Selecting next year’s pairings

[Andy]

I am starting to go through the birds I have looking at pairings for next year. I have gone through the cocks and selected the 12 widowhood cocks and 7 natural cocks. I have then selected the hens that I want on natural to be raced a bit with the others being used for widowhood hens. I am looking to breed something from 12 of the 19 pairings, 8 of the widowhood pairs and 4 of the natural pairs. All 19 pairs will rear something with some single rearing and some rearing 2 youngsters. I am looking to pair up on Boxing Day. I will only rear youngsters from the first round and the pairs will be split up when the youngsters are around 14 days old. They will be repaired about a month before the first race.

[Buster121]

That is early for you Andy or is this because of going on widowhood

[George and Morgan]

mine will be easy olr bird to olr bird the checker cock paired to my blue hen and that's it

[Andy]

That is early for you Andy or is this because of going on widowhood

Yes it is early Buster and yes it is because of going over to Widowhood!
The naturals will be treated the same as the widowhood’s at this stage. The reason is I don’t want birds to start moulting to early. Generally the moult starts when sitting the second round of eggs. With this method they don’t start moulting until after the first couple of races because there is the break between the two rounds.
So pairing up on Boxing Day gives a few advantages. Firstly the shop is shut so I have the day to make sure they settle well. It then gets the birds settled into their boxes. They get that extra bond if rearing a youngster. They can then also start going out again after being shut in for the winter. This will be the only time I’ll rear any youngsters apart from the odd latebred from the best ones that have been racing once repaired at the end of racing. I will still be happy to have half a dozen from you later in the year Buster.
They should lay around 5th of January. Hatch around 24th January. The hens will then be removed when the youngsters are around 14 days, 7th February. The cocks will continue to rear the youngsters until around 21 days when they will be weaned, end of February. The birds will then remain split up.
The first race will be about 13th April. So working backwards I want them on widowhood about a week before this date. I want them to be sitting about 10 days on their second round before removing the hens. So continuing to work back. Hen’s laying their second round 26th March, so repaired around 18th March. I find that because they were paired up earlier in the year they will all go down within a day or so of each other. When repaired the second time the naturals will be left together.
It is during these few days of being repaired and sitting the second round of eggs that they will get a couple or so trainers. Because the cocks are paired at this point they can be trained with the naturals.

[Devo1956]

I always paired up on boxing day, it gave me a good platform for my breeding for the coming season. Just used nest felts and deep straw in nest bowls. And straw on the floor to motivate the birds.

[Buster121]

mine will be easy olr bird to olr bird the checker cock paired to my blue hen and that's it

Very easy that George

[Buster121]

That is early for you Andy or is this because of going on widowhood

Yes it is early Buster and yes it is because of going over to Widowhood!
The naturals will be treated the same as the widowhood’s at this stage. The reason is I don’t want birds to start moulting to early. Generally the moult starts when sitting the second round of eggs. With this method they don’t start moulting until after the first couple of races because there is the break between the two rounds.
So pairing up on Boxing Day gives a few advantages. Firstly the shop is shut so I have the day to make sure they settle well. It then gets the birds settled into their boxes. They get that extra bond if rearing a youngster. They can then also start going out again after being shut in for the winter. This will be the only time I’ll rear any youngsters apart from the odd latebred from the best ones that have been racing once repaired at the end of racing. I will still be happy to have half a dozen from you later in the year Buster.
They should lay around 5th of January. Hatch around 24th January. The hens will then be removed when the youngsters are around 14 days, 7th February. The cocks will continue to rear the youngsters until around 21 days when they will be weaned, end of February. The birds will then remain split up.
The first race will be about 13th April. So working backwards I want them on widowhood about a week before this date. I want them to be sitting about 10 days on their second round before removing the hens. So continuing to work back. Hen’s laying their second round 26th March, so repaired around 18th March. I find that because they were paired up earlier in the year they will all go down within a day or so of each other. When repaired the second time the naturals will be left together.
It is during these few days of being repaired and sitting the second round of eggs that they will get a couple or so trainers. Because the cocks are paired at this point they can be trained with the naturals.

A man with a plan I hope it all goes well for you mate, I know you have said before about splitting when young about 14 days but will they be ok with just the cock at that cold time of year

[Andy]

That is early for you Andy or is this because of going on widowhood

Yes it is early Buster and yes it is because of going over to Widowhood!
The naturals will be treated the same as the widowhood’s at this stage. The reason is I don’t want birds to start moulting to early. Generally the moult starts when sitting the second round of eggs. With this method they don’t start moulting until after the first couple of races because there is the break between the two rounds.
So pairing up on Boxing Day gives a few advantages. Firstly the shop is shut so I have the day to make sure they settle well. It then gets the birds settled into their boxes. They get that extra bond if rearing a youngster. They can then also start going out again after being shut in for the winter. This will be the only time I’ll rear any youngsters apart from the odd latebred from the best ones that have been racing once repaired at the end of racing. I will still be happy to have half a dozen from you later in the year Buster.
They should lay around 5th of January. Hatch around 24th January. The hens will then be removed when the youngsters are around 14 days, 7th February. The cocks will continue to rear the youngsters until around 21 days when they will be weaned, end of February. The birds will then remain split up.
The first race will be about 13th April. So working backwards I want them on widowhood about a week before this date. I want them to be sitting about 10 days on their second round before removing the hens. So continuing to work back. Hen’s laying their second round 26th March, so repaired around 18th March. I find that because they were paired up earlier in the year they will all go down within a day or so of each other. When repaired the second time the naturals will be left together.
It is during these few days of being repaired and sitting the second round of eggs that they will get a couple or so trainers. Because the cocks are paired at this point they can be trained with the naturals.

A man with a plan I hope it all goes well for you mate, I know you have said before about splitting when young about 14 days but will they be ok with just the cock at that cold time of year

Haven’t found it a problem before Buster. This section is fairly well insulated and certainly will be once I fit the windows into the Sputnik. By 14 days they should be quite well feathered and starting to feed for themselves. At this stage they will all be fed in their boxes, cocks and young.

[Buster121]

Good luck mate

[Andy]

The problem being Buster that if left much longer than 14 days the hens will start looking to go down again which is what I certainly don’t want as this will trigger the moult to start.