chandlerTX
15 posts
Sep 05, 2006
1:19 PM
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My first group of kit birds is going pretty slow. I have had a learning experience with training these birds to trap. They also were not flying for more than 5 minutes. I tried putting them in a box and released them about 200 yards from the house. I lost 5 birds trying this. They just went to the closest house and stayed there untill they disappered over three days. Last night, the 13 birds left flew for about 10 minutes and were not kitting as usual. After they landed on the roof of the kit box, a hawk swooped down and scared the birds up. They flew up to about 200 feet and kitted tightly. This is the highest they have been yet. They even started to tail ride. It was a bitter sweet moment for me. I have been lucky for two weeks without predetors. Only eleven birds trapped in last night, Two birds flew out of the kit before they landed again and did not show up this morning. I will wait a few days before I let them out again.
Chad
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
711 posts
Sep 05, 2006
7:56 PM
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Chad, it sounds to me that these are very, very young birds
or
They haven't been managed properly.
If they are young birds, they will figure it out. Don't push them, just let them let their instincts take over, but don't let them land anywhere else but your yard more than once or twice.
But since they lag in trapping in and such, my bet is they haven't been managed properly. You have to get them on a routine, feeding them the same amount at the same time of day and flying them every day. They should want to fly, do their thing, then come back down and land, then trap in when you call them in. Any that don't...get no feed that day. They will learn real quick.
Brian.
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Huey
19 posts
Sep 06, 2006
7:38 AM
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My first kit culled due to my own ignorance.
Second kit is flying. Started with 7 birds, Now there is six. One of the six keeps heading to a tree but don't land. When I pulled it out the other 5 kit and fly good. They are 8 weeks old and only will fly ten minutes in the morning and maybe five minutes in the evening. Just started flying on their own last Thursday evening. Actually I think a horse in the corral scared them.
I have not flagged them up, I am afraid they will go to the Powerline or trees. When I see them wanting to land I go to the kit and whistle. They circle and drop down between the Powerline and the trees to the top of the kit box. They act like they are afraid to land if I am not standing there.
They are flying at about 200 feet and playing. Just not for very long.
I think I forced the first kit to the Powerline and trees by trying to make them fly twenty minutes at six weeks of age. I made them afraid of the kit box by flagging them.
I feel like I won the lottery with this second kit. My fear though is they they will develop the habit of flying five minutes and wanting to eat. I am slowly increasing their feed to see if they will fly longer. When they land I put feed in the kit box, they trap with in 10 seconds.
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bman
50 posts
Sep 06, 2006
8:17 AM
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Huey,
At 8 weeks I would feed them all they want once a day.
Put the feed down and give them 10 or 15 minutes,usually by that time everbodys got their fill and pull the feed tray out.When they slow down trapping say to 10 minutes you can start shortening the time you leave the feed in front of them.At 8 weeks they need alot of feed and 10 seconds is pretty darn quick,sounds like they are pretty hungry!Just my thoughts.
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Ron
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RB&R
35 posts
Sep 06, 2006
8:54 AM
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Yes, hawk will help your birds go up high and stay longer, but i can tell you that now he(hawk) found you. what he(hawk)expect from you is to breed 360 birds for him every year. one each day or maybe two.
ANdrew
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chandlerTX
16 posts
Sep 06, 2006
10:23 AM
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Thanks for the input guys. I am starting to train another round of birds and will be doing it a little diffrently. I rushed the first round to fast, and have learned some of the things not to do. I believe the second round should go much better thanks to all the info on this site. I believe I will also try my hand at teaching a bigger bird how to trap as well.
Thanks
Chad
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katyroller
54 posts
Sep 06, 2006
7:59 PM
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Huey, On those young birds I like to fly them twice a day. After the morning flight I only throw a small handful in the feed tray to get them to trap. After the evening flight they get all they can eat in 20 mins.. Anyone that doesn't eat or doesn't get enough is out of luck until the next feeding. I can't stand slow eaters, survival of the fittest. It sounds like you may have them a little too hungry. Also don't worry about those 5 and 10 min. flights. As they get a little older they will start to fly longer and higher on their own. Just make sure you are giving them a good diet to develope good muscle and feather. With my birds, I find once they start flying they get to where they really enjoy their flights and I have to start playing with the feed to keep them from flying too long and too high. Good Luck!
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Dunn2701
11 posts
Sep 07, 2006
10:01 AM
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Also remember it only takes one bird to ruin a kit. that one bird that was flying out can cause the entire kit to do wierd things. Sometimes the chemistry is not there with a kit of birds.
the hawk can hurt you of course with young birds. it can force the babies to be scared of flight and even scared to leave the cage. he is probably around the cage more often than you think. he will harass them as much as he can. until he is gone he will do nothing but hurt you. you might think he is helping because your birds went up but in the long run it hurts. they are going up for the wrong reasons. like that other guy said, managment of feed and air time is important. the birds have to enjoy flight for best performance.
good luck with everything.
dunn2701
cameron hawes
indianapolis, indiana
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Huey
22 posts
Sep 08, 2006
8:37 AM
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My six kept circling towards the tree by their kit. There was one bird that landed in it once for a second. I pulled him Wednesday and yesterday the last five flew a 300 feet and never came close to the tree. I did increase their feed to 5 minutes Wednesday, Yesterday they came down when I whistled, wouldn't trap in, set a couple minutes and went back up. They flew another 15 minutes, I whisled them down and they took about ten minutes to trap in. I cut their feed back to three minutes.
I will fly them twice a day this weekend. Don't have time during the week.
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