SlipSpur
56 posts
May 19, 2006
7:49 AM
|
The day before yesterday I got a wild hair... the young birds have been in the kit box for quite a while... the training cage has been in place for about a week & a 1/2... it was a beautiful day with absolutely no wind ( rare for Okla. )... I decided ta turn the birds out. Most of em did as I expected... just hovered around the top of the box... 1 flew to the top of the loft, but it made it back to the kit box eventually. But... 2 of em took off like rockets... one headed for Mexico & later, 1 headed for Canada... they never looked back. After I was able ta close the trap door, I still had 20 of 22 birds... not bad I guess... I am raising em to watch fly, not look at in a cage. Yesterday I saw 1 of the birds on top of one of my bantam pens... I didn't think I could catch it but went after the dip net and tried anyway... the sucker wanted ta be caught, it never budged. This morning the other one was on top of the kit box... it was a little harder ta catch but never flew, just circled the training cage till I caught it. So... I still have the 22 I started with... now I'm leary of just turning em loose... I'm concidering pulling wing feathers now... is it hard on the birds? Do they bleed much? I know if ya pull wing feathers on a chicken they will bleed and the feathers are hard ta pull. The tape method I've read about on here sounds like it'll work but also sounds like a pain... I've got another 6 of 8 birds ready ta move to the kit box... taping 30 birds wings....... dunno bout all that. Help me out, I want to keep my losses down... but want ta see em flying.
Mark
|
J_Star
437 posts
May 19, 2006
8:49 AM
|
The tape method is not a pain and the best. Once you do it you will know what I mean. But you don't have to , your birds are settled.
Jay
|
siddiqir
213 posts
May 19, 2006
9:08 AM
|
OK, the good part is they made it back. Now those two knows the area very well and probably all others will follow them when ready to fly. Here is little tip when you let the youngsters out for the first time make sure they are very hungry and thirsty. So when they come out they will follow you, just let them hanged out 2-3 times and start building them up...not at once but slowly and you will probably would not lose any thing.
|
SlipSpur
58 posts
May 19, 2006
1:45 PM
|
Well, I'll try the tape... got a durned good looking kit ( I think anyway ;) and don't want to lose any more than I have too... what kind of tape, how many feathers and one or both wings? I know I've read the method before but with all the posts, it'd take forever to find it.
Mark
|
Velo99
431 posts
May 19, 2006
1:53 PM
|
Mark,
What ya need is trap training.Give em half a meal, next morning pull em all,put a little seed in the box. Shove em thru the trap. Give em three minutes and do it again and again and again.Give them most of the rest of the ration. Next day do it again,same deal,three days in a row. Let em out again hungry and they should trap right in. Than you have got to figger out how much feed to give them so they will fly and not be lazy, or starving them down.
good luck
v99
Last Edited by Velo99 on May 19, 2006 1:54 PM
|
SlipSpur
59 posts
May 19, 2006
2:07 PM
|
I've shoo'd and or put em all out in the training cage and lowered the trap several times... they'll go through it just fine... I think what I need to do is install another trap in my training cage... that way they can get back in with the other birds and I don't have to remove the training cage... they can see the birds that way too.
Mark
|
katyroller
30 posts
May 19, 2006
2:16 PM
|
SlipSpur, it sounds like you have already gotten the birds settled. If they are trapping I would just let them out hungry and give them a chance to hang out on the kitbox. I would stay around the area and not let anything scare them off the kitbox roof, they will take off when they are ready. I wouldn't tape them anymore because you want to get them into the air as soon as possible without chasing them up. You may lose one or two but that's part of the game.
|
661roller
19 posts
May 19, 2006
2:23 PM
|
I had a similar experience.....two birds that were not settled enough got up in the air and were out for a day and a half. They surprisingly did trap in and I immediately taped the wings. A few days to a week of that and they are fine to let go again.
J.W.
|
Velo99
433 posts
May 19, 2006
7:05 PM
|
Mark,
If you have had them in the cage for a week and a half how old are they? six weeks. If they came back once they`ll come back again. Yes the wind has been down and I have a bunch of squeaks in the air, Mine seldom see a cage if the wind is down. I set them on the roof of the kitbox while I am feeding and flying in the end of the third week. By the end of the fourth they are usually good to go and fly with the rest of the squeaks. They are going 30-45 minutes now and some are rolling. A few losses are normal some guys say not but....I have no preds.
good luck bro
v99
|
FULLTURN
17 posts
May 19, 2006
7:12 PM
|
No Guts No Glory! Fly them, They know where home is.
Ron
|