Mr.JX
1 post
Mar 08, 2006
3:15 PM
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I am new to the hobby and was just wondering if anyone thougth the same as me. I think that the way some perches are set up might affect the way a bird kits. I know that mostly it is on the family. Some kit boxes don't have perches do they kit better. Any experience person know?
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Mount Airy Lofts
135 posts
Mar 08, 2006
4:44 PM
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I noticed that it does matter if your family is known to be a loose kitting family. Loose meaning that if rested for acouple of days they would fall apart on the next release. When kitting, they are quite wide spread in appearence. It would take one or two more release to get them back into a group formation.
I would say that my family falls into that catagory. I have found that this perch system works the best for my family.
All it is, is three sticks running across. Saw it on a video Rick Schoening filmed in England back in the days. I was told by a veteran flier that I need to level off the sticks - one low, one medium, and one high so the birds won't be so fighty. My birds actually don't fight at all on the bars. My theory is to get them use to living as a team so they will work as a team. Any bird that is constantly brickering or fighty or chasing the opposite sex will be culled. Why this system vs others? Well, I tried Box and inverted Vs. Both works well but doesn't compare to what I am using now. My buddy flies full sibblings to most of my stuff and he uses Box perches. His birds will fall apart in matters of acouple of days if rested (kitting). I can get away with 2 weeks rest before they fall apart (kitting).
My goal is to slowly work in tighter kitting but that should fall into place when I pick my own breeders out of the air.
If you have a tight as a grape kitting family. Then they should not have any problems at all with your perch of choice. I should know as I have had such a family.
My theory is that Box perches blocks the birds from seeing each other - their team members. Inverted Vs seem to not so much block their view but still does limit it. It's just what I believe and my own opinion. As the perch system I use now seems to give a over all view off everything inside the kitbox - all the team members are easily viewable.
I believe like feed, housing, etc. is a tool one can use. You just have to experiment to find the best results. That has been what I did and still doing.
Thor
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
420 posts
Mar 08, 2006
5:14 PM
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Interesting set up Thor. Thanks for sharing. Though I have never tried something like this, I prefer the box perches myself. I guess it's one of those "old dog, new trick" sort of things. I built my kit boxes narrow and deep, so the box perches are relatively close facing the other side. My boxes wouldn't be candidates for your bar set up because they are so narrow, but I like the mindset you have with your set. Obviously it works if you are happy with the results.
Brian.
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Tony Chavarria
Site Publisher
515 posts
Mar 08, 2006
6:13 PM
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Hey Thor, I like the idea with the perches, I will give it a try in my new kit boxes. Thanks for including the picture.
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FLY ON! Tony Chavarria
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birdman
128 posts
Mar 08, 2006
7:38 PM
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Hey Thor,
I've used the staggered perches for the past 5 years and I really like the setup. Not all birds will stand on the perches though. Some prefer to stand on the floor. I haven't noticed them kitting any tighter but I like the fact that I never have to scrape any crap!
Russ
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katyroller
2 posts
Mar 08, 2006
7:45 PM
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Thor, Interesting set up. I am in the process of building new kit boxes and have been trying to decide on type of perch to use. How much do the birds crap on each other and how hard is it to catch birds? Also how many birds are you keeping in this kit box? I'm thinking maybe you could mount 2 boards on each side, from front to rear instead of side to side.
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Mr.JX
2 posts
Mar 08, 2006
9:45 PM
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Thor i am the new member who came and saw your kit about a couple of weeks ago , JIM. Its just like people if your stuck with a group of people for a long time the instant you are set free you don't want to be near them anymore. V perches give them more space for a longer time in the kit box but don't make them get use to each other as much.
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
421 posts
Mar 08, 2006
10:13 PM
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Jim, one of the unique things about rollers is that throughout the ages, the natural instinct to "fly together" has been cultivated. Whether each bird was kept in a compartment by themselves or in a kit box, their natural instinct is to "kit" or fly with a group. Kit boxes are a good way to initiate the development of this instinct from the weaning stage. It is a form of bonding and generates a level of comfort to the birds.
This would be a view into one of my kit boxes. For the most part, I prefer the box perches because I can generally fit more birds into one box than with any other perch set up.
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Swamp Fox
41 posts
Mar 09, 2006
5:22 AM
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Brian
Great picture! And very nice looking kit box. Birds don't look to bad either! LOL. Back when I was a kid and had my first birds, these are the perches I was taught to build for my birds. I think they were the best then, and I still do. It affords space for more birds with no fighting and no soiling the birds below. The kitting part will take care of itself with a relatively dark kit box. My birds always kitted well and tight with these perches. Really appreciate the picture. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and this one will be very good for the novices to look at. I know they will appreciate your time and effort. The other kit box above looks good as well. I just prefer yours.
Marion
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Mount Airy Lofts
136 posts
Mar 09, 2006
10:26 AM
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K..,
My box was set in mind to place at least 30 birds easily. This is done so with ease. The problem isn't the space, the problem is my feeder. 30 would be the max I can have without starving the heck out of the rest. My feeder is attached so it is running along the front side of the box. I have cut out a stripe inside the box so the birds can not spoil the feeder or feed. It does the trick well as you do not need to disturb the birds when feeding.
I am running three - 3 foot long bars. My guess-ta-mate is that it should fit at least 8 birds on each. That would be 24 on just the bars (all three). The top shelves should fit another 20. As I only breed 30 max a year out of my 2 to 3 pairs, this one box is all I need. This is also the only box I have to work with as I don't care for too much birds. It sure helps to know that you don't have alot of room to work with... this causes you to breed from your best pairs only.
About spoiling each other. It barely happens. I have more spoiled birds on the Box or Inverted Vs then this setup. The only spoiling done is when they are on the 1 x 1 Welded wired floor - trying to get a drink. So birds being spoiled isn't much of a problem.
I must also add that I still have my Box perches on hand just incase in the future I want to convert back. I had them built so I can slip them in and out with just place and unscrewing a few screws. My Inverted Vs are the same.
Not much maintance is needed. Alittle scrape up here and on the corner of the sticks and the inside is clean. The board I use to catch the dropping is clean about once every week or two - depending on the amount of birds I have in there.
Like I said, I prefer this setup for now but in the future if I wish, I can just swing out these sticks and slip in the other perch setups.
What ever works I suppose...
Thor
P.S. Good to see that you have found this site JM. Didn't know that was you. Sorry that you had to see that one bird kill itself on your first visit. It sure was the fastest spinning young bird I had in the '05 crop. The darn young birds just did not want to fly high that day - hence why I had that accident. The extreme cold temps I believe also played into that fact. Come back for a visit once Spring comes about and you should see a totally different team.
About the birds living together... getting sick of one another. I think that it just some thing they have been built to do. These captive birds built by man to meet his ideals. What you want to do as the trainner is to look out for oddity birds that don't fit this. As I told you, if you let the bird do as they wish, you might as well have pigeons as they won't be Rollers anymore. You really need to visit more lofts.
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Mount Airy Lofts
137 posts
Mar 09, 2006
10:31 AM
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K...,
I currently have 17 birds in there.
It is not that much of a problem to catch the birds. The reason is because I killed all the wild type suckers. I don't find it hard to catch the birds as I do it routinely before I fly them. As I will catch all my old birds and take them out so I can fly the young guys or vice versa. On the same note, I am currently trying to merge the two as my young birds are now yearlings. I hope to merge the two by our first competition fly.
Thor
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Mount Airy Lofts
139 posts
Mar 09, 2006
10:20 PM
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Brian M.,
Very clean kit box. Looks rather new as well.
Forget the kit box, I'll take the birds in it. grin
Thanks for sharing the photo,
Thor
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