Using Rollers (pigeons) for training

L

Little Brit

New member
I've been using mostly Chucker to train and the odd quail but kind of pricey. I got my hands on some Rollers today for a cheaper price then the chuckers. Does anyone use these to train. I did use another type of pigeon earlier in the year but hard to find now, are rollers much different or are they strong flyers. Not to familiar with pigeon types.
 
Well went out and trained today for a bit but weather was very hot. Dog pointed well and held point for a go bit. So rollers worked. It was a hit miss with some as some flew nice but some didn't. Might be that they are in a small cage. But all and all they are ok to use.
 
I used them last fall and shot some over my older pointer. Weak flyers. But found out this was due to them not flying on a regular basis to develop into strong flyers.

Now I have 12 of them I use and they fly daily and are strong enough flyers in my opinion to use.

I think the key to any pigeon is letting them fly so they strengthen their wings.
 
Build yourself a bigger coop for them. Make a way in and out and also a way to close them in at night.

They are out of the coop most days all day. Coming and going as they please.
 
Can this be done with rollers as well or just homers (flying back to coop). At what age does this need to start because these birds are about a year old I think
 
I've used rollers for a few years. I allow mine out every morning for the entire day. Plenty strong enough flyers. When they start overcrowding, a couple spend the night outside. That's a good time to knock a couple down for retriever training.
 
I had an old pigeon keeper told me that there are deep rollers, and you can not breed deep rollers to each other, because the deep rollers like the rolling so much, they will roll into the ground and die! Now I was in High school, and he sold me a lot of pigeons which were not great rollers or racers, but they all came home. And maybe he was pulling my leg about the deep rollers. He lived on Yellowstone Whiskey and canned peaches and hjs personal homegrown tomatoes, lived to a 100! I wondered if any one has heard this or not? Truth or fable? I had had a lot of barn pigeons that came home after they nested. Pigeons require a lot of maintenance to do up keep, they are fairly dirty. I use quail because I hunt quail and not pigeons, the quail fly better, and recall better, and are cleaner. By the way I have hunted snipe, no, not your Grandma's nighttime exercise, and I was born at night but not last night!
 
Never seen any of mine do it OldandNew. I asked my mentor who I consider an old timer at 83. He's used rollers for a long time, said he's heard the same story as you but never met a person that said they had seen it with their own eyes, so...
 
Wouldn't deep rollers eventually kill the gene out? I mean if they all roll into the ground and die then whats left for breeding purposes? :D

Love watching my rollers fly every morning. Hell I have them all half tame now! Makes them very easy to catch for training.
 
I have seen rollers roll so hard and deep they do hit the ground and die, I have no idea if they were what were called deep rollers but in a sense yes they do eliminate themselves.....;)....
And to the OP yes rollers are good for training dogs with.
Good Luck
 
I had many rollers as a kid. I took them to shows. We called them "Parlor Rollers" though, never heard the term "deep rollers". I never saw one of ours fly. They'd roll and roll until their heads were bleeding and yes, some would die. I had one that would hit nearly 30 licks before he'd stop and regain his composure. All it took to start it was a simple clap of the hands and the dust and feathers would start flying.

Tumblers are pretty neat too. They roll, but they do it in the air.
 
rollers

I have used doz. and doz. of them. my neighbor had them so when I needed to train I would go to his coop, take what I needed and go plant them, I shot very few as that is not a very big deal in training, the birds just flew back to their coop and I could use them another day. they flew really well and yes every once in awhile they would screw up and hit the ground, the one's that didn't were fun to work with and to watch, it was rare screw up on the birds part

cheers
 
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