DRY RUN PAIRINGS......

speaking to an old fancier who i know who told me he is going to pair his birds up over the next couple of weeks, and then seperate them again.....hes doing this so that when he pairs for real they will already be paired to each other and therefor ensure he egets ggs quickly and then the ybs.....anyone else do this or something similar ?

yes this a good idea if you are pairing up new pairs but if they have been paired before you wont have any problems so theres no need

mmmmm, yes ian.......cant remember if he meant all or new pairings.

dont see the point tho plenty of time after all thers no race

think the old fella said something about he pairs all of them....old pairings and new because if he just did the new pairs the spare cocks would cause havoc going mental all over the loft.......

david this old fella how long did he leave them paired up before he split them again
Ken

hi ken, think he said he leaves them together for about 7 days then seperates again........ might give it a try myself, these old timers still know a thing or too about getting the best out of them dont they.........

I agree David the oldfellas thought about everything before doing it, they did all the trials so us younguns dident need too lol
Ken

i do like the idea tho ken, as ive been wondering about when i pair mine up.....the old pairings will lay before the new pairings do, and id prefer the ybs to be as near the same age as possible.....

david like the old fella said get the hard work done on a dummy run, so when they go back for real, if everything is right, then they should all go down together give aor take a day
Ken

yes id prefer that , instead of weaning ybs all at different stages.......done it before and its a pain but this year i should have approx 30 ybs so could do with them more like the same age and weaned roughly the same time...

Hi All

This is my take on this topic.

It's something my dad taught me years ago, if you put the pairs together for the weekend, i.e. Friday night to Sunday night, about a month before pairing, A/ you won't have any fighting when you do eventually pair up, and B/ because you've got their juices flowing (excuse the terminology) they should lay in and around eight days, you will get less infertile eggs, as the pairs should be used to each other, I normally have my stock loft settled in a couple of days

hope this helps

regards

fred holbard

hi fred, thanks for your opinion on this practice.....would you do this with all pairings, new and old ?

thanks fred good advise

I personally do it with all pairs as I believe they settle better, otherwise the cocks that don't get a hen wont settle, would you?

hope this makes sense

fred

hi fred, when you say less infertile eggs, why do you think this happens.......last year i had quite a few eggs not hatch and when i looked inside them they were infertile, i was told that maybe the cock hadnt been able to tread the hen properly due to other cocks and this is what had caused it.....what do you think ?

you will find the pairs will tread better after the dry run pairings, as I said they will be more settled, the other cocks will be more interested in their own hens to worry about hassling all the other cocks, one thing I do is to lock the pairs in their boxes, and let them out a pair at a time, especially in the last few days before the eggs are laid, they usually tread their hens after the last feed in the evenings

regards

Fred

yes, so rather than have the trouble of just putting them together at pairing time by doing the "dry run" it gets the problem of fighting etc out of the way which then allows them to be calmer and more settled when i comes to pairing up properly.....therefor allowing them to more or less pair straight away and all lay at roughly the same time. this is what i want, because i would prefer the ybs to be all weaned within a day or so of each other.....and also do what i did last year and put the basket in with them for them to eat and drink in it and get used to it.......

Exactly that David, it also gives you something to do in the winter, trying out your pairs to see if they match up OK

regards

Fred

hi fred, when you do the dry run pairings do you put the bowls in the boxes and lock the birds in ? if they pair up what do you do about the hens laying ?

never done it myself but a good idea

i think its a good idea, as ive a few new pairings im going to give it a try......

Admin wrote:

hi fred, when you do the dry run pairings do you put the bowls in the boxes and lock the birds in ? if they pair up what do you do about the hens laying ?

yes I put the bowls in, you need to go thru the motions as if your pairing them for real, and as your only doing it @ the weekends there will be no fear of eggs

regards

fred

hi fred, will doing it for just the weekend usually be long enough......if they havnt paired in the couple of days arent you too concerded as it will still help them for when you pair for real ?

ok I can't have made myself that clear, sorry, I'll reiterate, I dry run them for as many weekends I can before pairing them properly, which in my case is usually 1st of Jan, I've already started last weekend, the first couple of times they don't need to be together, just nodding at each other thru the dowels (door)in the box, I feed and water them together, the hen on the outside, the cock on the inside of the box, you will know instinctively when its the time to let them in together, after a few times of this type of introduction, they should be getting used to each other, I usually let a pair out for the run of the loft, in the top left hand corner, also the pair in the bottom right corner, this should stop any fighting, then when they have had some free time in the loft, lock them up (try not to catch them by hand, but try to let them find ther own way) sometimes its better to leave them to it, go in and have a cuppa, 9 times out of ten they'll have sorted themselves out, then you can try another pair or two, the one thing to watch is never let a hen have a free run with the cock she was paired to last year, otherwise she will revert back to her old cock.

hope this is clearer

regards

fred