Paired up saturday....

paired up saturdaqy and as usual its all gone wrong again..............theres pigeons flying mental all over the loft not having a clue which is there alacated box..................they are fighting in lumps and theres water spilled all over the place, as ive found in past years yearlings are usually a bit harder to settle to a box but all ten pairs are yearlings so its hectic

if they dont show any improvement by this coming saturday i might seperate again and give it up as a bad job, the way im feeling at the moment.

hi david , have your cocks had a box all through the winter , let them out a pair at a time put a brick in side the box so the hen can stand on it to get a way from the cock . you can even let them out side for a fly
a pair at a time or lock them in the avairy together if all else fails just let them choose there own mates and walk away go back at tea time just befor dark and take a look inside . good luck

i was feeling like that david but it took a week to settle down i just locked um all up in there boxs for 2 days solid at first then let 2 pair out at a time but not any that were in neighbouring nest boxs it took 1 pair 10 days to warm to eachother just let them have 1 hour freedom each and if you get an odd cock thats a real problem then put him in his box and let the others settle,chin up mate it will be ok

the cocks had been in the section all throught winter, and out of the ten cocks 6 had claimed a box...............the birds seem to have taken to there mates pretty good apart from one which were great for a couple of days and then when i went in this morning i saw the cock had pecked the hens head.............ive never had this happen ever and its upsetting.

the problem is that some are starting to settle to their boxes but the ones who arnt are fighting all the time, so today ive locked half in the boxes and the others are loose........

as kev says put a block of wood or a brick in the nest box so the hen can get out of the way or put them in a flight mate

hi darren, i did put a brick in when i first paired up, but after a couple of days they seemed ok and i took all the bricks away...........but with them still going crazy in the loft i decided to lock them up again over night and didnt think i needed to put the bricks back in and this is when one of the hens got pecked, will she heal up ok...?

put some savlon cream on her head david or germalean good stuff .

i hate it when something like this happens, basically its my fault why she got pecked but when theres a lot going on with the chasing around/fighting sometimes its easy to forget isnt it...?

DAVID wrote:

the cocks had been in the section all throught winter, and out of the ten cocks 6 had claimed a box...............the birds seem to have taken to there mates pretty good apart from one which were great for a couple of days and then when i went in this morning i saw the cock had pecked the hens head.............ive never had this happen ever and its upsetting.

the problem is that some are starting to settle to their boxes but the ones who arnt are fighting all the time, so today ive locked half in the boxes and the others are loose........

i had same last year with a pr of beverdams, scalped hens head so i put chair in front of nest box for 2 hours i sat there flicked cocks beak each time he went for hen it worked after 100 flicks on beak

flicking hell steve two hours

DAVID wrote:

i hate it when something like this happens, basically its my fault why she got pecked but when theres a lot going on with the chasing around/fighting sometimes its easy to forget isnt it...?

some cocks can be realy nasty till they settle down i had one hen who got pecked so bad with her mate i killed him on the spot it spooked all the rest of them for a few days the hole in her head was about nearly a inch deep the cock was coverd in blood i wasn,t having any of that the crule bugger .

i tell you kev, if i was able to kill a pigeon the whole lot would be dead now..........its really anouying when they are carrying on all the time.

DAVID wrote:

i tell you kev, if i was able to kill a pigeon the whole lot would be dead now..........its really anouying when they are carrying on all the time.

i know mate you have a picture in your head that every thing is going to be fine but i never is , like we keep saying when there ready they will pair up lifes to short to worry about things like that i stop worrying about silly things when my mate died of a brain tumur at 45 leaving two kids lifes to short mate .

yes thats true kev, i thought today if thy dont pair up so what..........dont get stressed by it.

kev d wrote:

DAVID wrote:

i tell you kev, if i was able to kill a pigeon the whole lot would be dead now..........its really anouying when they are carrying on all the time.

i know mate you have a picture in your head that every thing is going to be fine but i never is , like we keep saying when there ready they will pair up lifes to short to worry about things like that i stop worrying about silly things when my mate died of a brain tumur at 45 leaving two kids lifes to short mate .

David Kev is spot on mate your the boss not the pigeons

you dont say pmsl

kev d wrote:

hi david , have your cocks had a box all through the winter , let them out a pair at a time put a brick in side the box so the hen can stand on it to get a way from the cock . you can even let them out side for a fly
a pair at a time or lock them in the avairy together if all else fails just let them choose there own mates and walk away go back at tea time just befor dark and take a look inside . good luck

That is how i did it when i raced but must say once this part is over things will get better just hard at first

David leave the rest of the birds sort their self out if a brother and sister mate together put some other eggs under them But like kev was saying they will sort it out your not the only one that gets trouble we all do in some way or another iv got two cocks in the loft with five hens and mines been together for about six or seven weeks now but when they are ready they will mate or race sellerbut

Your right Ginger

Hope it all goes ok for you david

persevere, they will settle down........always take a cup of tea in the loft with you, and keep both hands round the mug.......calming

burns a bit as well, lol but does take your mind off them

Lightning wrote:

persevere, they will settle down........always take a cup of tea in the loft with you, and keep both hands round the mug.......calming

burns a bit as well, lol but does take your mind off them

Your right there Mark

most seem to have settled down no, all the 8 stock pairs are ok now and 7 pairs out of the ten pairs of yearlings are more or less there now, apart from the odd hen going in to the wrong box occasionally..........so will be sxpecting some eggs over the next few days, altho its took a lot of time and effort letting each pair out and then locking others up to get them settled to their own box.

Thats good for you have you carmed down now

yes a bit don, its so frustrating when they are all fighting and carrying on isnt it...........i seem to be just having a few problems with hens going into the wrong box and then their cock follows them which results in a big fight with the birds who live there............so what im doing is locking the 3 hens in their own boxes over night and leaving their mates loose so he can calmly sit in there box and get useed to it without the hen causing problems whilst im not there.