Feb. 2018 I'm appalled at all the scamming that's occurring in the pigeon hobby these days , many selling rollers with a well known fanciers name attached , yet they don't even fly the birds , nor have any idea if the bird can perform at all , these people are ruining a sport that has been in decline for decades. They are everywhere in the social media , waiting to pounce on the honest people / fanciers. There are scammers selling birds they don't even own , just pictures pulled off the internet. BUYERS BEWARE !
Don't buy birds from pigeon factories , they are easy to spot > they always have adds & birds for sale. Many of these have sales for every national day of the year , example: "Valentines day sale". GIVE ME A BREAK !
When purchasing rollers its still best to see birds fly & pick them from the air. Seek out fanciers with a reputation of quality birds , there are still a lot of good roller guys out there willing to help others. Ask lots of questions about the family of birds you may want to purchase. Purchasing birds out of click pairs from reputable fanciers is another good option to obtain high quality stock. My first stock roller cock 1205 IRA 80 a Black Check & a Red Grizzle hen 663 DDK 86 both bred by David Kowalski , 1205 pictured above was a proven breeder already for Dave = saving me years in selection processes as I was able to produce quality spin right out of the gate. I purchased several pair of Plona / JL Smith birds from the Late "Tom Stone" on 2 occasions in the early & mid. 90's , these birds produced a high percentage of fast tight spinners for me !
When purchasing racing homer stock > Do some research , data base race records don't lie. The ARPU publishes all club results sent in by individual clubs. Again its rare to obtain a super racing pigeon from most racing pigeon factories !
I learned this the hard way spending thousands on racing stock. Believe it or not most of the best racers I owned in the 1980's were birds given to me.
DETOURING BIRDS OF PREY Jan. 2012 Edited March 3rd , 2017
First of all there is no way or fool proof method to totally eliminate losses to BOP's other than relocating to a new area or locking up your birds forever. I've tried everything from feeding crows > got expensive & time consuming , to Hawk balls , eagle & Owl decoys , hanging DVDs from fishing line in trees , you name it. The BOP's are here to stay ! If a pair of Cooper's hawks leaves an area , another pair will move in provided there is an available food source > song birds at feeders & our pigeons. Falcons can cover huge territories & travel long distances to find food. If feeding young in the nest a pair of BOP's may make more than 1 kill a day. Here in Wisconsin we get Goshawk's that move down from Canada in the winter looking for better food sources. The Goshawk is at least a Cooper hawk X 5 in my opinion. They are nasty & not afraid of crows. Just for the record Goshawks are about the same size as a crow but have a longer tail , Coopers are a bit smaller than a crow with the long tail , Sharp Shinned hawks are about the same size as a racing homer but again have a long tail in comparison to the wing span. Hens & young ones are brownish , males are greyish.
The crow call saves me many birds each year. You must be loud / aggressive with the call , the concept is to break the predator's concentration at the moment of an attack , thus giving the pigeon a window of opportunity to escape. If the hawk is very hungry they may attack again when the pigeons come back down to a normal height , be ready. The crow call rarely works for Goshawks , I lock my birds up for the winter. The crow call seems to have no effect on Falcon's either unless they are on the ground with a kill. A predator call however will break a Falcon's attention , again be loud & aggressive , using the rabbit in distress end & blowing as hard as you can in short 3 to 5 second bursts between breaths , it may scare your neighbors too. In fact when living in town I had the police show up several times on complaint calls for making to much noise. To describe how I use it is hard , but imagine what a wild boar being killed by a lion sounds like. Or a Yeti being mauled be a saber tooth tiger. Both calls cost less than $15 , you can find them in sporting goods department , turkey or predator hunting sections , or order them on line from a sporting / hunting supply company. Scroll down to bottom of this page to view photo of my calls.
Falcons are difficult to deal with , when my rollers are attacked they will break up & climb high in an attempt to be above the Falcon. Unlike a Cooper's the Falcons will also climb to extreme altitudes & they do get above the pigeons & will keep attacking until making a kill. The fancier is helpless at this point ! The really bad news is my roller flying records show a steady increase of losses to Falcons for the last 8 years indicating an increase of Falcon populations to me. Other than white dove releases I don't fly my rollers or racers from October when BOP attacks begin to get vicious until April the following spring.
Cold fronts & drastic weather changes also trigger increased predator attacks. If its in the 60's here in Wis. for say a week , then a cold front blows in & temps. drop dramatically say in the 30's > WATCH OUT !
I do tend to pick my days for flying my rollers as the best spinners are my future stock birds. And for me the BOP's go after the best bird in the kit more often than not ! Light rain , heavy humid air , & a light wind are my best days to fly old birds here , kits stay at a good height & fewer BOP attacks. I don't fly young rollers in those conditions until they have few months of air time under their belts.
My good friend John Johnson of the MFRG club uses an "Air Horn" to scare the BOP's & he states it works well / saving him many birds , he also uses a Jacobin as a dropper with very good results.
I also fly only 1 kit of old bird rollers every year to limit time on a daily basis there are birds in the air , there fore I believe I'm throwing less hours of bait into the sky each day for the predators see & chase. The widowhood system for old birds I use is below. Best of luck to all that have BOP issues also !
FLYING ROLLER HOLDOVERS IN A WIDOWHOOD SYSTEM By Jim Lutz Feb. 2018
One of the main reasons I developed this system was the low number of high quality performing cocks making it into my stock pen as well as work schedule & available time for flying in this fast paced world & less hours of baiting the sky for BOP's.
Bill Pensom states in his book that "good cocks are priceless & good hens are relatively common" , for me & my family of birds this statement is still true 60 years after Bill wrote his book. That and just as it is with Racing Pigeons , roller cocks require more motivation than hens do. In other words old hens are normally more dependable than cocks.
Step 1 > Springtime after the snow has melted I begin flying the cocks first , get them kitting & working usually takes a week or two. I then remove the cocks & place them in another loft / holding pen away from my kit lofts.
Step 2 > Start up the hens in the same kit box until they are kitting & rolling decent.
Step 3 > On a day the hens are scheduled to fly , I basket up the holdover cocks & place the basket on the kit loft roof.
The hens are released from the kit box , then the cocks are released from the training basket. Upon trapping back into the kit box I will leave both sex's together for several days & allow them to pair up. The next time the kit is flown & upon trapping the cocks are removed from the kit box , & placed back into the holding pen before being fed. From then on the birds are flown every other or every 3rd day. This system allows me to fly both sex's together throughout the warm weather months the hens don't pair up as they see their cocks every few days = & no eggy hens. The cocks are much more reliable kitting & performing ! Since the birds can identify their respective mates in the kit while flying often times they perform together , many of them will mate upon landing on the kit box roof before trapping & that's O.K.
After having been flown in this manner for several weeks the cocks become frenzied when placed in the training basket prior to being flown because they realize they are going to see the hens. I have no issues with poor kitting either & I am placing more good cocks in the stock pen than ever before. Normally I fly holdovers for 2 seasons , 2018 will be my 10th year flying rollers in my widowhood system. I have rethought 2 seasons for flying holdovers due to an increase of BOP attacks the past few years. The biggest drawback of this system is the extra handling of the cocks back & forth in carry cage.
This widowhood system may not work for everyone , but it works for me !
Young Bird Imprinting /Weaning / Training revised 12 /18/2018
STAGE 1 > Imprinting begins while my youngsters are in the nest , by the time they are banded young birds are quite aware of what's going on in their loft. I whistle a 4 syllable tune to my breeders at feeding time , the youngsters put 2 & 2 together as shortly after I whistle , mom & dad are feeding them. In short they associate my whistling with dinner time way before they leave the nest.
STAGE 2 > I like to wean my babies before they can fly or when the tail is about 3/4 grown. I have multiple reasons for weaning at this age , teaching fast trapping , the Y.B.'s get a good mental picture of the loft surroundings before they can fly & they learn quickly to eat & drink. If a Y.B. is blinking its eyes & looks confused then it hasn't learned to drink yet. Hold the bird near the waterer & with a finger on back of head push the Y.B.'s beak into water. Sometimes it takes a few attempts but they will get it. When I put my Y.B.'s out on the roof & landing which are unable to fly yet , they are hungry & only fed upon trapping. I never leave them alone however as they are vulnerable at this age until they are trapped in. I am still whistling to them every time they eat. After a week of this procedure they have it down & are imprinted " if I trap fast I eat dinner". Now they are programmed for later life ! This is the system that works for me best as the birds tend to be tamer & I've got more control over them when they become teenagers. This system is more work than using a settling cage but worth it for me. Many fanciers don't wean Y.B.'s until they can fly & use a settling cage on the roof & or landing which works fine for many.
STAGE 3 > Young birds will begin to do take offs & landings then start flying when they are ready. I personally never need to flag my family of birds. The 1st week or so of flying the birds will be all over the place but they eventually start kitting. Now its all about watching the roll develop in the kit. Hope this helps some new fancier's in the hobby & best of luck flying the always amazing Birmingham Roller pigeon !
" Peaking Old English Rollers in the 1st season" > as taught to me by the late Tom Stone (revised April 2019)
Flying Y.B.'s multiple times per day in order to bring out the roll quicker prior to the1st molt when performance begins to go down hill. Once Y.B.'s are kitting well you may begin a multiple per day schedule , put them up at 8:00 am hungry & say they fly 40 min. to an hr. , get them in & feed approx. 1 tablespoon of white millet per 5 birds or 4 tablespoons for kit of 20 plus water , 3 or 4 hours later fly them again , they have digested the small treat of white millet in that time & may only fly 20 to 30 min. this time & repeat treat of white millet + water , 3 or 4 hours later do it all over again & upon getting the kit in feed them their normal meal > for me its 1 tablespoon of wheat per bird , some days the kit may also receive milo depending on weather & length of time the kit flew meaning if they land early. I have on occasion flown a kit as many as 4 times in one day , but mostly twice per day is normal for me & my time schedule. Even so flying a kit 2 times per day is twice as much fun as once a day & the birds learn so much more flying multiple times per day when time allows. Some weeks I'm only able to fly multiple times per day on weekends. If your kit becomes dismal & unwilling to fly or lands early they need a break for a few days > I will feed them some Austrian peas in the last meal of that day & go back to the normal ration of wheat the following day. Remember what you feed on Monday can affect the way the kit will fly on Wednesday. In a perfect world the kit's wing beats while flying are slow like that of a butterfly , a kit that is flying fast & in tight circles will not roll as much or as often as a kit flying slower with the butterfly like wingbeats. Many have failed over the years with the Old English birds & given them up for other strains or families due to fast flying / high flying / lack of performance , when it may have been indeed the fanciers fault by overfeeding. I was guilty of this myself in the past having flown away numerous kits due to over feeding. TO BE CONTINUED
THIS PAGE UNDER COSTRUCTION , More articles to come soon
Don't buy birds from pigeon factories , they are easy to spot > they always have adds & birds for sale. Many of these have sales for every national day of the year , example: "Valentines day sale". GIVE ME A BREAK !
When purchasing rollers its still best to see birds fly & pick them from the air. Seek out fanciers with a reputation of quality birds , there are still a lot of good roller guys out there willing to help others. Ask lots of questions about the family of birds you may want to purchase. Purchasing birds out of click pairs from reputable fanciers is another good option to obtain high quality stock. My first stock roller cock 1205 IRA 80 a Black Check & a Red Grizzle hen 663 DDK 86 both bred by David Kowalski , 1205 pictured above was a proven breeder already for Dave = saving me years in selection processes as I was able to produce quality spin right out of the gate. I purchased several pair of Plona / JL Smith birds from the Late "Tom Stone" on 2 occasions in the early & mid. 90's , these birds produced a high percentage of fast tight spinners for me !
When purchasing racing homer stock > Do some research , data base race records don't lie. The ARPU publishes all club results sent in by individual clubs. Again its rare to obtain a super racing pigeon from most racing pigeon factories !
I learned this the hard way spending thousands on racing stock. Believe it or not most of the best racers I owned in the 1980's were birds given to me.
DETOURING BIRDS OF PREY Jan. 2012 Edited March 3rd , 2017
First of all there is no way or fool proof method to totally eliminate losses to BOP's other than relocating to a new area or locking up your birds forever. I've tried everything from feeding crows > got expensive & time consuming , to Hawk balls , eagle & Owl decoys , hanging DVDs from fishing line in trees , you name it. The BOP's are here to stay ! If a pair of Cooper's hawks leaves an area , another pair will move in provided there is an available food source > song birds at feeders & our pigeons. Falcons can cover huge territories & travel long distances to find food. If feeding young in the nest a pair of BOP's may make more than 1 kill a day. Here in Wisconsin we get Goshawk's that move down from Canada in the winter looking for better food sources. The Goshawk is at least a Cooper hawk X 5 in my opinion. They are nasty & not afraid of crows. Just for the record Goshawks are about the same size as a crow but have a longer tail , Coopers are a bit smaller than a crow with the long tail , Sharp Shinned hawks are about the same size as a racing homer but again have a long tail in comparison to the wing span. Hens & young ones are brownish , males are greyish.
The crow call saves me many birds each year. You must be loud / aggressive with the call , the concept is to break the predator's concentration at the moment of an attack , thus giving the pigeon a window of opportunity to escape. If the hawk is very hungry they may attack again when the pigeons come back down to a normal height , be ready. The crow call rarely works for Goshawks , I lock my birds up for the winter. The crow call seems to have no effect on Falcon's either unless they are on the ground with a kill. A predator call however will break a Falcon's attention , again be loud & aggressive , using the rabbit in distress end & blowing as hard as you can in short 3 to 5 second bursts between breaths , it may scare your neighbors too. In fact when living in town I had the police show up several times on complaint calls for making to much noise. To describe how I use it is hard , but imagine what a wild boar being killed by a lion sounds like. Or a Yeti being mauled be a saber tooth tiger. Both calls cost less than $15 , you can find them in sporting goods department , turkey or predator hunting sections , or order them on line from a sporting / hunting supply company. Scroll down to bottom of this page to view photo of my calls.
Falcons are difficult to deal with , when my rollers are attacked they will break up & climb high in an attempt to be above the Falcon. Unlike a Cooper's the Falcons will also climb to extreme altitudes & they do get above the pigeons & will keep attacking until making a kill. The fancier is helpless at this point ! The really bad news is my roller flying records show a steady increase of losses to Falcons for the last 8 years indicating an increase of Falcon populations to me. Other than white dove releases I don't fly my rollers or racers from October when BOP attacks begin to get vicious until April the following spring.
Cold fronts & drastic weather changes also trigger increased predator attacks. If its in the 60's here in Wis. for say a week , then a cold front blows in & temps. drop dramatically say in the 30's > WATCH OUT !
I do tend to pick my days for flying my rollers as the best spinners are my future stock birds. And for me the BOP's go after the best bird in the kit more often than not ! Light rain , heavy humid air , & a light wind are my best days to fly old birds here , kits stay at a good height & fewer BOP attacks. I don't fly young rollers in those conditions until they have few months of air time under their belts.
My good friend John Johnson of the MFRG club uses an "Air Horn" to scare the BOP's & he states it works well / saving him many birds , he also uses a Jacobin as a dropper with very good results.
I also fly only 1 kit of old bird rollers every year to limit time on a daily basis there are birds in the air , there fore I believe I'm throwing less hours of bait into the sky each day for the predators see & chase. The widowhood system for old birds I use is below. Best of luck to all that have BOP issues also !
FLYING ROLLER HOLDOVERS IN A WIDOWHOOD SYSTEM By Jim Lutz Feb. 2018
One of the main reasons I developed this system was the low number of high quality performing cocks making it into my stock pen as well as work schedule & available time for flying in this fast paced world & less hours of baiting the sky for BOP's.
Bill Pensom states in his book that "good cocks are priceless & good hens are relatively common" , for me & my family of birds this statement is still true 60 years after Bill wrote his book. That and just as it is with Racing Pigeons , roller cocks require more motivation than hens do. In other words old hens are normally more dependable than cocks.
Step 1 > Springtime after the snow has melted I begin flying the cocks first , get them kitting & working usually takes a week or two. I then remove the cocks & place them in another loft / holding pen away from my kit lofts.
Step 2 > Start up the hens in the same kit box until they are kitting & rolling decent.
Step 3 > On a day the hens are scheduled to fly , I basket up the holdover cocks & place the basket on the kit loft roof.
The hens are released from the kit box , then the cocks are released from the training basket. Upon trapping back into the kit box I will leave both sex's together for several days & allow them to pair up. The next time the kit is flown & upon trapping the cocks are removed from the kit box , & placed back into the holding pen before being fed. From then on the birds are flown every other or every 3rd day. This system allows me to fly both sex's together throughout the warm weather months the hens don't pair up as they see their cocks every few days = & no eggy hens. The cocks are much more reliable kitting & performing ! Since the birds can identify their respective mates in the kit while flying often times they perform together , many of them will mate upon landing on the kit box roof before trapping & that's O.K.
After having been flown in this manner for several weeks the cocks become frenzied when placed in the training basket prior to being flown because they realize they are going to see the hens. I have no issues with poor kitting either & I am placing more good cocks in the stock pen than ever before. Normally I fly holdovers for 2 seasons , 2018 will be my 10th year flying rollers in my widowhood system. I have rethought 2 seasons for flying holdovers due to an increase of BOP attacks the past few years. The biggest drawback of this system is the extra handling of the cocks back & forth in carry cage.
This widowhood system may not work for everyone , but it works for me !
Young Bird Imprinting /Weaning / Training revised 12 /18/2018
STAGE 1 > Imprinting begins while my youngsters are in the nest , by the time they are banded young birds are quite aware of what's going on in their loft. I whistle a 4 syllable tune to my breeders at feeding time , the youngsters put 2 & 2 together as shortly after I whistle , mom & dad are feeding them. In short they associate my whistling with dinner time way before they leave the nest.
STAGE 2 > I like to wean my babies before they can fly or when the tail is about 3/4 grown. I have multiple reasons for weaning at this age , teaching fast trapping , the Y.B.'s get a good mental picture of the loft surroundings before they can fly & they learn quickly to eat & drink. If a Y.B. is blinking its eyes & looks confused then it hasn't learned to drink yet. Hold the bird near the waterer & with a finger on back of head push the Y.B.'s beak into water. Sometimes it takes a few attempts but they will get it. When I put my Y.B.'s out on the roof & landing which are unable to fly yet , they are hungry & only fed upon trapping. I never leave them alone however as they are vulnerable at this age until they are trapped in. I am still whistling to them every time they eat. After a week of this procedure they have it down & are imprinted " if I trap fast I eat dinner". Now they are programmed for later life ! This is the system that works for me best as the birds tend to be tamer & I've got more control over them when they become teenagers. This system is more work than using a settling cage but worth it for me. Many fanciers don't wean Y.B.'s until they can fly & use a settling cage on the roof & or landing which works fine for many.
STAGE 3 > Young birds will begin to do take offs & landings then start flying when they are ready. I personally never need to flag my family of birds. The 1st week or so of flying the birds will be all over the place but they eventually start kitting. Now its all about watching the roll develop in the kit. Hope this helps some new fancier's in the hobby & best of luck flying the always amazing Birmingham Roller pigeon !
" Peaking Old English Rollers in the 1st season" > as taught to me by the late Tom Stone (revised April 2019)
Flying Y.B.'s multiple times per day in order to bring out the roll quicker prior to the1st molt when performance begins to go down hill. Once Y.B.'s are kitting well you may begin a multiple per day schedule , put them up at 8:00 am hungry & say they fly 40 min. to an hr. , get them in & feed approx. 1 tablespoon of white millet per 5 birds or 4 tablespoons for kit of 20 plus water , 3 or 4 hours later fly them again , they have digested the small treat of white millet in that time & may only fly 20 to 30 min. this time & repeat treat of white millet + water , 3 or 4 hours later do it all over again & upon getting the kit in feed them their normal meal > for me its 1 tablespoon of wheat per bird , some days the kit may also receive milo depending on weather & length of time the kit flew meaning if they land early. I have on occasion flown a kit as many as 4 times in one day , but mostly twice per day is normal for me & my time schedule. Even so flying a kit 2 times per day is twice as much fun as once a day & the birds learn so much more flying multiple times per day when time allows. Some weeks I'm only able to fly multiple times per day on weekends. If your kit becomes dismal & unwilling to fly or lands early they need a break for a few days > I will feed them some Austrian peas in the last meal of that day & go back to the normal ration of wheat the following day. Remember what you feed on Monday can affect the way the kit will fly on Wednesday. In a perfect world the kit's wing beats while flying are slow like that of a butterfly , a kit that is flying fast & in tight circles will not roll as much or as often as a kit flying slower with the butterfly like wingbeats. Many have failed over the years with the Old English birds & given them up for other strains or families due to fast flying / high flying / lack of performance , when it may have been indeed the fanciers fault by overfeeding. I was guilty of this myself in the past having flown away numerous kits due to over feeding. TO BE CONTINUED
THIS PAGE UNDER COSTRUCTION , More articles to come soon
Crow call left & Predator call on right