Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
1270 posts
Jul 30, 2009
4:26 PM
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Is it possible to breed a roller that is not so dependent? To tweak a kit is one thing but it seems the only way to get maximum performance is with special feeding regimes of mystical and secret proportions. Are elixirs straight off an old time medicine wagon required or can we breed a healthy performing pigeon? Is the roll in the bird or the bottle, the feed or the nest?
Thom
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Bill C
417 posts
Jul 30, 2009
9:51 PM
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Yes, Thom, you can breed some birds that seem to enjoy the rolling even with out breaking them down. Monty talked about them as voluntary rollers.
Some disagree with me but if you pull out birds that have to be fed a strick tight wheat diet to get them to roll, that is what your breeders will also produce. Nothing is 100% this way or that way with rollers. It is a roll of the dice but you want the dice to roll in your favor with more good birds each passing year or with each passing breeders.
If you pick out a bird that is fast and has quality that rolls even when the rest are flat, you can have birds that roll no matter what you feed them. It is best to break them or work them for the most roll possible. I see birds that can roll no matter what,unless the kit is spoked or something but they always settle down and show the roll again. You pick out what you want in the breeding pen and over time it will reflect us all one way or another. Good luck! Bill C
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Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
1271 posts
Jul 31, 2009
6:09 AM
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Thanks Bill, I think that management skills have advanced so rapidly we might be depending on preparation at the expense of quality. I have not been privileged to visit and observe others fly their kits, so I am basing this thought solely on the number of posts that appear on that topic. It just seems to me, the first part of any preparation should start in the brood loft. Quality kits are enhanced with the skills of individual management, but not all the tricks will hold a kit indefinitely. Not in the birds, then the flyer is dependent on timing his kit to peak on fly day at times not of his choosing, a recipe for disaster. Even though I chose not to fly any competitions, I still require the best possible performance from my birds.
Thom
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fhtfire
2017 posts
Jul 31, 2009
5:24 PM
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Thom,
It is not impossible to breed away from the feed can and get birds that actually roll because that is what they are bred to do.
If you pick the birds for your stock that do it day in and day out then that is what you want. I have had birds that really step it up when you really have to tweak them...those birds NEVER make my stock loft. The birds that make my stock loft are the birds that are rolling good most of the time that you open the door....and get better with tweaking.
Of course one persons tweaking is different for another. I will take my birds for example...I dont do alot of tweaking with the feed can...I just do things to make them feel better and get them in good shape. No more no less. The birds are on on comp day because they feel good..not from tweaking them or "Breaking" them down.
My birds dont get that much difference in the feed can when preparing for a comp...they get more fly time to get them in shape and get them to gel as a team....you do find the weaker birds that cant hang with the extra flying....my tweaking is all in the water...that is the only thing that I do really different when preparing for a comp...and they are not things to jack them up or break them down...but to make them FEEL GOOD....or in fireman terms...I am just adding a little fuel to the fire.
Thom...you want to to pick the birds that do it day in and day out without being tweaked...and that is what I pick.....just remember...you only get out what you put in.
rock and ROLL
Paul
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Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
1272 posts
Jul 31, 2009
6:15 PM
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Paul, You made my point better then I did. That is the bird I remember and that is the type I want! My stock birds are coming hard, but the ones I put away have what it takes daily, with no fuss, and no muss.:)
Be safe, my friend.
Thom
Last Edited by on Jul 31, 2009 6:15 PM
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