Tony Chavarria
Site Publisher
933 posts
Dec 16, 2006
3:22 PM
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Most roller fanciers and owners believe that a well prepared seed mixture is a diet sufficient to keep their beloved rollers strong and healthy. Unfortunately, this statement couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The belief of most experts in avian medicine is that malnutrition probably the common cause of disease in domesticated pigeons and particularly rollers.
These domesticated pigeons that suffer from malnutrition have developed the conditions as a result of being maintained on an almost diet of seeds exclusively.
The effects of malnutrition become more evident during periods of high nutritional demand such as moulting, breeding and/or exposure to disease.
In other words, malnutrition leads the rollers to many other diseases that they could have easily avoided had their diets been more complete and balanced. READ FULL ARTICLE
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FLY ON! Tony Chavarria
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Velo99
733 posts
Dec 16, 2006
3:41 PM
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Okay,
I`ll bite. I feed a variety of seeds as well as constantly changing the quantities. Still in all it consists mainly of wheat and milo.
I usually feed wild bird seed thru the winter. It is 10 percent protein and has six seeds in it. Not all of them have a great nutritional value but each one does have a place in the balanced diet of a roller.
I also feed an 18% Purina Pellet. It has all of the good stuff like the amino acids,vitamins and minerals mentioned in Jay`s article.
A normal feeding for 21 birds this time of year consists of 1/4c pellets 1/4c WBS,1/4c wheat,1/4c milo. The WBS has fatty seeds in it It will make them sky high when I first start them on it again. After a few days they come back down.
This is MY way of feeding. I feel items mentioned in the article should be addressed for the optimum health of your birds. It has been mentioned do your birds roll cuz they like it or cuz they can`t help it?If they are malnourished it might be an underlying problem easily addressed to help your birds perform at thier optimal level.
mtc
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If they don`t kit,they don`t score.
Color don`t roll and peds don`t fly.
It`s a comp thing,understand?
V99
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2006 3:44 PM
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
885 posts
Dec 16, 2006
10:12 PM
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Tony, it depends on whether you are talking about kit birds or loft birds. As you know, the two are totally different. A person doesn't have to Manage their loft birds, but instead provide them with a good, sound pigeon feed diet. This translates to generally healthy loft birds that will breed well and conquer stress.
Kit birds cannot be fed a "rich" diet containing a wide range of nutritional elements. This would lead to lack of control of the birds and their performance will suffer. That said, it is a good idea (and part of general management) that once a person has a seasoned kit, they can be treated well nutritionally to supplement them, then they are wrenched back into performance levels using select feed.
On a side note I found out something I thought was very interesting today at one of our shows. Recently I along with several other show friends gave about 150 total birds we no longer wanted (culls) to another friend of mine who is a bird trapper/gun club supplier. He traps huge numbers of commies. I have always check out the loads of commies in the cages whenever he stops by and most if not all look fine and healthy. He has these massive wire lofts that all of the birds he brings in are put into and kept. As it turned out, over the course of a few weeks, half of the loft birds he had gotten died, while not a single one of the commies fell ill in the slightest. I thought that to be extremely interesting.
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Velo99
735 posts
Dec 17, 2006
7:14 AM
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BMC
This is one point I will take exception to your infinite wisdom of the pigeon.
As I build my family I am looking for birds that get a rush from rolling rather than roll because they can`t control the impulse. If I eventually achieve my goal I want my birds to be as healthy as I can possbly make them. I want to set the stage so they can perform at thier maximum potential.
As I prepare my kits I feel this could be an advantage in two areas.
One,they will be at thier maximum atheletic potential.
Two, what ever method I choose to use in my prep will be more effective because of thier "hyper atheltic "state.
I don`t try to keep my birds "on" all of the time. As I said I want birds that like to roll. The more of these performers I get when I am simply maintaining,them the more potential they have to do well when it is time to compete.
I agree breeders should be handled and fed differently. They have a different mission and differernt nutritional requirements.
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If they don`t kit,they don`t score.
Color don`t roll and peds don`t fly.
It`s a comp thing,understand?
V99
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STARFIRE
114 posts
Dec 17, 2006
8:16 AM
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hi Tony:
I feed my kitbirds straight wheat always.Chicken or turkey pellets for the breeders,Straight corn in the winter.Thats all they need. Works for me for the last 55 years.You guys get carried away with all this nutrition stuff.What does a wild pigeon eat?Disease isnt caused by malnutrition.If you have a malnurished bird and feed it up,it will be fine.It won't catch anything.Disease is caused by viruses and other like bugs.
STARFIRE
Last Edited by on Dec 17, 2006 8:24 AM
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Tony Chavarria
Site Publisher
936 posts
Dec 17, 2006
8:25 AM
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Hey Stan, and you get too carried away with all that crest and mosaic stuff. LOL To each his own. Isn't that what you are trying to get across in your posts? LOL
Also, this IS a roller discussion board, its what we DO. LOL
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FLY ON! Tony Chavarria
Last Edited by on Dec 17, 2006 8:25 AM
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STARFIRE
115 posts
Dec 17, 2006
8:31 AM
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-Hi Tony;
Exactly.A man has to defend himself when the predators come out.
STARFIRE
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smk
17 posts
Dec 17, 2006
11:05 AM
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I feed my kit birds 3 parts wild birdseed 1 part nutrablend gold(14%)and my breeders straight nutrablend the breeders have half oystershell and half red grit in front of them at all times kit birds get grit once a week has worked so far
smk
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
892 posts
Dec 17, 2006
9:32 PM
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Kenny, I want my birds to roll all of the time too. I have bred them that direction and for the most part, they will roll and break every time flown, as long as they are managed. I admire the desire to breed athletic pigeons that can perform their best when fed well, but the problem is that for every generosity you allow for the birds, that is one more step away from controlling them. I don't breed birds I have to starve to put on point. However, I have learned that there is a systematic approach to "peaking" birds and this involves a particular, stringent diet.
If you feed an old bird kit like you feed your loft birds, you can bet your bottom dollar that is a kit you can kiss goodbye on the wrong day as well as one that you don't control, they control you.
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motherlodelofts
1100 posts
Dec 17, 2006
10:12 PM
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There are time's to treat them like pigeons enjoying a good life and that includes the proper nutrition , and then there are time's to treat them like the athletes they are.
Scott
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Alohazona
217 posts
Dec 17, 2006
11:00 PM
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The first seed I throw down for my kit birds is flax.I use very ,very little so it doesn't effect their regular diet to any large degree,just a pinch.Flax has silicon in it for feather blume and helps assimilate their regular diet.I use flax solely for health,but again,just a pinch...Aloha,Todd
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Velo99
738 posts
Dec 18, 2006
5:07 AM
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Brian and Scott.
I think we are achieving the same goals by different means. I don`t like to starve a bird to make it perform either. As I said I am constantly changing the quantities and types of seed. I do underfeed occasionally when I have to get thier attention. I never overfeed. I change the types and quantities of seed to put more weight on them. I have experimented and found what I can do to get them back with out adversely affecting performance.
I guess what I am saying is the more management tools available the closer I can get to my ideal performance.
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If they don`t kit,they don`t score.
Color don`t roll and peds don`t fly.
It`s a comp thing,understand?
V99
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motherlodelofts
1101 posts
Dec 18, 2006
7:19 AM
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Kenny , birds that need to be starved are stiffs, the more stable families you can manipulate qaulity,workrate,and to some degree depth by conditioning which is done by feed and training.
Scott
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Velo99
739 posts
Dec 18, 2006
4:54 PM
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There it is.
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If they don`t kit,they don`t score.
Color don`t roll and peds don`t fly.
It`s a comp thing,understand?
V99
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