Mr.JX
11 posts
Jun 10, 2006
9:15 AM
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Have you ever wonder what ever happens to rollers that don't come home?
Do they eventually die out or survive and become feral.
Have any of you ever seen a feral roller roll?
From the people who gets calls to pick up their birds do they feel full or looks like they starve the whole time they was gone.
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maxspin
38 posts
Jun 10, 2006
9:46 AM
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I would guess that the vast majority would become part of the food chain.
Keith
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fhtfire
464 posts
Jun 10, 2006
2:18 PM
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Well,
Some of mine that got lost live with the commies around my area. Some just do little flips....I have seen some of mine that escaped...doing 20' rolls with the commies. I think..some die...some live. Some will still roll...some will not.
A week before the W/C I lost 3 birds to an overfly. One was a little ruby roller hen....well low an behold...she was on the trap this moring....but I scared her....thinking it was a young bird.....She landed on the roof of my house and I got the Binocs and took a look....yep it was her...a bearded mealy bar.....then she flew off. I hope she comes back and stays...becasue she was a damn good bird. But that was 2 months ago I had lost her.
rock and ROLL
Paul
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Mount Airy Lofts
233 posts
Jun 10, 2006
9:34 PM
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I am a veteran of losing birds. I am almost sure that my family has little to know homing abilities in them. With that said, I have also recovered many birds from call backs.
Usually all within 3 days of losing them. Any call that comes back a week or more later will usually be one that informs me they found a dead pigeon. There has been one exception. I recovered one a month later. It was caught by a lady in an apartment complex. The bird was in great shape and you can clearly see it had been well fed. The lady that found it said it just appeared two days before. It must of trapped in to some one's loft and then escaped to be found by the apartment lady. The lady located about 20 miles away.
My birds are kept hungry so any bird that is lost will usually expire within 3 days. I can see a bird living 7 days if it was well fed by it's owner, as some do (different strains). Back to my birds, I once lost a kit of 15 young birds. The next day, I recieved a call that some one has found one of my pigeons and there was still 7 more on the roof. When I got there, only 4 were left on the roof. All 4 were caught. The next day, I recieved another call three blocks from where I all ready picked up the 5 (the missing 3). All 8 were recovered. The first 5 that were caught were in good shape. The 3 next day were in fair to bad shape. On those 3, 1 died 2 days later (it was too far gone to be saved). On the 3rd day, I recieved another call three miles from the 8 found. That bird was in fair shape. On the same day, 2 returned by themselves. I think I only lost 4 to 5 birds all together.
It is typical for them to be in bad shape the 3rd day missing. They just aren't built to last that long with out feed as they were in Rolling shape and not breeding shape.
I would not expect any bird to make it after 4 days of being missing. Even if recovered, they would be too far gone.
I am pretty much on the speed dail list from our local club Treasurer (he keeps record of our bands) and this animal shelter... grin. I remember this one year, I recieved 5 calls from the same animal shelter.
About rollers living with the commies. I have only seen one. It was about 13 or so years ago. I remember seeing it the first time, it was in bad shape. The bird could barely fly. A week later, I saw it still hanging with the commies. Two weeks later, it was just like another other commie. That was when I saw it roll for the first time. I don't know if it was bad memory or just exaggeration but that bird still remains one of the best rolling pigeon I have ever seen. So yes, it does seem like rollers can and do survive in the wild. As I recall seeing that bird for atleast 3 years after the first sighting.
Thor
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parlorfancier916
30 posts
Jun 10, 2006
10:41 PM
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There are ferrals I've seen roll, Like a year ago I saw about 25 to 30 in a back just roll about 10 foot or so in a kit and land on the roof of a carwash building.. I've caught 2 blues that are now my birmingham foundations and the rest were just left there, there was no bands or anything... Most of them died.. now only about 3 or 4 still exist at the area, the ferrals invaded and took out the rolling gene, and the others did rolldowns or became ill.. 1 has stopped rolling but I know its a roller.. and thats all I can say.. But I remember that because my first pair or squablings were taken from that area and became my stock foundations... I can tell you I never liked pigeons until I got those 2..
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