hillfamilyloft

Have yet to pay for a bird. A good friend of mine keeps me stocked. I do buy his bands for him every year. He does not need the money and likes helping newbees. I do have birds others are selling for hundreds of dollars. I have yet to sell any birds. I give them away. The ones worth selling are still in my loft. Randy

I do the Ganus trick. I name all my birds the 019. That way I can sell birds off of them for thousands of dollars. Ha Ha. I let my kids name my birds. I do have a select few I name after golfers. I have Freddy, Tiger, Norman etc. I also have a hen named big birtha and another named great big bertha and another named great great big bertha. I also have a cock named the Walrus. Needless to say he is quite fat. Sometimes I look in the pedigrees for names. Randy Hill

I bred 60 last year and sent 15 to another club to fly. We did not fly YBs so I have about 40 old brids to fly. I will send 25 to the other club this year and breed about 30 for myself. So 60ish YB this year.

These frills are out of a grandson of Ikon, Magic Star, Lady Luck, and My Girl - all world class birds. They are a cross with Vic Miller Birds off of Davids Perfection. They are good stock. I will most likely breed one of the cocks with the frill and both the hens off of this pair.

What I do to help with these problems is that I split my breeding section in two different sections. I have more nest boxes then pairs in each. I let the cocks settle to a box about a month or so before I pair. The cocks that bread last year never leave the section. I also have about half the pairs I leave together from last year. This helps them get settled faster. I have a few pair I use for pumpers that never split. One method that I sometimes use is to lock all the cocks up except one. Introduce a hen and let the hen and cock settle to their box. Lock them up and repeat the process. Another strategy I use when I really get fed up is to put 10 cocks and 10 hens in the section and come back in a week. Let them figure it out. Ha Ha. This works better when you line-breed them all. Randy

I also have the same dilima. I am wanting to split up a winning pair because the hen in my opinion is quite large. Some of the cocks from this pair are bigger than my tastes. About half the offspring are physically good in size and I am breeding these birds. I am thinking of breeding the large hen to a smaller cock and cross the cock to the hen of my second best pair. Line breed the second best cock to a grandaughter crossed into the first pair. Thinking this way I will not have to rid birds due to size, if I can breed them more consistent. Love to here your opinions. Randy

I am establising a family of birds out of three birds brother siter and half sister. I have been crossing them then breeding their young (cousins) together. I then breed the cousins offspring back into the original birds. I would say this is line breeding. I am finding the offspring of the cousins are very strong. I am also finding that they are throwing all the white that I find in the lineage. ie. Flights, splashes and pied. Two bars are throwing some white. I am still unsure whether I want to do true in-breeding. I may experiment with Cock to granddaughter. Randy

I am glad you posted about the frills on the neck. I have two nest mate cocks with frills on their necks. They are a complete outcross. I wanted to breed these cocks to start a new family of birds down from their sire. Should I breed these birds with the frill? Does anyone have any experience with breeding this out of the gene pool. Other than the frill they are perfect specimens. Ok close to perfect. I am going to breed the hens out of the pairing without a frill. Will I see the frill in their offspring? Randy

Birdman, I have two Van Reet Cocks out of Mary and Vector. Have yet to test their young birds, but they are small and look really good. We did not fly youngbirds, but will put them to the test this spring. The young birds are crossed with my Vic Miller stuff. Randy

I use a board on a hinge, much like Redrose lofts uses. You just leave about a 5inch gap for the birds to drop into. I have not had a bird get out yet. I train the first round to the trap and they train the second and third round. The watch eatch other and they are in. I do put the birds through the trap when I introduce them to the fly loft. You can see them on Redrose loft page. Randy

I like to use the Belgium philosopy. Breed a good family of birds, obtain stock that beats you in the races, cross them into your family. If the crosses are better than your birds, keep the newbees and rid the rest. I try and only introduce either performance birds or lineage from winners with good conformation. 30 or so birds will leave my loft this year, one will enter to add to my breeders. She is a Vic Miller bird crossed with a daughter of Scott McCallisters 2000 snow bird winner. She is also a half sister to my best breeding birds. I agree that big, sick, and poor performing birds should go. I do not know who said it, but I read something that made sense to me. If you do not like the looks, feel or performance of a bird, the pedigree means nothing. He also said that winners look good to everyone. Randy

I use Redcell. Can not say whether it is good or bad, but do know you can get a lifetime supply about 1/2 gallon for about $7.00. Try and find anything pigeon vitamins for that money. Frank Mac feeds his Van Reets dog food. Who knows? I do suppliment with Brewers Yeast, Garlic Oil and grit with vitamins. Birds look good.