My naturals

[Andy]

I have been concentrating mainly on the widowhoods. Partly because it’s a system I enjoy and also because of our race program. I have got some nice hens that won’t race but that doesn’t bother me, they are here to do a job and will be selected mainly for their breeding potential.
But I do have a section of naturals. The section has 8 nest boxes in it. At present they also have access to the section that will be used for the widowhood hens as the hens are in with the weaned youngsters. I was short of cocks, which is why I only have 11 widowhood cocks and not the 12. I have 6 cocks in the natural section. These are my 8 year old Red Grizzle cock who has never gone anywhere and Roxanna wouldn’t let me race him anyway. 3 late bred cocks that I thought would not be suitable for widowhood this year and 2 stray cocks that were only kept to keep a hen happy. 2 of the late bred cocks may have a race or two during the season.
The hens are the 7 year old Grizzle hen from George, who won’t race any more, a 3 year old, three 2 year olds and a yearling. I also have a spare 2 year old and a late bred hen. These were paired up on Boxing Day, the same as the widowhood’s but with nowhere near the same result. These were left to find their own mates which took a long time for some. The 8 & 7 year olds are paired together and did have one youngster, the Red Grizzle in the young bird section. One of the late bred cocks is paired to one of the 2 year old hens but their first two rounds of eggs got broken. They were a bit soft shelled. I didn’t want any youngsters from the 2 stray cocks so those 2 pairs were just given pot eggs. The other 2 pairs took a long time to go down but have a small youngster each now, the other 2 eggs didn’t hatch.
Because of the weather, day light hours and wanting to get the widowhood cocks out in the morning and the fact that at first these naturals hadn’t been in this loft and would want to go into the other loft they haven’t been out much. In the few times they have been out they have all now worked out the trapping into their own loft. They have flown well when out and I will get them out more often as time and the lighter evenings allow.

[Buster121]

Hope all goes well

[Murray]

That's an interesting read, Andy. It is a bit of an issue, because as you say your focus needs to be on the widowers.
As the days get longer your natural pigeons can do more.

[Andy]

As the weather improves the naturals could be given an open loft during the day. It is going to be a bit of trial and error on timings as I need to get the widowhood cocks, the youngsters and the naturals out at different times during the day. All will be worked around the widowhood cocks that will need to go out for an hour morning and afternoon at the same time every day.

[Andy]

Had these out this afternoon. Flying well despite the cold wind.

[Buster121]

Had these out this afternoon. Flying well despite the cold wind.

Good to see

[Devo1956]

Sounds good Andy, keep them going weather permitting.

[Trev]

Good to hear all is going ok for you now Andy I'm sure you will work out the timings once the days get longer and the weather improves
It should be a fun, enjoyable and hopefully successful season for you bruv

[Andy]

I am letting these naturals out most afternoons on an open loft for a couple of hours or so. They seem keen to come out and are flying well. When I let them out this afternoon apart from 3 that are sitting the others flew out straight away, including an 8 year old cock of mine and the 7 year old grizzle hen of George’s, disappeared high into the blue sunny sky and were gone. One of the ones that had been sitting came out and because the others were gone flew around for quite a while on its own. Flying very high then diving down before climbing again and zipping around. Roxanna was out doing a bit of gardening and said that the ones that had disappeared eventually turned up about an hour later. Things going well so far.

[George and Morgan]

get the grizzle on the road again Andy