Sunday 26 December 2010

Taking time to settle

The pairing is taking its time and still have 7 pairs that have not settled together. I have having problems with dominate cocks chasing other cocks from their nest boxes. I have 15 pairs of stock birds together of which 8 are settled. I have resorted to locking the other 7 pairs into their boxes to help settle them and get them started. I am not overly concerned as it is still very cold and early in the breeding season. If anything, it may help with the eggs not arriving until this very cold snap has passed. In addition to the 15 pairs of stock birds, I also have 8 pairs of races in together but these are doing what they please and can pair up when they want to. I have 7 spare hens, of which 6 will races with the other 16 racers. I will update again when the birds have settled and are down on eggs. Good luck to other fanciers who are also pairing up early.

Monday 13 December 2010

Birds Paired

Tonight I finally got round to pairing up my birds. I matched 16 pairs of stock birds and allowed 8 pairs of racers to find their own mate. All went fairly well and I am hoping for very few problems. I have yet to decide if they will be separated and then put back together later in the year or early in 2011. I will make that decision in the next week or so.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Forum Site & Pairing

I have been very busy lately with the transfer of the Pigeonglobe forum. I have revamped it and have renamed the forum Pigeonpixels. The site is accessible through www.pigeonpixels.co.uk website. We have had plenty of new users sign up for an account. So if you haven't joined up yet please feel free to do so.

In the loft the birds have been parted for several weeks and I am in the process of finalising the pairings for this year. I will be putting them together in the next few days for a trial period which I hope will allow them to settle before putting them together properly for breeding. The weather is bitterly cold at present and I will wait for it to warm up a little before allowing them to lay eggs. The water fountains are frozen solid every morning and spending time up the loft in this weather is not much fun to say the least!