Darkness

[chris h]

can someone explain to me how to put my young birds on the darkness.and how long for and are they in the dark 24 hrs aday and when do i let them out and for how long????

[dal2]

can someone explain to me how to put my young birds on the darkness.and how long for and are they in the dark 24 hrs aday and when do i let them out and for how long????

 

Darken for approx 14 hours a day for at least 10 weeks (some do less). Let them out for execrcise as normal but not straight away after removing shutter/curtain/blind give them time to adjust

[chris h]

Darken for approx 14 hours a day for at least 10 weeks (some do less). Let them out for execrcise as normal but not straight away after removing shutter/curtain/blind give them time to adjust

what benefits do the birds on darkness have?

[dal2]

Your birds are forced into an artificially early body moult. They think its winter basically. This means that in august and september they have an advantage as they are in better feather than the birds who are moulting naturally. Birds that are bear around the neck and face and low on cover will not beat a full featherd bird assuming fitness is correct. Some say that the performance as yearlings declines because of the unnatural moult but havent noticed it yet.

[JADE]

what age are your young birds as should be darkened as soon as they are weaned. otherwise as dal2 says

[David048]

click on my signature and download the attachment - print it and save for next year