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Roller pigeons can be a delight to watch as they turn and tumble in the air. A favorite breed to many pigeon trainers, the birds are a fascination to many. Though you can't actually train a roller to roll, as it is part of its intuitive nature, with proper training, you can get the most out of your birds' talent. On the opposite end, without proper training and handling, you can ruin even the best birds--they will become lazy and less entertaining.


Acquiring Birds
To begin with you will need birds, either through your own breeding. or through an experienced fancier. Preferably you should start with squeakers as they are much easier to train than older birds. If you start with older birds these training methods will work, but it will take more time, and breaking bad habits can be difficult. What I recommend is to purchase breeding stock from a loft known for good birds and then raise and train the youngsters that you have bred.

Training Starts When They Are Still In The Nest
When my babies are starting to move around in the nest box I will put a little feed in the box for their parents. When I do this I whistle at my birds and they associate this with food. Before long the babies will peck at the feed, and soon realize that I am the food source. Soon they will squeak and beg for food whenever I am in the loft. My breeding pairs and young kit birds get fed twice a day.


Out of the nest
After the babies are eating pretty well on their own, I take them out of their nest box and place them on the lower perches of the breeding loft. Here they will get to know the other youngsters and their parents can still feed them. Soon they will be going to the flying loft and I think that it is less stressful if they know other birds. I feed them twice a day and always whistle. Make sure that they are eating and drinking enough, or put them back with their parents for a few days. Also watch for scalping from the cock birds. I have a box near the floor for them to hide in and this seems to help.


To The Kit Box
Some fanciers remove youngsters to the flying loft as early as 18 days, I prefer to wait until around 25 days myself as I feel that the extra size and feathering will keep them more comfortable in the flying loft. At any rate move them before they are flying well as they will be hard to control if you don't. Hopefully you will have a group of several youngsters around the same age, If some are a week or so older you can hold them back and train them with the rest. If the ages are much different you should probably train them separately.