walterboswell59

think your right again dal think the second way with one cock is more for when you have found your no one breeder but like everything else in life you need a bit of luck to go with it m8 then once you have one inbreed and line breed around him or her

i agree with both dell and dal that distance birds are a lot harder to find it was my first bull method i spoke about that found my 5th 8th and 13th west section clermont this year if there dams had not been on with the bull cock it might have taken another 5 or 6 years before they were paired to that cock and cock could have been dead and gone by then and maybe me to lol but iwas asked how to find your best breeders not my best distance breeders but as it happens he has bred both and i dont keep pigeons for 5 or 6 races a year or would not race in the fed only the nationals as i think this would be easier for me as im out to win in every race from 60 to 500 miles and i enjoy every win and when i dont get any enjoyment out of winning from any distance id pack them in but maybe thats just me guys

i the lassies are the best john take it easy m8

well done harky

thought you were talking about youngsters just rung craig think they just have thick legs or its banged them off the wires or a tree m8 if the birds not limping nothing to worry about

what age is the youngster craig and could it have fallen out the nest

just a thought m8 got to get alarms then imo

i know its not ideal but you cant beat a good big dog m8

zoom into the house and shut the door m8lol

ok here we go then 6 years ago i talked michael massarella into selling me two direct sons of debarcelona for 1300 pounds they were 11 years old at the time and both were off him paired to two of his daughters one was lady wegan the other daughter barcelona i had been at blackpool that year when the full brother off de barcelona and lady wegan was sold at auction for 3500 pounds think it was a 6 or 7 year old it was a nice pigeon but not a patch on my two old guys they were crackers and i wanted to get as many yb out them as i could one was in my small section and i ran him with 3 hens switching 18 off him but i struggeld with feeders as i was not prepared so my other stock loft has 12 large widowhood nest boxes and a small aviary on it i picked 12 hens and put them in one half of the box and then brought in 12 cocks and let them pick which hens they wanted and which box but they could only get in one half of the box the hens were fed and watered in the box the cocks on the floor in a hopper after 3 days of the cocks crowing at the hens through the spars they settled down to there own hens and boxes i then put the cocks out in the aviary and brought in the other son of de barce and dropped him on the floor of the loft when he saw the hens he started crowing and dancing in circles on floor the hens watched him he then started flying up to each box showing off to the hens they were all ramp and showing up to the old cock so i let the first hen out and he chased her around the floor for a minute then the hen sat down and he treaded her i lock that hen up in her box and let the next hen out the same again a wee chase round the floor and she sat down and hed tread her i let him tread 4 then put him back in his section for 20 mins to have a smoke lol then back in to tread another 4 and a 30 min break and back in for the last 4 each time putting the hen back in her half of the box as soon as the cock had tread her he was then put back in his section and the 12 cocks were alowed back in from the aviary they went straight into there half of there box crowing to the hens and this was repeated every day after 3 days the cock and the hens knew what to expect and as soon as they seen the old cock and i let one out the hens droped down on the floor and sat down hed tread her and back in the box and let the next one out at first it could take 5 to 10 mins of chasing the hen about before she sat down after 4 0r 5 days it was seconds for each hen this was done every day for 18 days untill the hens layed there 2nd egg then i opened the box and the 12 cocks sat on the eggs they did not all lay at the same time from 12 to 18 days as each hen layed her 2nd egg id lock both in when i brought the old cock in to tread the hens that had not layed yet i thought if get 12 or 14 this way im laughing all 24 hatched and reared this way he did not miss one egg and the feeder cocks all went on the eggs no problem this can be done with any amount of hens you want but the first few days takes hours of sitting in loft till all the hens are tread when they get the idea its not so bad but its well worth it if you have the time and dont have lots of feeders if you dont have an aviary then put the feeder cocks in a basket and take them out till the stud cock does his job then put them back in when hes done making sure they cant get in beside there hens only through the nest box spars cup of tea time now guys

just as well no ets stuff about george lucky m8 get yourself some contact window alarms might be enough to scare them off there very loud get them on all your doors

if you think you have a really good cock bird there is another way i tried and got 24 youngsters off my best cock in one round if you have plenty time on your hands its an even better way to make sure you have feeders ready if you wish ill explain it tonight for something to do guys thats if anyones interested of course

my mistake the yb was 1st club 7th section 11th open 1654 birds incase im corrected

agree gogga tried bull but was finding had to spend much more time than i had m8 but id never put them on darkness pal i need to know if they can win whithout giving them any advantage over other peoples youngbirds ive nothing against darkness if your out to dominate yb racing im not if my yb win its a bonus to me and i get more than my share with naturalyb so dont see the point really and could also give me a false perception of how good the youngsters are if there natural and only flying to a perch i know there winning on merit if you get my meaning

correct tony some less some more m8 but with my way you find another one or two great breeders every year or every second year if your top hen bred a winner every nest i would only breed 6 or 8 from her but these hens are few and far between m8 my way of thinking is if you have a hen that breeds you one winner from 6 eggs per year for 10 years is good but breeding 10 firsts in three years is bettter and another allways turns up every other year once you find your best breeders then you can ease up on them but like i say all this is waste of time if you dont work them hard to find them out as this is the key to finding your best breeding stock

its a lot mick but no problem to the hen the whole point is to get a good team of birds now not 1 or 2 a year for 10 or 12 years im 60 mick might not be here in 10or12 years lol my hens run out of eggs at 9 or 10 this way yes but thats ok because im always finding new younger breeders to replace them as for the age thing the yb that won the last race for me this year 1st club 5th sect 11 th open 1500 birds was bred from my 17 yr old cock and a ten year old hen reared by a pair of yearlings so age makes no difference to good breeders its rearing a healthy younster from them thats more important m8 hope this helps

both da if there yb dont perform at racing there out the breeding team m8 i train hard and race hard to find them out there not all good ones the birds that dont win something racing are not bred from only those whose yb and yearlings are winners or there in abundance after two seasons hard training and racing and ready to go the national as 2 year olds are left then i ease up on them when they have proved there worth

forgot to say i also do the same with hens that are breeding winners i run them with 3 or 4 cocks and switch 16 or more eggs off her

think its more to do with west winds and doglegging tyson but it would be nice to get a wee shot of the overfly to m8 lol

thanks andy i try my best m8 if one person gets something out of it im happy

and thats whats called making a horses ass of it

nail on the head andy lol

cracker tony lol

i have been working a system for a few years now andy and i think its the best and fastest route to find your top breeding pairs one of the problems with breeding good birds is you could have a great pair of breeders in your loft and never have them paired together theres to much luck involved in picking the right cock and hen that will click and breed you winners it can take you years to find them when youre only breeding maybe 4 youngsters from them to race so this was my reason to try something that would find the pairs that click and breed winners and i found it starting from scratch first pick out 3 or 4 cocks if they not won anything or your just starting out choose the best bred cocks or cocks whose pairents or grandpairents have won and give these cocks a nest box with plenty of room mine are in single compartments but a good size nest box will do let the cocks claim there box next pick hens the same way as you picked the cocks best bred or closest bred to winners and put them in with the cocks and make sure your hens are not fat or they take ages to lay minds are on 100 percent barley for at least a month and the week be i pair them i even cut the barley back let them rear the first pair and as soon as the hen lays her ist egg of 2nd pair lift it and put it in an old egg box and put a dummy in then lift 2nd egg and put in your egg box mark which pair there from keep the egg box on top of a cuboard at room temp pack the egg box with tissue paper to hold the eggs on there side then just turn the box over every night this stops the yoke sinking to the bottom and sticking to the shell and wipe them once a week with a damp cloth to stop them drying out or a wee fine spray with water you should get 99 to 100 percent hatch up to 6 weeks but a month does me this gives you time get feeders or yearling down to float them under depending on how many birds your working with take 4to8 yb off each pair storing and floating eggs when you have birds to put them under then pick anothere 3 hens and store and float another 4 6 or 8 from the same cock and change the hen again i bred 16 from each cock with four different hens the first year once you get the hang of it you learn how to plan to to have feeders paired ready to float if you think your not going to have feeders ready within six weeks just let the pair rear them till just on hard feeding about 7 8 days then put under a pair that been on eggs 12 days or more and they should take them ok of course all this is a waste of time if you dont train and race the youngsters hard to find out the best youngbird winners or the pair with the most youngbirds left after the yb racing is over the pairs that bred the best or steadyest yb go back together the next year and the cocks that failed are replaced with different cocks and worked the sameway the cocks that failed are kept till there youngsters get to the coast as yearlings then i review them again if still nothing off them showing potential there out for good put on the road or used as feeders when i find a pair that click i will breed 16 to 20 off them every year using the same method its mostly my yearlings i use for rearing the the stock cocks yb as i dont breed from them till they win i now have 16 pair of proven breeders in a very short time that would have taken me 15 years or more to find i also inbreed and line breed back to the best breeders and best winners and thats how i work it andy hope someone finds it helpfull

take it easy m8