Old hens laying

[Andy]

I paired all my pigeons up a week ago last Wednesday. 10 days ago. The stock pairs were paired the way I wanted and the race birds left to sort their own mates out. I had 3 hens lay yesterday and another 4 today. 4 hens in the race section and 3 of the stock birds. The 3 stock hens that have laid are a 6 year old and two 8 year olds. Great to see old hens still laying quickly at a good age.

[George and Morgan]

first to lay for me were a 6 and 11 year old still waiting on the blue hen she is 3 years old

[Trev]

Good to hear your birds have started laying Andy and George yes it's good to see the old hens still laying well, obviously in good condition still not paired mine up yet, going to leave it a bit longer as I just have too many birds so don't want to breed too soon, also I want that Sparrow hawk hen down on eggs before I have babies flying out.

[Murray]

I had a nice surprise, when my old original Van Loon hen, a 2011 hen, laid a pair of fertile eggs after a couple of years barren. After she lost her old mate she paired up with the Jansen x van de Rhree cock who is a 2012 bird. She just kept laying clear eggs until I fostered a pair under them a few months ago. Seems to have stimulated them because out popped these!

[killer]

Best & Worst time of the year ,all tje best Andy ,some good pigeons come from love Matings ,that’s our we all got here , lol

[Andy]

I had a nice surprise, when my old original Van Loon hen, a 2011 hen, laid a pair of fertile eggs after a couple of years barren. After she lost her old mate she paired up with the Jansen x van de Rhree cock who is a 2012 bird. She just kept laying clear eggs until I fostered a pair under them a few months ago. Seems to have stimulated them because out popped these!
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Hope they do well for you Murray.

[Buster121]

Good luck with them or will you stock them

[Murray]

They will probably be kept for stock. I might not get another round out of them.

[Buster121]

They will probably be kept for stock. I might not get another round out of them.

That was my thinking as well

[Andy]

Just my thoughts Murray and I don’t disagree with what your saying about keeping them for stock as they could be the last from them.
My thoughts are:
If you have pigeons in your loft of that age they have probably proved worth keeping. If they have bred well in the past you should by now have several pigeons in the loft with their breeding in them.
And isn’t it funny how people go on about how much better the “modern day” pigeon is compared to the old ones. Yet we are happy to keep youngsters from 10 & 11 year old pigeons from the past.
I do think that this is one of the reasons for so many losses. People are too quick to dismiss the old and tested pigeons and bring in the new big names, most of which are useless.