y/b darkness

just wonderin how everyone on this is doing? my lot started dropping heavy for first 2weeks but for last week or so seemed to have almost stopped, only second time on this and worried about them hanging on, January bred birds look buggers round neck and face others look like they not dropped a feather

they will hang in there rog a week or 2 difference at weaning can make all the difference ...it takes about 9 weeks for body moult I put mine on it a few weeks late but will still be ok come late june they will have moulted

I also put mine on a couple of weeks late, so they have only been on it for a while.......but I see quite a few feathers in the loft, and I can see the birds definitely moulting....

if your worried about it rog, just check your system is running right, no gaps in the coverings, check times you cover and un cover.....also make sure they bath regularly.

you lads think street lighting can have any effect, noticed last night the light coming through trees, seems everything a bit behind because of long winter, no leaf covering yet

yes I think it can rog, it depends which system of dark you are using........if the section isn't dark enough they wont be fooled into thinking its winter...although it doesnt have to be pitch black.


some of mine are moulting more than others in the same section.

ta david, have been opening doors before going to bed and shutting them before sunrise, didn't like the idea of them not having fresh air, but will have to leave them shut obviously

redrog wrote:

ta david, have been opening doors before going to bed and shutting them before sunrise, didn't like the idea of them not having fresh air, but will have to leave them shut obviously  

can you explain more rog,


im closing up at 4.00pm, then when its dark around 9.30 - 9.45 pm I got take the boards off again....this lets them have a natural sun rise the next morning around 5 - 5.30 or whenever day breaks.

alternatively other times I had done the dark system ive covered up at 6.00pm and left them on until 9.00am the next morning.


I prefer what im doing now as it doesn't restrict ventilation all night, plus they have a natural day break, its more natural I think.

We have our birds on the Darkness System also.

This is how I do it - I feed the young birds at 16:15 hours (4 fifteen o'cklock) and shut them up at 17:00 hrs (5 o'clock).

I have made some blackout panels out the the kind of stuff estate agents use to make the 'For Sale' signs out of, but in black. (you can now buy this stuff from eBay UK very easily). These panels fit on the Inside of the 4 front windows to the loft.

Just before I go to bed, I go down to the loft and take down HALF the panels. In that way the birds get NATURAL daylight.

There is a load of old tosh talked about the darkness system. the only thing you need to bare in mins is -
The birds LESS daylight than darkness. Also it is not vital to have the young bird loft TOTALLY dark.

I have done this with our young birds ever since I came back to the sport over 18 years ago. When we were in the UK before we went to frogland, we won the young bird championship in our club every year, won the feds' Young bird championship - that was the last we entered before going to frogland. There were only THREE birds back for Picauville, France in race time and we had two of them.

In France, we were always in the top 3 on every young bird race. So at least I know my system works. But is not the only good system out there.

I hope this helps

i would go in the darkness section when its dark outside and see what effect that street lighting is having but would think its ok it don't have to be pitch black we feed at 1pm and darken at 4pm take covers off about 10pm I like a few hours light after the feed atb

Had mine on dark then got yb sickness but that's all sorted now thank God.. Just starting to put them back on it now.but must admit I do hate it but need to stay on it to compete with having a big team...I am always late with mine anyway but it makes no difference to mine in my eyes

David wrote:

redrog wrote:

ta david, have been opening doors before going to bed and shutting them before sunrise, didn't like the idea of them not having fresh air, but will have to leave them shut obviously  

can you explain more rog,


im closing up at 4.00pm, then when its dark around 9.30 - 9.45 pm I got take the boards off again....this lets them have a natural sun rise the next morning around 5 - 5.30 or whenever day breaks.

alternatively other times I had done the dark system ive covered up at 6.00pm and left them on until 9.00am the next morning.


I prefer what im doing now as it doesn't restrict ventilation all night, plus they have a natural day break, its more natural I think.

been closing them up at 7.30pm, was opening doors just before going to bed, then getting up before sunrise and shutting them up until 10.00am, have stopped this because they seemed to slow down considerably, put it down to the street lighting? now just leave them closed up 7.30pm till 10,00am. Don't like this but i guess its the only solution???

ah right, ive never heard of this method to be honest......I just stick to the basic methods ive used before.

not a lot different to yours david only the timing bit, if i lock them up earlier i could leave doors open all night and just have natural sunrise, will do this next year and save a lot of buggering round

redrog wrote:

David wrote:

redrog wrote:

ta david, have been opening doors before going to bed and shutting them before sunrise, didn't like the idea of them not having fresh air, but will have to leave them shut obviously  

can you explain more rog,


im closing up at 4.00pm, then when its dark around 9.30 - 9.45 pm I got take the boards off again....this lets them have a natural sun rise the next morning around 5 - 5.30 or whenever day breaks.

alternatively other times I had done the dark system ive covered up at 6.00pm and left them on until 9.00am the next morning.


I prefer what im doing now as it doesn't restrict ventilation all night, plus they have a natural day break, its more natural I think.

been closing them up at 7.30pm, was opening doors just before going to bed, then getting up before sunrise and shutting them up until 10.00am, have stopped this because they seemed to slow down considerably, put it down to the street lighting? now just leave them closed up 7.30pm till 10,00am.  Don't like this but i guess its the only solution???

yes that would have been yer problem opening them up and maybe the street lights ,once darkened leave darkened if outside the hours of natural sunrise if you want the natural sunrise then really speaking they want to be darkened about 4-4.30pm take the shutters off 10pm atb

aye thanks Darren, thought it was street lights, last few days have seen increase in body feathers again,

I was worried about light from the streets - that is why I only open ONE window at 10 o'clock-ish.

Phil

ive noticed some of my ybs are heavily moulting already, some are steadily moulting, and some arnt moulting hardly at all.........

I have read that the darkness system doesn't always work on some birds......

peel bros wrote:

Had mine on dark then got yb sickness but that's all sorted now thank God.. Just starting to put them back on it now.but must admit I do hate it but need to stay on it to compete with having a big team...I am always late with mine anyway but it makes no difference to  mine in my eyes

Aye iv just got over ybs not had it for a few years and seemed a bad one,had 1 die and bumped 1 before it did.
50 eating and drinking normal,darkness starts may 1st until july.
got 20 more ready to go over but not in yb loft il put them in another section for a week or so
mercasystems on speed dial lol

No dark here. June 25 or so lights on for 15 or 16 hours.
OK. White bird (Grizzle) banded Feb 24th. 1st flight started growing in.
Mealy. Banded January 4th. 1st flight almost up. Thru the body moult of course. June 1st will start training some. Not by flights thrown but by age.

mine been on dark a couple of weeks, im feeding a light mix of Gerry plus and breed and wean.......theres quite a lot of small seed in there so im hoping they will digest the corn well before darkening at 4.00 pm.


so your on the light system hal...?

Not actually a system as such. The later bred birds will moult normally then slow right down on 16 hour light. Some early ones may go in to the next season with one or two not dropped. Never been a problem for most fanciers. Advantages are, lots of fresh air. Natural growth. Sexually mature etc, same as dark birds. Heck of a lot easier!!!

We have quite a few birds moulting already.

It hasn't stopped them flying though, they are not all kitting up quite yet but we are having 2 or 3 small kits flashing the skies.

Phil

No darkness young birds here had a touch of ybs the back end of last week they seems to be coming OK now caught it early

14 of ours been on the dark for 2 weeks now and plenty feathers about now ...another 14 on natural weaned last week and this week ...want a few darkies for the last 2 yb races but much prefer the natural ones

Friend on the East coast mated same time as me. His are two up and have now quit. Head and neck all done. First time for me so have to learn from him. Will update as need be as so far all is going well. Could be of interest to others.