Training Notebook ~ at Runboard.com

Flying Oriental Roller Society
Training the FOR
Training Notebook

Support
Search

runboard.com

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Gaditano

Global user

Registered: 01-2006
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 1622
Avatar

Reply | Quote

Training Notebook

I thought I would keep you all up to date on my progress with training some young birds.

I settled some young birds I bred in a kit box about 3 weeks ago. At the same time I added about 6 birds from Dennis that he had trained at his house. There was a total of 12 young FORs, two trap trained Ferals and an OR/Flight cross breed. I have had these two for years and make good trainers for young birds.

Well, yesterday I keep them without feed and opened the trap and the birds of Dennis' and the trainers hit the door like rockets! The trainers hung around and Dennis's birds shot for the moon without even stopping! They circled a couple of times clapping their wings as if they were happy to be free and were gone.

Two or three of them circled high a few times over the next few hours. Then I only seen them fly over every so often and then it got dark.

My birds didn't even peek out the trap door.

This morning I threw out the trainers and kept the trap shut because we are having 40 MPH winds. At that time I seen two of them fly over, a Red and a Blue. The Red was rolling as he flew away At least some of them are still in the neighborhood. They may come back when they get thirsty. 100 degrees with 40 MPH winds with dry them out fast.

I am not training any more older birds. I am going to start weaning them directly in the kit box from now on. Thing is, these guys are such strong fliers, they end up getting lost because of it.

---
Alan Bliven - Circus Lofts

Member of the National Pigeon Association, Flying Oriental Roller Society, Horseman Pouter Club of North America, Voorburg Shield Cropper Club and the Tucson Pigeon Club

5/21/2008, 10:11 am

Send Email to Gaditano Send PM to Gaditano

Gaditano

Global user

Registered: 01-2006
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 1622
Avatar

Reply | Quote

Re: Training Notebook

I started with 12, sold two because of a previous commitment and there's 4 birds left, all of Dennis' are gone.

I added one very young little squeeker this morning and plan to try it again once these winds let up in a 3-4 days

5/21/2008, 10:17 am

Send Email to Gaditano Send PM to Gaditano

sharpshooters
Registered user
Global user

Registered: 03-2008
Posts: 864

Reply | Quote

Re: Training Notebook

Sorry for the bad luck,I hate losing good birds emoticon

. I had the same thing happen with flying flights a few years ago.I got some good young birds from NY city.They were flown there a few times.I kept them locked up in a pen inside my loft for a while when I let my other flights out.They went in and out of the trap with the settling cage on.The first time I flew them 5 out of 8 drifted off from the flock in their own little kit and made circles until they were out of sight. Nick

---
Nick Grzywacz
grzywacznkl@aol.com

"I hope he doesn't catch that black mottle.....AWH $%*%!!!!"

5/21/2008, 10:42 am

Send Email to sharpshooters Send PM to sharpshooters

Gaditano

Global user

Registered: 01-2006
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 1622
Avatar

Reply | Quote

Re: Training Notebook

I have since added a few young birds to this kit box and have a total of 7 FOR's in there; 6 Fehrholz and one Kelly. There's also 2 Feral cоcks and the one FOR/Flight crossbreed cоck. I use them for training the young birds on their first few times out because they are like droppers. They just flutter around the back yard and it helps settle the nerves of the youngsters the first few times outside. And they can be used as droppers if the FOR's panic.

A couple of days ago I taped the first three primary flights of all the FOR's except one very young bird. I did this so they wouldn't take off and get lost like the others did.

This method works well for older birds because it stops their ascent. On the first day they can't fly higher than 20-30 feet. It gets them on the roof and no more than 20-30 feet off the ground. But that's enough for them to see the four horizons and get homed in so they won't get lost when they have full wings. I use 3" of masking tape. I'll post a photo tomorrow.

Some people pull those flights but it takes 6 weeks to grow back and that's too long for me. The tape will start to fall off in a couple of days and the birds will also get stronger and stronger and be able to take a few labs around the house after 3 days or so.

Everything went as planned. I let opened the trap and the kit box door and them out hungry a few hours before dark and they fluttered around the rooftops acclimating themselves and never left the back yard. The tape worked perfectly. They didn't get any higher than 30 feet and could see the four horizons.

The trainers did their job by settling the nerves of the FOR's.

They all went back in at dusk and to my surprise they all went in through the open trap hole and none entered through the kit box door.

I then fed them and bedded them down for the night.

I'll do the same thing tomorrow only keep the kit box door closed and make them exit through the open trap door. I expect a little stronger flying tomorrow but for the next 304 days it's going to be all about getting homed in.

6/3/2008, 8:17 pm

Send Email to Gaditano Send PM to Gaditano

ReySir
Registered user
Global user

Registered: 04-2008
Posts: 28
Avatar

Reply | Quote

Re: Training Notebook

Hi Everyone,

Alan, the four Fehrholz I received from you, two of them are homed and flying with my 3 fireballl I use as trainer. This bird below has been tail riding 40 to 50 feet ever since I started flying him last week. This past four days, its been landing on the roof lately, but today, I saw his first single roll and flew for 5 to 10 minutes. I do hand toss this bird after all of the birds has gone up because he's been landing on the roof lately and bringing the flock down. I'll try Paul (Sippi) method of yoyo feed and see if I can get it to fly a little longer. Thanks to the members that posted their training methods and experiences for us new to FOR breed makes training easy. One last thing, Alan thanks again for these birds and hope I'll get to see all four of them fly as a kit by the end of this year, and maybe even breed a few for next year.

Rey

6/5/2008, 12:28 am

Send Email to ReySir Send PM to ReySir

sharpshooters
Registered user
Global user

Registered: 03-2008
Posts: 864

Reply | Quote

Re: Training Notebook

Hi Rey, good luck with the birds,keep us posted on how they are doing.I would flag him up or throw some tennis balls or water balloons(they work the best) at him when he tries to land. Nick

---
Nick Grzywacz
grzywacznkl@aol.com

"I hope he doesn't catch that black mottle.....AWH $%*%!!!!"

6/5/2008, 4:43 am

Send Email to sharpshooters Send PM to sharpshooters

Gaditano

Global user

Registered: 01-2006
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 1622
Avatar

Reply | Quote

Re: Training Notebook

Good luck with them Rey. Thanks for coming in and posting, don't be a stranger

Now's the time to break this bird of his lazy flying habits before it becomes chronic. As Nick said, keeping him up is the way to go and he should get the message.

6/5/2008, 7:59 am

Send Email to Gaditano Send PM to Gaditano

Gaditano

Global user

Registered: 01-2006
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 1622
Avatar

Reply | Quote

Re: Training Notebook

Well, on with the training notebook... I didn't let these guys out yesterday evening because the winds were so strong. I'll try again this evening.

6/5/2008, 8:01 am

Send Email to Gaditano Send PM to Gaditano

Gaditano

Global user

Registered: 01-2006
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 1622
Avatar

Reply | Quote

Re: Training Notebook

Here's the pic of a taped wing I promised. This is a Kelly Yellow Grizzle with the first three flights taped together with masking tape.

6/5/2008, 8:29 am

Send Email to Gaditano Send PM to Gaditano

Gaditano

Global user

Registered: 01-2006
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 1622
Avatar

Reply | Quote

Re: Training Notebook

I let them out yesterday evening for a couple of hours before dusk with good results.

I have them out right now and they are doing fine. They are exploring more of the highest point on the roof of my house, which is good because they can then see all four horizons.

I am giving them more time out today. I don't like letting them out too early because it could be disastrous with their wings taped if a hawk should attack. They would be dead in the water. Here, we rarely see a Hawk in the evening and late afternoon.

Soon the tape will start falling off and they can take some small laps around the house.

6/6/2008, 6:19 pm

Send Email to Gaditano Send PM to Gaditano

Add a reply

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Powered by AkBBS 0.9.5b - Link to us - Blogs - Hall of Honour - Chat
Click here to get your own free message board

You are not logged in (login) Board's time is: 11/25/2009, 2:48 am