YB Rearing........

how do members ensure ybs in the nest get all they need to grow into healthy youngsters, ive heard of fanciers using baby milk power on the food, also pellets etc.......and also using homoform.

what do members use .....?

We use all of the above except for pellets, but I have tried them in the past. Plenty of peanuts, sod the expense. But using them ensures your babies get pumped up with good rich crop milk, as they are easy to digest.

same here but i use a few handfulls of pellets yes nuts aint cheap but then again

the best start in life for any animal is the first few days we always use the baby milk as well i think its just down to planning well before hand its easy to spot any weak ones and to be honest if you do see any in the nest get rid cus if they miss that feed there worthless
not all birds are good feeders so keep ya eyes on them
and if its cold when you ring the birds put a fingerless glove on or take in a water bottle inside a cloth this stops you giving the birds tummy a chill


GOOD LUCK TO ALL BREEDING AND MAY YOU BREED A CHAMPION IN 2012

Gaz b wrote:

We use all of the above except for pellets, but I have tried them in the past. Plenty of peanuts, sod the expense. But using them ensures your babies get pumped up with good rich crop milk, as they are easy to digest.

do you crush the peanuts up gary and mix with the feed.....?

It's only my opinion g, but any birds that are not content in their nest and constantly cry for food, these I find are usually the weak ones as they use up all their energy and reserves, crying for food. That should be used for their early development. These are the ones I get rid of.
I crush them David and add them to the mix. But once the chicks start to get bigger I give them whole in individual boxes as well.

birdy2011 wrote:

same here but i use a few handfulls of pellets yes nuts aint cheap but then again

the best start in life for any animal is the first few days we always use the baby milk as well i think its just down to planning well before hand its easy to spot any weak ones and to be honest if you do see any in the nest get rid cus if they miss that feed there worthless
not all birds are good feeders so keep ya eyes on them
and if its cold when you ring the birds put a fingerless glove on or take in a water bottle inside a cloth this stops you giving the birds tummy a chill


GOOD LUCK TO ALL BREEDING AND MAY YOU BREED A CHAMPION IN 2012

thats good sound advise graham, thanks for that.......

i remember many years ago using the turkey pellets, the ybs were very plump and healthy, i found those pellets better than the modern g10 and boss pellets, which i also thing are quite expensive.

i always feed in the nest box, and before i lock up in the evening i put fressh feed in so the parents can feed the ybs before i get there the next day.........

Ours get fed twice a day in the trough, morning and night. But because they are never in complete darkness, they can come down and feed 24/7.

YES THE G10 ARE EXPENSIVE DAVID AND WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT

THEY GET CHICKENS TO THE TABLE IN AROUND 40 DAYS SO THE TURKEY AND CHICKEN PELLETS MUST HAVE A LOT OF GOODNESS IN THEM
BUT DONT OVER DO IT WITH THEM THE SOONER YOU CAN GET THE BABIES EATING FROM THE POTS THE BETTER
AND DONT BE TO QUICK TO WEAN THEM THERE DOING NO HARM
AND THEM FE XTRA DAYS MAKE A BIG DIFFERANCE IE WHEN YOU WEAN BIRDS NOT ALL DRINK AND EAT FIRST DAY SOME GO LONGER BUT IF LEFT A FEW XTRA DAYS IN THE NEST THEY BE FAR BETTER FOR IT

because i feed in the nestbox the parents and ybs have constant access to water and are fed twice a day with food........as i said in previous post i make sure they have corn for early morning too, and i find that because the babies see the parents eating and drinking they quickly learn how to eat and drink, all ybs weaned can eat and drink well as they have been doing it for a good while whilst in the nest......

All good advice. I think for any new starter as g said. It's always better to plan ahead and develop a system. I also believe it's important to stick with the same feed throughout.

can gary or graham tell us how to add the baby powder to the feed, or is it desolved in the water ?

I put wheatgerm oil on my corn and mix it thoroughly, then sprinkle the baby milk powder onto it and then mix it in.

ah right, thanks gary........obviously this needs to dry before feeding ? do you mix this the night before ?

always used a bit of cod liver oil you only need a bit then just add the milk powder

never tried it in water but i guess it would work

It's dry mate, but it just seems to cling onto every grain, because it's coated with the wheatgerm oil.
I mix it enough for two feeds on the day I use it.

some good info here but one other thing i will say is make sure the birds get plenty calcium during the breeding season i buy chic grit which is crushed oyster shell from my local pet shop and add it to my grit mix

Another good point, I too offer this daily in pots.

yes darren, another good point..........ive read/heard calcium is very important for strong healthy ybs.

It's also good for conditioning your birds prior to breeding.

the old cuttlefish would do no harm

oldstrain wrote:

the old cuttlefish would do no harm

Spot on Darren

Always placed fresh grit in the the nest boxes

I always used cod liver oil on the corn but just before the youngsters had hatched i would use cod liver oil to soak into pin head for a few days and place this in a small pot within the box as well as the normal breeding corn

When the youngsters are about 7 days old i would remove the pin head and cod liver oil mix and replace it with peas which are always available within the box

The youngsters will come on well and i never breed a bad youngster at all and never had youngsters bad at anytime