By Linda Hogan
You said: "I have heard that rollers need
to be born before April 10th so that they will be at least 6 months old before
our December show. If they are going to win, they say it is best to have birds
that are 8 to 10 months old. My rollers were unusually late this year. They
hatched in May and June. Should I just not show this year because my birds will
be too young for serious competition?"
Maybe it is a good thing that I live in Kansas, where the only other roller
exhibitor is my good friend Janice Klein. Neither she nor I have ever heard of
these guidelines. We usually do not get started until April with most birds
hatching in May and June. This year my first roller hatched in late May and my
last roller hatched July 1st.
Last year, my young team won the Grand Champion Team at the Lou Abbott Show in
Dayton, Ohio on Thanksgiving weekend. The show was judged by Bill Richardson. My
team scored 256 points. One bird scored 72 points. The team won tour specials
for hollow roll, bass, hollow bell, and flute. The birds did not sing glucke but
a couple scored in schockel, 11 and 10 points. Three birds got 5 points each in
water. The highest scoring bird and his brother were hatched May 25th while the
other team members were hatched June 10th and June 27th. The lowest scoring bird
was the one hatched on June 10th.
Janice won Champion Young Team at the same November show with a 249 team score.
These young birds hatched April 11th, two on May 7th and the last bird hatched
on June 2nd. The highest scoring bird on the team scored 66 points. He scored 16
in hollow roll and bass, 10 in hollow bell, 8 in schockel and flute, and 4 in
water and general effect. Her best scoring bird was the one hatched June 2nd;
the lowest scoring bird on the team was the one hatched April 11th!!
Janice also remembered a very special bird number 2350 who hatched June 5, 1992.
He was the last bird hatched that year. This bird and his nest brother competed
on a team in Minnesota on November 27th at 4:01 pm. The show judge Bill
Richardson and David Bopp commented on 2350 because he was superior in both
hollow roll and bass! He scored 17 in hollow roll and bass, 10 in hollow bell, 8
in flute, 6 in schockel, and 4 in general effect for a total of 62 points. Truly
her best bird was the last one hatched!!!
There are several advantages to late hatched competition rollers. Birds which
are hatched late go into the molt at an early age and they molt much quicker
than the earlier hatched birds. This means a quick molt and not as much singing
until after the molt.
I depend on tutoring to bring out the best song in the young. Since my tutors
are breeders and since they sing very little during the molt, they are not
available to teach the young until after the molt. It seems that the late
hatched birds are anxious to learn from the tutor, perhaps because they a
looking for a song because they did not get much accomplished prior to the molt.
Being a teacher, I appreciate the ancient teaching principle from Buddha that
says, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear". As I apply
that to the birds, when the singers are ready, the tutor appears in their cage.
During the molt, I feed canola rape free choice, daily egg food and hard-boiled
egg plus one or two extras such as bee pollen, sprouted rape and black oil
sunflower, toasted wheat germ, petamine, greens, broccoli, corn on the cob, and
couscous with poppy seed. I do not feed any canary seed until September. I want
the young birds to love rape seed and be During show training, I feed 60% canola
rape and 40% canary seed, sprouted rape and black oil sunflower and exactly 3
sprouted hemp seeds to each bird. To sprout hemp, just keep it covered with
water in the refrigerator. Rinse daily. If a bird is lagging in song
development, I may give him 4 sprouted hemp seeds until he catches up with his
brothers. If a bird acts nervous, I do not feed him any hemp. About once a week,
as needed to increase singing, I offer small amounts of bee pollen. Stop feeding
hemp and bee pollen two or three days before the show.
I encourage you to work with your May and June hatched birds and plan on showing
them at your December show. Remember that none of our team winners were hatched
prior to April 10th and we won at a November show!