breeding question

symbro · December 1, 2006

i am breeding one cock to two hens. he treads them both just fine but he will only nest with one. i have been locking him in the other nest box with the other hen but he just is not having any... what should i do?

December 1, 2006

Once I had this situation in my loft and the lonely hen,hacthed and raised the young one by herself.What I did was helped her by hand feeding the youngsters.Hope your hen do the same.If I was you I do not force the cock,he might abbonden everything

Wiley · December 1, 2006

really would have been ideal if you had a foster cock.ive done this with 4 hens before.I let them pair up through the wires with another cock.then everyday i chuck the hen in with the cock i want her to have young with.She doesnt mate with the foster cock but is paired up through the bars.Everyday after she is mated to the cock i want the young from.you put her back in her section where she can see the foster cock through the bars they never touch untill the second egg is laid.Its a lot harder to get her to mate with the cock i want her to have young uns with after she has laid the first egg,as she is only interested in the foster cock at the time

birdman55678 · December 2, 2006

You can do this with just about any reasonable amount of hens, all you have to do is have pumpers (other pairs) together so they lay at the same time and then just transfer the eggs. Many flyers around here do that, so they can have more ybs from their better cock birds.

john robo · December 2, 2006

i think theres a system called "the bull system" where you can pair a cock to several hens

Wiley · December 3, 2006

yea john the way i said mate

Wiley · December 4, 2006

You can do this with just about any reasonable amount of hens, all you have to do is have pumpers (other pairs) together so they lay at the same time and then just transfer the eggs. Many flyers around here do that, so they can have more ybs from their better cock birds.

only thing is this system will take alot of time to do it mate,as ull need to pair the cock to each hen seperatly and wait for her to lay before transfereing

birdman55678 · December 4, 2006

only thing is this system will take alot of time to do it mate,as ull need to pair the cock to each hen seperatly and wait for her to lay before transfereing

Wiley you are right. I have used this system with 5 hens and you show the hens to the cock each day and he will tread the hen, then just open up to another hen and he will also tread that one. I have a special pen built, 6 foot long five feet wide and 18 inches tall. The 6 by 5 is split in to two sections and one sections is has 5 portals for the hens. All the hens partitions have a wired and solid slider. For two day I leave just the screen in and the cock will pair up with each hen in turn but be unable to couple with them. It is important for the hens not to be able to see each other. When releasing hens with cock bird be sure the solid plywood is in front of the hens section to close them in. I am not great with words but hope this helps.. Almost forgot. All the hens will have eggs within 10 days and all you have to do is foster the eggs out and then start all over again. I put twice as many pumper pair together at the same time to insure having enough to foster the eggs. Ed

Wiley · December 4, 2006

simiular way to i did it mate very good,was confused as in your previous post i found it not too clear as the one just posted

December 4, 2006

I'd really like to try this bull system, Nigel Cowood explains it at:

http://www.pigeonnetwork.com/articles/NigelCowood.html

birdman55678 · December 5, 2006

Wiley sometimes its hard for me to type what I am thinking. I will read it later and even though I just typed it sometimes I don't even know what I meant.. LOL. Its probably all the years catching up on me. Ed