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The Original All Roller Talk Discussion Board Archive >
Good guys!
Good guys!
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Ally Mac
67 posts
Oct 09, 2005
1:58 PM
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I am rather in shock at the moment, Dave Mosely has just told me he is going to lend me his best 8 birds from his current kit till the end of January. I will get them in 2 weeks time and plan to put them down with 4 of my pairs for feeders.
How great is that? I can hardly believe he is willing to do that for a mere novice.
Just goes to show, you never know whats round the corner.
Any advice on making the most of them appreciated, should I try 8 pairs of feeders, I have the room but dont want to complicate things. I will obviously take advice from Dave, just need some time to come backdown to earth!
Al.
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Bluesman
Pigeon Fancier
494 posts
Oct 09, 2005
2:09 PM
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Al.Once you get Dave's 4 pair laying eggs the hen will lay every 10 days or so.I would be sure I had plenty of fosters to cover whatever eggs they will lay in that time period.Unless Dave don,t want you to pump his hens that hard.David
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fhtfire
224 posts
Oct 09, 2005
8:54 PM
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Feels good...don't it! I have had the same thing happen to me....when you need help...someone is there to help...it just shows that you are obviously serious about rollers and doing something right.....Pump them as much as you can....have your fosters all lay eggs...let them lay......as soon as you put the new pairs in....break a couple of fosters eggs....when they lay withing threed days of each other...take the eggs and put them under your foster and discard to old eggs....then remove a couple more fosters eggs....so they will be on the same page as your breeders again. Just let the borrowed birds...raise there own young after the 3rd time of laying eggs....or they will slow down in egg production(that is what I have found)....they seem to get kind of sad and quit laying for awhile...raising young...gets them stimulated and they will lay again.
Make sure that you keep track of what eggs are from who.....LOL! Just pump as many as you can....but let the pumpers...raise there own once and awhile. I have had a couple of my best parents...raise three youngsters with no problem at all...just a thought.
You may want to use wooden eggs to put under your fosters.........it is sad throwing out eggs that have a little bird in them.......It is much easier to pull the foster eggs and put under wooden eggs and then just pull the wooden eggs when....you want them to be in sync with your pumpers.....Hope I made sense......LOL!!....Don't lose them!
rock and ROLL
Paul Fulleron..
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Shaun
132 posts
Oct 10, 2005
10:46 AM
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Al, something of a coincidence, Dave got in touch the other day to see if I wanted to buy 4 youngsters he had from a late round. They've not been flown and I snapped them up; they should be with me in a couple of days. I fancy flying them out to compare them with my Masons. Quite looking forward to that, I am.
If I were you, and given your location in the frozen north, I would would read all the excellent posts here about winter breeding, some of which I recently had responses about. I'm still in two minds as to whether to go for it soon with twenty odd Masons, or wait until spring. As it happens, down here in Surrey, we're having something of an Indian summer, with temperatures still around 70 degress. As a result, my lofts are full of horny pigeons and I'm starting to get eggs sooner than anticipated.
Anyway, onto the perils of your winter breeding program - to minimise the risk of losing youngsters - and that assumes the birds themselves are still willing to breed - it seems that the husbandry skills have to be taken up a notch - so read all of those posts!
Also, don't forget to obtain your rings for 2006. I take it you've joined a club in the UK? If you time it right and start breeding in November, your first youngsters will be ready for banding in the new year.
I'll be interested in how you get on over the coming months. I want to hear about all your cock-ups, so I can avoid doing the same!
Shaun
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Ally Mac
68 posts
Oct 10, 2005
1:19 PM
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Thanks boys, sounds like the way to go.
What are your thoughts on an open loft? at least only for Daves birds, does that create a bit more vigour?
I have 8 pairs to use for feeders, untill yesterday they were my supposidly my best breeders!! started another set of nest boxes today which will give me 12 in total. I have dummy eggs etc.
Shaun. I bet that put a smile on your face, I was in cloud cuckoo land after I got the call!! This is more the wet and windy north up here these days, our kids got sledges 3 years ago and havent been able to use them yet. I have a pal in Perth who travelled round the fly last month with Graham Dexter, I too was invited but was unable to make it, what a scunner, anyway, Sandy came home with 6 unrung youngsters from Dave, apparently from his best breeders. We are heading of for a weeks holiday on Thursday so I will arrange to get Daves birds as soon as I can after we get back.
I have put a timer on the loft light to try and get the birds conditioned. I was also thinking about a frost buster heater, just to keep things above freezing, what do you guys think?? I have read the previous posts and dont want a heated loft as such, but wonder if I should just prevent the temp from going below freezing. Under the circumstances I obviously want to limit any losses as much as possible.
Look forward to hearing everyones thoughts.
Al.
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Shaun
133 posts
Oct 10, 2005
1:54 PM
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Al, one of the things Graham told me some months ago was that he had more problems when he tried heating lofts, etc, than he did when he left everything in its natural state. From the breeding perspective, someone wisely posted recently that there are some parents which are more summer birds and leave the nest too early, thus risking the youngsters before they're fully feathered. Other parents are diehards and will sit there until the babes are fully feathered. I suppose until you actually have the pairs there and give it a go you can't really anticipate what will happen. Of course, it's not just Dave's pairs which have to be able to do their stuff, it's your fosters as well - getting all those eggs synchronised. I did it on a very small scale recently and it worked well - couple of days apart in laying, but no problem.
I remember when I got my first 7 pairs in April this year; it was still cold much of the time and it was only the really determined cocks and hens which wanted to pair up and breed. In theory, it should be easier with Dave's birds, as they're already established pairs. However, maybe they're more used to being split up in the winter, so Mrs Hen can have a rest from Mr Cock, who otherwise won't leave her alone when she just wants to knit or watch telly. Then you come along with your torch in the depths of winter willing them on to shag!
Perhaps we'll compare notes.
Shaun
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Ally Mac
69 posts
Oct 10, 2005
2:07 PM
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Shaun.
I have seen all the previous posts and take everyting onboard about heaters, it really was just something that would kick in to keep things a few degrees above freezing I was considering. I shall take advice on that.
I read in Winners with Spinners how Hemp seed can help stimulate the birds, anyone got any experience on that? would it be worth adding some to my breeding mix?
When I started this year everthing seemed ok with the first round, they all layed within a few days. It was after that things did get a bit more tricky. I would like to think I have gained some experience and am more able to cope this time ( along with some help and advice).
In answer to your previous post I did join the All England club and certainly plan to ring the birds. There are a few of us up here that are keen to get a club going so fingers crossed.
Al.
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