Breeding

[Okitsme]

Hi All,

 

Decided to pair up this weekend as I need to throw away the first round of eggs due to my best hen being a bit of a hussy! I have 5 breeding pairs of which I am going to take babies from two pairs as they are the family I want to concentrate on. Going to use the other three pairs as feeders. Should I put a heater in the loft or will they be ok in this weather? Its almost nerve wracking for me as this is my first time to breed youngbirds for the races. I bred 6 youngsters this year in July but they have not flown yet. Just hope everything runs smoothly.

[Guest]

Be carefull about what you throw away, especially if they are off your best! The hen could be passing on her good genes to the very ones you are destroying! Would it matter the youngsters were of doubtfull fatherhood if they turned out to be superstars?? Its your call, nobody else's!

[Okitsme]

Yeah I could keep the eggs but I am worried who the father would be as she has mated 3 different cocks in the past week. Like I said she is a bit of a hussy. Just want to be sure of the parentage.  ;D Someone else can have them if they want.

[Guest]

Unless you have individual breeding compartments, or you keep them locked in their boxes until laying, (not advisable), then you aren't gonna get 100% guaranteed parentage i'm afraid. If you rate your hen that highly mate, keep the eggs/youngsters! But, like i said, its your call, they are your pigeons, do with them what you see fit! No-one else can make the decisions for you!

 

Whatever you decide though, good luck!  ;D

[thunderboult]

i'd keep the young as well because you can pair them with the young from her in future, i find half brother+sister a good pairing

[Okitsme]

I suppose I could keep the eggs but because I am a novice and have not even had a win yet, I dont know what the pigeons are like that mated with her. I honestly got pigeons from every Tom, Dick and Harry. I know I probably have some pretty useless pigeons (just one or two, mind you) or maybe not. So to be more sure I want to try and control who she mates with. I want to try and build a family from two lines and she just made the wrong choices being a young bird and having an imbalance in her hormone levels!!! ;D She mated (I think) about four or three different cocks (all from my race team).

[Guest]

Don't worry mate, we all have to start somewhere! When i first started as a boy i reared a youngster off a chocolate hen, much to the distaste of my father at the time. He had told me not to! Anyway, i liked this hen, for nothing more than its bonny colour, bearing in mind i was a young kid! The sire was a complete doughnut, no use whatsoever. Anyway, the youngster turned out to be a beautiful pencil blue cock, my fathers favourite colour. He got his eye on this young cock and asked of me what it was. I told him, got a right bollocking, told him i was sorry and would cull it, he said no, he liked it! So we raced this young cock, as a youngster he won 2x1sts, scored in the first six positions of the club 6 times from 8 races, 1000 birds going in the club at the time! Was bird of the year in the club! My first ever winner, and i was captivated ever since, more so with breeding. The chocolate hen turned out to be one of my best ever breeders, found out by mistake!

 

So, if the genes are there my friend, they could quite easily come out! Trust your own judgement, and enjoy what you yourself are doing with your birds! If you think the youngsters/eggs arent what you want, bin them! But once they are binned, they cant prove you wrong can they? You never can tell where the winners are going to come from! Good luck with your birds!

[Guest slugmonkey]

It has been stated a 1000 times on here " What you are looking for cannot be seen " I got 30 + pigeons that have all been 600 miles on BAD races ( 1 race didnt see 1st race bird till 3rd day with 200 + birds on race ) I have these birds in loft at old location and they live like wild pigeons I just feed and water them I band babys from these birds and fly them dont even worry about parents or peds I have given these birds to several people around the country and they have won about 20 races with these birds I can understand wanting to form your own family but I have discovered that if you treat them ALL like champions you will be amazed at how often you are right !!!

[The White Rapido Man]

you may want to breed yourself a few more YB's to account for losses etc....its just you dont seem to have many birds to race with..

 

best of luck with your breeding mate, I hope all goes acording to plan

[timbarra]

:-/

[timbarra]

i take offence inbeing called every tom dick or harry... cough cough david !!

 

[Diamond dave]

Be careful with your timing okitsme, cos I doubt you will get rings in time if she lays eggs now.

Better to try and seperate the sexes if you can until early Jan at least.

Prepare and condition your birds before you start breeding. Then you will have more chance of a good crop of youngbirds.

 

D.D.

[Okitsme]

i take offence inbeing called every tom dick or harry... cough cough david !!

 

 

You should actually know by now that you are just (a) dick. If only you were the only person I got pigeons from I would not be in this position.  ;D