Do You Let Young Birds Pair Up.

[Diamond Dave]

If so:-
Do you encourage it.
Do you use it to motivate them
Do you allow them to lay and rear.
Would you put a bowl or a box in for them.
Does it affect the moulting process

[Spieker-Loft]

If so:-
Do you encourage it.
Do you use it to motivate them
Do you allow them to lay and rear.
Would you put a bowl or a box in for them.
Does it affect the moulting process

My uncle in 2023 won 27th young bird champion in germany and 1st regional yb champion etc. He had they all paired up all with boxes etc.

We use a similar method with a sliding door. just in a few days from now we are gonna seperate hens from cocks. after that we train them seperatly 5-8x before the races start in 1 1/2 months so they get the idea of their partner or the opposite sex beeing home when i return. its simple but effective. The 2 segments are next to each other with a sliding door on basketing day we just open the sliding door let them together for 10-20 minutes and start basketing. On arrival day they stay together until 7-8pm and then they get seperated again. No boxes no laying eggs or rearing. but it works well. Last year won in 4 races. 2x1st 8th and 33th in combine and 1 of the 2 1sts was in FG which is our transport group because we released together with another combine. We do this purely out of motivation purposes and because we dont want the cocks chasing after the hens when they want to eat and drink etc.

I don't see any difference in moulting with this system but thats different for us anyways because we also darken und use light for our yb's

[king]

Do you encourage it. No, but if it happens you can't stop it unless you split them.
Do you use it to motivate them Yes.
Do you allow them to lay and rear. Yes, because you can't stop a hen laying. I never let them rear.
Would you put a bowl or a box in for them. Yes.
Does it affect the moulting process Yes, it will slow it down.

[Tony-P-]

If so:-
Do you encourage it.
Do you use it to motivate them
Do you allow them to lay and rear.
Would you put a bowl or a box in for them.
Does it affect the moulting process

How old would the Y/Bs have to be to be allowed to pair up

[Devo1956]

I dont encourage young birds to mate up, i want their development to come throgh natural. Less stress on a young hen getting chased around. After racing leaving them to come through the moulting process, when all is completed i would then be planning what would be getting paired up ready for breeding. At all times keeping stress levels down.

[king]

I dont encourage young birds to mate up, i want their development to come throgh natural. Less stress on a young hen getting chased around. After racing leaving them to come through the moulting process, when all is copleted i would then be planning what would be getting paired up ready for breeding. At all times keeping stress levels down.

Whilst I never encouraged young birds to pair, it sometimes happened as mine were all in the same section. Those that did, few actually went to nest and laid. I don't recall a young cock ever chasing the hen. I recall one year having a spare old hen in with the YBs. It paired to a young cock which never chased her, and the old hen never laid, they just messed around on the floor. The cock carded & won pools in the first 4 YB races.

[Devo1956]

I dont encourage young birds to mate up, i want their development to come throgh natural. Less stress on a young hen getting chased around. After racing leaving them to come through the moulting process, when all is copleted i would then be planning what would be getting paired up ready for breeding. At all times keeping stress levels down.

Whilst I never encouraged young birds to pair, it sometimes happened as mine were all in the same section. Those that did, few actually went to nest and laid. I don't recall a young cock ever chasing the hen. I recall one year having a spare old hen in with the YBs. It paired to a young cock which never chased her, and the old hen never laid, they just messed around on the floor. The cock carded & won pools in the first 4 YB races.

Yes King, there are no rights or wrongs in this case, it is all down to how the keeper manages their loft. Also down to the size of the loft for compartments.

[Diamond Dave]

My thoughts were really with my own young birds. I dont have room to split them and they are all natural.
Would you send a young cock driving or is that asking for trouble...

[Andy]

My thoughts were really with my own young birds. I dont have room to split them and they are all natural.
Would you send a young cock driving or is that asking for trouble...

I don’t mind if they do but don’t encourage them. If they do they do. I have had some good results with a young hen feeding a small baby but not something I would aim for.
I think you need to be very careful with a young cock driving. I feel the time shut in the basket would stress them out.