topnotch uk
253 posts
Feb 10, 2009
12:10 PM
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just wondering if you lads out ther can tell us how many rounds you get from a pair in a season +if you use a extraordinary good hen whats the most eggs you take from her in a season
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spinningdemon
333 posts
Feb 10, 2009
12:35 PM
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Good question, I was wondering the same. And to add to it how many of you use fosters and how many do you allow for each breeding pair?
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David Curneal
www.freewebs.com/dcurneal
www.saltcreekcustomstone.com
In the air since 1973
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j .wanless
642 posts
Feb 10, 2009
1:29 PM
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hi all
i have ruined a couple of 4 year old hens letting them have too many eggs trying to be greedy.it catches up on you.i would say 4 to 5 rounds over a season is ample.dave i have always used feeders.i use the normal garden fantail.theyre calm + make great feeders.i reckon my 6 pair of feeders will raise from 30 to 40 y/brds for me every year.
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Velo99
2057 posts
Feb 10, 2009
1:44 PM
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I use 2 fosters per pair as a rule. Been running as many as 6 rounds off my breeders. I have some hens that are 9 maybe 10 years old and still putting them out. I have a pair of mondaines I might use as fosters this season. Betcha they`ll raise 4 easy.
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V99
blue sky single beat
in cadance performing now
earth beckons the winged
drawn breath is let quickly forth
orchestral movement follows
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/()_)__14___()_)\__\
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wishiwon2
138 posts
Feb 10, 2009
2:57 PM
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I use foster parents. You need 3 prs of foster per donor pair to stay on schedule. I only pull 3 rounds of eggs from a hen without resting her. For those hens used as donors, they will benefit from calcium gluconate added to the water twice monthly, I use 1.5 mL per Liter. I have had hens become calcium deficient and lose muscle tone without the use of calcium supplement. Most of my hens have been able to produce eggs up til 9 or 10 yrs old.
On pairs that raise their own, I try for 4-5 rounds per season. That is about all I can get due to temps and photo-period anyway.
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Jon
"had fun, wish i won 2"
If it were easy, everybody would do it ...
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spinningdemon
334 posts
Feb 11, 2009
1:41 AM
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Thanks for your responses
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David Curneal
www.freewebs.com/dcurneal
www.saltcreekcustomstone.com
In the air since 1973
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Scott
1720 posts
Feb 11, 2009
6:46 AM
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4 is perfect but I've done much more, When I take to many it seems to screw up the laying cycle of the hen later in life on some, so in reality you don't push forward treating her like a LegHorn
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Just my Opinion
Scott
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spinningdemon
337 posts
Feb 11, 2009
8:50 AM
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4 is what I always went for to but I never put to many under fosters. I just have a great hen and wanted to pump her a bit.
Any of you guys play with the polagamy thing? Being from Utah I have to ask LOL
I have a friend that has a family of birds all based on his favorite cock bird and five special hens. I went over once to see his set up but wow what a lot of work.
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David Curneal
www.freewebs.com/dcurneal
www.saltcreekcustomstone.com
In the air since 1973
Last Edited by on Feb 11, 2009 11:41 AM
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LittleJohn
8 posts
Feb 11, 2009
10:10 AM
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do you have to foster them if you polygamy breed? if not it would seem like one busy daddy....
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spinningdemon
338 posts
Feb 11, 2009
11:42 AM
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He would foster out all of the eggs.
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David Curneal
www.freewebs.com/dcurneal
www.saltcreekcustomstone.com
In the air since 1973
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rtwilliams
GOLD MEMBER
364 posts
Feb 11, 2009
12:42 PM
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I plan on 5 or 6 rounds. I use a foster for each pair.
I foster the first round, and then let them set the second. Place wood eggs under when the fosters relay. I then pull the eggs from the fosters at 4 or 5 days after the main pair relay, and repeat.
At least this is my plan, I hope it works.
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RT Williams
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j .wanless
645 posts
Feb 11, 2009
12:45 PM
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rt
it will work a treat thats exactly how i breed + have no probs.
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rtwilliams
GOLD MEMBER
365 posts
Feb 11, 2009
12:49 PM
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J
When do you pull the fosters eggs? Most of mine relayed at about 16 days after htching last year. So I figure day five is about right. I had one pair turn around in 12 days once though.
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RT Williams
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topnotch uk
269 posts
Feb 12, 2009
8:46 AM
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yes i did the same here john.w with my main hens i got to greedy last year now I'm suffering the consecuencias now the 6 best hens don't lay eggs now so ill never do that again so i am just lucky i still got good young from them lol
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Bill from NJ
61 posts
Feb 12, 2009
12:42 PM
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I thought I would jump in and put up my 2 cents worth of info...
I breed only 2 rounds,up to 3 maximum for my breeders per year.
Afterwards, I separate them until the next breeding season.
I was taught that and have stayed with it for many years now, seems to work out just fine for me personally.
Oh, I forgot... I do not use fosters. Just straight breeding.
Regards,
Bill from NJ
Last Edited by on Feb 12, 2009 12:43 PM
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pigeon pete
145 posts
Feb 12, 2009
4:11 PM
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I only breed naturally, but I have heard it said that it is feeding young that wears down a hen rather than laying lots of eggs.
LittleJohn asked, do you have to foster them if you polygamy breed? if not it would seem like one busy daddy....
It seems that most do foster out but it can be done by letting the hen raise her own young, paired to another cock. That way the Daddy is only busy making babies.
The foster cock and the stock hen are paired 'through the wires' but you don't let them mate, then the poor frustrated hen is let out into the Bull cock and he treads her. Do this on a regular basis until the eggs are laid. You then allow the pair to be together to sit and raise. When the young are a certain age the hen is seperated into the other half of the box again and only allowed acces to the bull cock until the second round is laid. It seems like a heck of a lot of work to me but I would consider it if I had an exeptionaly good producing cock that I wanted to found a family on.
Once my pairs are settled I just go in every couple of days to check for eggs. My food station and water fountain are at the door so I don't have to enter very often. A bit of a clean out once or twice a week once the babies are in the nest, and ringing the youngsters when due, and the birds see to the rest of the process,lol
The most I ever bred from a pair under the natural system was in 1998. I just paired up three pair.
The first pair bred me 12 birds the second 11 out of 6 rounds. The third pair I just had 3 rounds from and another pair I put together for one round and got one youngster,lol
I still ended up with 30 youngsters, finished breeding by the middle of July and the breeders flew in the AERC fly. It was a little like all eggs in one basket because I had never bred from any of them before but I wanted to evaluate some new stock I had bought It worked out well with 7 birds from one pair eventually ending up in my old bird team.
Seven or eight from the second pair were culled inside 6 months due to instability, one was a proven roller but I trapped his head in a door in the dark and killed him, only one turned out good in the long term and I've still got her. The cock from the pair that bred 12 has ended up being a foundation cock for my newer family.
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donnie james
233 posts
Feb 12, 2009
8:51 PM
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i like to go 3 to 4 rounds if i could depend on my birds how they will go..............donny james
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