Tony-P- wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2026 4:39 pm
But if we have to split cocks and hens how are we going to do that with stock birds and Late breds and we have to keep them separate
Are your late breds pairing up Tony? And are there nest boxes in that section? If not I would leave them together in one section and split the stock birds between your other two sections. The other way would be to leave the stock birds together in a section without nest boxes or nest boxes shut up and split the late breds between the other two sections.
I wouldn’t worry about letting the birds out during the winter. Mine have been shut in for a week. But the wind today blew the door open on the aviary in the section the hens are in while I was at work. I did know until I finished work. The trouble was that the trap wasn’t open so the birds couldn’t get back in. When I went up to the loft a big female sparrowhawk was on one of my late breds. It flew off but the pigeon was badly damaged and I had to cull it. I did eventually get all the others in but it was nearly dark by then.
Winfort Lofts wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2026 11:02 am
As many of you know I'm currently in the midst of a house move!
Due to size and shape of the garden I have had to leave my 12'x6' loft and replace it with two 8'x6' and 6'x4' sheds.
Now, the plan is to use the larger shed for my race team, and the smaller one for stock breeding.
That's all makes sense on paper, and I can work with that!
However my dilemma comes up when thinking about young birds.
Can I race both old and young birds from one loft? Or am I asking for trouble?
I'm already thinking that I may have to race old birds naturally as I'm not too sure how I can go about separating the pairs!
Here some pictures of the bigger shed:
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I think you can race both old and young birds to the same loft but not ideal. I did have my youngsters in with latebreds from last year. Both raced ok but the youngsters didn’t range as well as I would have liked. My brother races all his together and still wins some races with both old and young birds.
Tony-P- wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2026 4:39 pm
But if we have to split cocks and hens how are we going to do that with stock birds and Late breds and we have to keep them separate
Are your late breds pairing up Tony? And are there nest boxes in that section? If not I would leave them together in one section and split the stock birds between your other two sections. The other way would be to leave the stock birds together in a section without nest boxes or nest boxes shut up and split the late breds between the other two sections.
I wouldn’t worry about letting the birds out during the winter. Mine have been shut in for a week. But the wind today blew the door open on the aviary in the section the hens are in while I was at work. I did know until I finished work. The trouble was that the trap wasn’t open so the birds couldn’t get back in. When I went up to the loft a big female sparrowhawk was on one of my late breds. It flew off but the pigeon was badly damaged and I had to cull it. I did eventually get all the others in but it was nearly dark by then.
Andy, the late bred birds all have easy clean perches no nest boxes in that section. so best to leave these together mate.
Then split the stock birds up ?
“Although I’m a Scot, I’d be proud to be called a Scouser.”
What you might consider is having your old birds in the big shed and the young birds in the small shed.
After the old birds are finished you could just sit them on pot eggs to keep them happy then once the young bird racing is done you could split them all up, the cocks in the big shed and the hens in the other.
You might even be able to divide the big shed and fly your old birds on roundabout.
Where there is a will there is a way, old mate!
Tony-P- wrote: Fri Oct 23, 2026 4:39 pm
But if we have to split cocks and hens how are we going to do that with stock birds and Late breds and we have to keep them separate
Are your late breds pairing up Tony? And are there nest boxes in that section? If not I would leave them together in one section and split the stock birds between your other two sections. The other way would be to leave the stock birds together in a section without nest boxes or nest boxes shut up and split the late breds between the other two sections.
I wouldn’t worry about letting the birds out during the winter. Mine have been shut in for a week. But the wind today blew the door open on the aviary in the section the hens are in while I was at work. I did know until I finished work. The trouble was that the trap wasn’t open so the birds couldn’t get back in. When I went up to the loft a big female sparrowhawk was on one of my late breds. It flew off but the pigeon was badly damaged and I had to cull it. I did eventually get all the others in but it was nearly dark by then.
Andy, the late bred birds all have easy clean perches no nest boxes in that section. so best to leave these together mate.
Then split the stock birds up ?
Matt, the 1st thing I would ask myself in your position would be - do I need stock birds and do I need latebreds.?
Obviously yes to start with but maybe you don't need to include them in your future plans.
If I was in your position after 1 or 2 rounds off the stock birds ( maybe start breeding early) I might consider trying to "break" the stock birds or even pass them on to someone else just starting up to get them out of your way. You will by then have those bloodlines.
Wouldnt try it if they have been stock birds for a long time but if they are fairly young it might be an option.
If you decide to keep them as stock, I can tell you that my stock shed is just 5ft x 3ft 6 and I have 6 pairs in there. Its very tight and not ideal but I have another adjacent section of the same size connected by a large closable hatch which they have the run of for 9 months of the year and the other 3 months I use it for my roundabout hens.
There are plenty of ppl race successfully without stock birds.
Good luck mate.
In the off-chance I might see you at Donc, how would I recognise you. I wouldn't hold you up but always nice to say hi and put a face to the fingers on the keyboard.
Dave, I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if Matt might be better to look at whether he really needs stock pigeons. Maybe good racers would breed all the youngsters he needs and take a lot of the pressure off his management.
It would probably be a bit like getting teeth pulled but sometimes we have to make harder decisions I guess.
Diamond Dave wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2026 11:37 am
Matt, the 1st thing I would ask myself in your position would be - do I need stock birds and do I need latebreds.?
Obviously yes to start with but maybe you don't need to include them in your future plans.
If I was in your position after 1 or 2 rounds off the stock birds ( maybe start breeding early) I might consider trying to "break" the stock birds or even pass them on to someone else just starting up to get them out of your way. You will by then have those bloodlines.
Wouldnt try it if they have been stock birds for a long time but if they are fairly young it might be an option.
If you decide to keep them as stock, I can tell you that my stock shed is just 5ft x 3ft 6 and I have 6 pairs in there. Its very tight and not ideal but I have another adjacent section of the same size connected by a large closable hatch which they have the run of for 9 months of the year and the other 3 months I use it for my roundabout hens.
There are plenty of ppl race successfully without stock birds.
Good luck mate.
In the off-chance I might see you at Donc, how would I recognise you. I wouldn't hold you up but always nice to say hi and put a face to the fingers on the keyboard.
I have been gifted a couple of pairs really good birds specifically for stock, from a fancier based in Liverpool (Sunnybank Lofts). I don't know much about them, but I trust the chap who has helped me out!!
If I'm at Doncaster I'll likely be in my orange hoody as seen on my YouTube
