Out Of The Dark

flying fifer · February 17, 2015

Hi All, have weaned off 15 early bred youngsters and studied a DVD on keeping youngsters on 24hrs a day light. Have them set up to go, is there any obvious pitfalls or tips from anyone on site that I can use to assist in this experiment. Thanks in anticipation.

gulkie · February 17, 2015

I tried it about 20 years ago got them to their second last flight wasted my young bird season

The DVD i followed was Sampson bros of USA ,they were never on 24 hrs light And you had

to pull half the tail feathers And when they were half way up pull the other half .i felt that at the

Time i couldnt give them a 100% as i worked long hours ,but in saying that i think if you master

The system you will be hard to beat.i have Plenty of time now ,but im afraid my get up And go

Has got up an went .good luck hope it works for you.

ovy1255 · February 17, 2015

You will be flying y/birds on their last few flight. If you want this system to work get your fed to start y/bird racing later.

flying fifer · February 18, 2015

You will be flying y/birds on their last few flight. If you want this system to work get your fed to start y/bird racing later.

My feelings are the season might end too soon, hence the small amount of birds I'm trying. It has been great being able to spend time in the evening with the youngsters instead of having to rush to get the Darkness curtains closed. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, always been a trier. AW THE BEST

b.massey · February 18, 2015

My feelings are the season might end too soon, hence the small amount of birds I'm trying. It has been great being able to spend time in the evening with the youngsters instead of having to rush to get the Darkness curtains closed. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, always been a trier. AW THE BEST

Best of luck Gavin, If you find it works i'll be first to buy the DVD :emoticon-0140-rofl:

Valiant Fifer · February 18, 2015

Keep us posted on it Gavin.

ovy1255 · February 18, 2015

gav if you are rearing them with the lights on you can cause the parents to start an early moult and ruin some of your old bird races--ok if they are from stock

keep us informed how they are progressing during the year.

white logan · February 20, 2015

gav if you are rearing them with the lights on you can cause the parents to start an early moult and ruin some of your old bird races--ok if they are from stock
keep us informed how they are progressing during the year.

I was thinking of extending light by five hours to rear my show racers and wondered if extending light has any detrimental effects on the parents ?

I intend to take three rounds off them if possible so any input from experienced fanciers would be appreciated

bullcock · February 20, 2015

I have seen a video of this and pulling the tail of a young bird is not my cup of tea.

Tony C · February 20, 2015

I have seen a video of this and pulling the tail of a young bird is not my cup of tea.

Believe you have to cut & pull the last two primary flights as well. Not for me neither.

bullcock · February 20, 2015

Believe you have to cut & pull the last two primary flights as well. Not for me neither.

Harry and Percy pull enough flights out, without us pulling any more.

walterboswell59 · February 20, 2015

ovy is correct in saying the light can interfere with the pairents moult but i think this only happens if the pairents are not right through the moult ie maybe still on there end flight 4or5 years ago when i was playing with december breeding i had the light on from 3to9 at night and everything went ok it was a pretty mild year the following year it was bitter cold in december and some of my stock birds were still on there last flight because it was so cold i thought it would be a good idea to leave the lights on 24 7 as the heat from the bulbs were taking the chill out the air and it stoped my drinkers from freezing which i thought was good but when i handled some of the stock birds after a few weeks i was shocked to fined there end flight was over three inch longer than the rest of the flights so lesson learned have to be very carefull with lights when birds are still moulting but good luck with it m8 let us know how you get on

Andrew suckle · February 20, 2015

Well it works for cally

flying fifer · February 21, 2015

Thanks for all comments and posts. Will try to cover all comments by saying, the birds are bred by the stock birds at a seperate location so doesn't interfere with moult of race birds. Am aware that I will have to cut and pull end flights, not so sure about tail. It is only an experiment to see how they compete with the Darkness youngsters. The main reason for trying it was it allows me to spend time with the youngsters when they are first weaned instead of having to rush to get the curtains up after coming home from work. Will keep you posted on progress and how they perform, will try to get some photos up, thanks again......AW THE BEST

tambla51 · February 21, 2015

Thanks for all comments and posts. Will try to cover all comments by saying, the birds are bred by the stock birds at a seperate location so doesn't interfere with moult of race birds. Am aware that I will have to cut and pull end flights, not so sure about tail. It is only an experiment to see how they compete with the Darkness youngsters. The main reason for trying it was it allows me to spend time with the youngsters when they are first weaned instead of having to rush to get the curtains up after coming home from work. Will keep you posted on progress and how they perform, will try to get some photos up, thanks again......AW THE BEST

Contact Nigel laycock he done well on it