babies dying

[alex wight]

I had 6 pairs hatch at the weekend, but came home tonight to find 3 kicked out of the nest, and dead. The others are ok, for now, even the one that had its nest mate kicked out. Why does this happen? i,m pointing towards it being very cold at the moment, and that the adults are sitting too tight to protect their young. Apart from that, i,m at a loss as to what is the reason. Thanks in advance for your replies, alex. :-/

[Guest stb-]

I had 6 pairs hatch at the weekend, but came home tonight to find 3 kicked out of the nest, and dead. The others are ok, for now, even the one that had its nest mate kicked out. Why does this happen? i,m pointing towards it being very cold at the moment, and that the adults are sitting too tight to protect their young. Apart from that, i,m at a loss as to what is the reason. Thanks in advance for your replies, alex. :-/

 

Alex to be honest have never hd anything like that in 40 years m8  ,  mayby and odd egg broke or a nest trampled with a fight .

 

Just watch you dont have a rougue cock  knocking the nests about  or somthing is not frightening the birds of the nest very quickly

[sammy]

  weaklings old ones know and chuck them out the nest its natures way  

[Guest stb-]

  weaklings old ones know and chuck them out the nest its natures way  

 

could also have died with the frosty weather the now and the pairs have thrown them on the floor

[tori.no. nail]

you might find birds getting in wrong boxs when dark ,something frightening them at night .i have had it happen with some cock birds over the years.

[blaz]

had the same last week 3 young dead a few pairs only one egg hatched. two ybs squashed bad start to the breeding season i put it down to the bleep weather. as all went well last year .

[alex wight]

All my birds are locked in their own boxes, so dont have the chance or risk of fighting. The idea of weaklings is interesting. It is freezing here at the moment with drinkers constantly freezing, just hope the rest are going to be ok, as if not its going to be a struggle to get the team i want, i,m sure it will be :-/

[Guest stb-]

Apart from a few stock pairs i paired last week  the rest of my birds are still seperated

 

the weather for the last month or 2 has been welll below freezing most nights.

 

when my birds are paired they nomlly build very big deep nests with straw whic in turn keeps eggs and babies nice and warm and goes a long way to contentment in the loft

 

when you have plenty straw in the nest bowls if there is a fight the young or eggs tend to go down int the straw and not get trampled .

 

with just nest felts or tobbacco stocks tey are much easier trampld and eggs broken

[Guest frank dooman]

this year there is something different going on i now have heard of 4 other fanciers that have had similar situations eggs broken not hathching i put it down to the cold spell but now i wonder

[alex wight]

Apart from a few stock pairs i paired last week  the rest of my birds are still seperated

 

the weather for the last month or 2 has been welll below freezing most nights.

 

when my birds are paired they nomlly build very big deep nests with straw whic in turn keeps eggs and babies nice and warm and goes a long way to contentment in the loft

 

when you have plenty straw in the nest bowls if there is a fight the young or eggs tend to go down int the straw and not get trampled .

 

with just nest felts or tobbacco stocks tey are much easier trampld and eggs broken

 

 

That was another thing a was thinking, that the tobacco stalk nest arent deep enough to keep them at the right temperture. I,m going to get straw for when they go down again, and see if there is any difference. Its all about learning i suppose,  

[alex wight]

this year there is something different going on i now have heard of 4 other fanciers that have had similar situations eggs broken not hathching i put it down to the cold spell but now i wonder

 

Out of 12 pairs, i had 7 hatch, and 4 empty, the other 1 was filled but not incubated properly. I wouldnt have thought anything could scare them as they cant see out. And i always say, that if one can do it then theres no reason why the others cant. Just seems strange, and frustrating :-/

[Guest stb-]

this year there is something different going on i now have heard of 4 other fanciers that have had similar situations eggs broken not hathching i put it down to the cold spell but now i wonder

 

Frank we have never had 3 months of minus 5 degres for 40 years they are saying,

 

most winters have been very mild of late.

 

going back to when you used to get the cold frozen winters most people didnt pair up till end feb mid march them

 

everyone seems to go in Dec nowadays ,  Totally against nature and i think the severe cold has bit a lot of people in the ars

[Guest frank dooman]

yes agree robert but i think there is more to it than that

[alex wight]

everyone seems to go in Dec nowadays ,  Totally against nature and i think the severe cold has bit a lot of people in the ars

 

My preferred time for breeding is febuary, however due to my circumstances of the past couple of years i,m racing against time, to try and get a decent team together. Once that is in place, things should settle down for me. The weather has been brutal this year, and hope is a one of, just a wee bit demoralising when you put all your plans in place for it to go pear shaped so easily and more importantly, out of your control. :-/

[dwh]

this year there is something different going on i now have heard of 4 other fanciers that have had similar situations eggs broken not hathching i put it down to the cold spell but now i wonder

 

funny you say that frank we had three hens gone funny on us and lot of the lads saying the same

[sapper756]

Sorry to hear this Alec, however, if you find your self short of youngsters, give me a bell and I,ll breed you a couple m8

[Guest stb-]

Sorry to hear this Alec, however, if you find your self short of youngsters, give me a bell and I,ll breed you a couple m8

 

good man sapper   nice offer there m8

[OLDYELLOW]

had the same last week 3 young dead a few pairs only one egg hatched. two ybs squashed bad start to the breeding season i put it down to the bleep weather. as all went well last year .

 

had pretty much same one squashed and a load of clear eggs , i put most down to the extreme weather conditions We've all been having , other reasons can be electric lights , bird in wrong boxes or weak birds , but i believe we've all had great breeding seasons in past as we've had very mild weather  

[Guest stb-]

 

funny you say that frank we had three hens gone funny on us and lot of the lads saying the same

 

funny thing aswell the only ones i no that have had probs with hens are the ones who have paired in the cold weather,  most i know that aint paired ,hens are bouncing ;)

 

when we get a bit of cloud cover and some more sunshine things will change around ;)

[alex wight]

Sorry to hear this Alec, however, if you find your self short of youngsters, give me a bell and I,ll breed you a couple m8

 

Thank you Brian, i,m sure all will work out for the best. Not looking at a big team this year, not overly concerned , as long as it doesnt happen in round 2, or 3 or 4   only joking they will get a second go at it, if that fails then its time for sos  ;D

[bigbill]

alex,

give me a shout i a breed you 6 or as many as you need

[alex wight]

alex,

give me a shout i a breed you 6 or as many as you need

 

Sterling offer mucker just like Sapper, i,ll be waiting to see what the next few weeks bring, hopefully not have to take the offer up, but will be in the back of my mind, should i need to. thanks again.  

[Guest IB]

All my birds are locked in their own boxes, so dont have the chance or risk of fighting.

 

Might be either the cock or hen trying to get out of the box. With mine, the pigeon that's not due to sit usually wants as far away from the box as possible. If that's the case it will be jumping at the nest front all along its length, and will think nothing of trampling over the nest bowl, eggs & youngsters too, trying to get out.

[Guest kevin b]

yes agree robert but i think there is more to it than that

 

Me thinks you have a theory Frank, have you found any common denominators in the stories you heard.

 

Seems too wide spread to be anything else, have been listening to our lads over here, simular problems has been freezing for quite a while but wouldnt be as cold as where you are.

 

It has been a long time since we had anything like this weather and its intresting to remember years ago no one went down untill feb at least.

 

Kevin

[alex wight]

 

Might be either the cock or hen trying to get out of the box. With mine, the pigeon that's not due to sit usually wants as far away from the box as possible. If that's the case it will be jumping at the nest front all along its length, and will think nothing of trampling over the nest bowl, eggs & youngsters too, trying to get out.

 

Interesting, as i,ve heard a couple of them do just that. As i say i,m learning, so all these theories are helping me look at my set up.