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bpd506
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Older FOR's

How hard is it to settle older birds to a new loft?

bpd506
Wayne Sabia
happyhaven@peoplepc.com
5/30/2009, 11:21 am Send Email to bpd506   Send PM to bpd506
 
Socorro
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Re: Older FOR's

Some birds settle real easy and some birds will hop up over the trees once and be gone.I've had a bird a few months old get out after only 2 days in my loft,make 10 loops around the house and do a few flips then be attacked by a Peregrine Falcon,dissapear,then come back in 10 minutes later.

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Kelly Waugh
Rum:30 Lofts
Gabriola Island,B.C.,
Canada.
Ed FORS Newsletter
islanddoves@telus.net
5/30/2009, 10:32 pm Send Email to Socorro   Send PM to Socorro Yahoo
 
Gaditano

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Re: Older FOR's

Older Fehrholz birds are hard to settle AND train. I've had most of mine fly away the first day because they are too strong on the wing and get lost. Many of those that do hang around are lazy.

As far as the Husband Tuffies go, the older birds are easier to settle but are very prone to being lazy.

I don't even attempt trying to settle older birds anymore. If they aren't settled by the time they stop squeaking I sell them to someone else as breeders.

Other strains may be different, I can not say. That's just my experiences with these two strains.


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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
5/31/2009, 6:36 am Send Email to Gaditano   Send PM to Gaditano
 
Bill Sampson
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Re: Older FOR's

Wayne, (and to those un-familiar w/ pigeon keeping.) emoticon

They say that Oriental Rollers are not like Homing Pigeons, and I believe that is true. But I have found, that many have the instinct, to want to go back to what is familiar to them. So most will not stray to far from what is, to them their home or what is very familiar.

Keep in mind that to pigeons, home = food, a mate, babies, safety and the nights roost. But these things are ingrained on them as they grew up. And after a certain point in development/ age, that becomes the ‘record’ for life.

So OK, that’s the homing instinct…, yes BUT !! Homing Pigeons are also bred for ‘memory’ and ‘direction’. So when released from a box hundreds of miles from home, THEY can go, almost straight back to the loft they were raised in. And they keep that memory for a life time. Six hundred miles for a Homing Pigeon is not unusual at all. So when purchasing a Homing Pigeon, you get a squeaker that has NEVER seen the light of day from his home loft. Or you HAVE TO, keep them as prisoners, or stand the GREAT chance (even after years of captivity) of them going straight to the loft they first saw the out of doors.

Oriental Rollers DO NOT have, nor were they bred for, the ‘direction memory’. They just have the desire or feelings of wanting to go back to what they remember as home. So with some older birds, even after a year or more captivity, they’ll still try to go back home. While squeakers, if un-flown, have no ‘outside memory’ of where home is.

So with Oriental Rollers, what we have is: flown birds (sent away from home) will try to go back home (in many cases and of course won‘t get there) if not held captive; squeakers and adult birds that don’t go to far from home base; and “over fly” or “scared off” birds that get lost, for lack of direction to home. So what we have is a breed that is not bred for the “homing instinct”, but a breed that will in many cases when given the chance, go looking for where they were first flown = home. And if they do, they are gone forever….. emoticon

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Bill S.
www.ameronlofts.com
whsampson@sbcglobal.net
5/31/2009, 6:52 am  
 
Gaditano

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Re: Older FOR's

You could be right... whatever the reason, I have lost many older birds trying to settle them and don't recommend the practice.

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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
5/31/2009, 7:59 pm Send Email to Gaditano   Send PM to Gaditano
 
bpd506
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Re: Older FOR's

Thanks to all for the answers. I have never had any luck settling homers, but have with rollers. Wasn't sure about FOR's, guess I'll keep them in. Thanks again


bpd506
Wayne Sabia
happyhaven@peoplepc.com
6/1/2009, 5:39 pm Send Email to bpd506   Send PM to bpd506
 
Socorro
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Re: Older FOR's

Yeah,breed 'em Wayne.BRs are a whole different kettle of fish.I've been finding that out big time this fly season.The BRs go to the perch way sooner than the ORs.The ORs like to sit on the floor when they are young then everywhere else besides the perch after that.That is just one quirk.Depending what strain you have they can be a real -itch to get flying too,if you compare them to my Monty birds.These Husbands need LOTS of patience. emoticon

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Kelly Waugh
Rum:30 Lofts
Gabriola Island,B.C.,
Canada.
Ed FORS Newsletter
islanddoves@telus.net
6/1/2009, 10:43 pm Send Email to Socorro   Send PM to Socorro Yahoo
 
windjammer loft
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Re: Older FOR's

bpd506... after reading your post. I did an experiment with my own birds. I got several OR's(Hunbands)from Alan last year this time. I kept them strickly for breeders(prisoners)never flew them at all. I have an outside flight cage 7x8x8 on my the back of my breeder loft. So the night before I decided to give them some air time,I didn't feed them. The next morning I opened the door to the flight cage and out they went, all 8 of them. They flew around for about 10 min and landed on the settling cage roof. Since they didn't have any type of trap training,it took me about 20 min to persuade them to go in the door of the flight cage. So I would say it all depends on YOU.

Last edited by windjammer loft, 7/29/2009, 7:21 am


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Fly High and Roll On

Paul
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Socorro
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Re: Older FOR's

I tried to give my breeders some lawn time the other day and the ones that were not born here didn't even want to venture past the open door so I didn't force them..Only 2 hens born here went out and they tried to get back into the kitboxes they first flew out of.

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Kelly Waugh
Rum:30 Lofts
Gabriola Island,B.C.,
Canada.
Ed FORS Newsletter
islanddoves@telus.net
7/29/2009, 7:21 am Send Email to Socorro   Send PM to Socorro Yahoo
 
flatheadfisher
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Re: Older FOR's

I gave my birds their vaccines Saturday night. Four birds escaped when I was putting them back in (too many adult beverages?). Luckily, three of the four were good performers that I had flown and stocked. Even though they hadn't been out in over a year, they trapped into their old kit boxes after a long flight and I put them back in the breeder loft. The other bird was one of the first hens I got from Alan three years ago or so. That bird had never been out of my breeder loft. My neighbor called Sunday morning and said one of my birds was on his roof. He didn't care, he just wanted me to know. I released my fliers, hoping she would come in with them. She did not. I didn't see her Monday and I figured the owls got her. When I went into my shop to get some feed yesterday evening, she was sitting on my jointer. I picked her up and put her back. She had helped herself to the feed - her crop was jammed full.

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Michael
www.michaelayers.smugmug.com

flatheadfisher@triad.rr.com
7/29/2009, 2:57 pm Send Email to flatheadfisher   Send PM to flatheadfisher
 


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