Parring

[mavrick]

Can someone tell me the best way to pair up, has i have put a couple of pair together and the cock seems to hurt the hen by pecking its head so i seperated them for the time being,  

[pearse1888]

put a nestbowel turned up leaning in the corner .. of the nestbox that way if the cock is hurting the hen she can hop up in there

[pearse1888]

or if you have a spare section put them in there i prefer doing this .. the hen takes to the cock more imo

[rick]

give the hen something to stand on so she can get out of cocks way.. or if u can put partition in box just for a few hrs till cock calms down hope this helps

[owen101]

i use the way of using a cage

to get the cock use to the hen

and this helps and works IMO

[Guest Owen]

Perhaps the birds are not as fit as they should be. The weather is cold and there is not much light. It is the light that really matters because it is the increasing light in the Spring that brings birds into mating condition. As has already been suggested, you can put something into the box to enable the hen to escape from the cock while he is trying to drive her to nest. A block of wood, half a brick or a nest bowl turned over will all help.

If I were you I would not bother with the birds that are not ready to breed, leave them until later. You can pair the birds that were together last year and get some early youngsters that way.

Anyway, what is the hurry?

[owen101]

no hurry in any opiion mine were down before the cold snap

but i have artificial lights in each section

and like i was told it is the light that matters also as owen says

they are all sittin eggs should chip in next day or two