what I've gathered so far, it seems there's a training window which I might well have missed. If I pursue this option, I might have to wait quite a while for these older 'youngsters' to get it together. Indeed, they might never get it together; the window may have shut, never to re-open.
It's been suggested that these older birds might fayre better if flown with babies, ie I should go right back to the start with their training, and take it from there.
What I was wondering was whether anyone has been in a similar predicament and, if so, what techniques were used in an attempt to overcome it - and was it a success?
Cheers.
Shaun
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Ally Mac
73 posts
Nov 09, 2005
1:12 PM
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Shaun.
You have been patient so far, why not continue and then swap the hens round after a couple of rounds? You never know what you might lose. Sounds like they might be a lot of effort to get trained up anyway.
Would it even be worth trying to get a few more cocks from George?
All the best.
Al.
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Shaun
198 posts
Nov 09, 2005
1:43 PM
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Al, it seems that if someone like George has held on to a bird for long enough to know whether it's cock or hen, he will have flown it out. If that bird has passed the initial test and it's proven to be good in the air, then it will be worth an awful lot more than an untested bird from a squeaker kit, the likes of which I have. I couldn't find any such flown and 'tested' birds for sale.
You're right in what you say about the switching of pairs; it's the obvious thing to do - it's just that I'm not very keen on the sheer hassle of splitting up pairs and starting again with others; but, I daresay that will come with experience. What I was hoping was that - instead of waiting for the next generation of birds - I could cut out a few months waiting time (and a generation), by flying out some of these 'orginal' spare hens and perhaps spot a really good one amongst them.
I think I'm resigned to just locking them down for that bit longer.
Shaun
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Velo99
146 posts
Nov 09, 2005
3:49 PM
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Shaun,
You can`t expect this hen to be perfect on her first time out. If you fly her everyday for two week and she still exhibits this behavior then you may have a problem.
If you decide to fly them, they still need to be trap trained and all of the other things that one would do to a squeak to get it ready to fly. If you fly out "the super seven" it might give you a better idea which of these you might like to use in your rotation. Good luck, which ever you choose.
YITS
V99
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