Single Parents

I know I am going back in time a bit - but I have a question:-

If for any reason, one looses one of a young birds parents when it is around 14 to 16 days old - will (or can) One Parent look after it or them, until they are old enough or mature enough to fend for themselves? 

For example, if you were racing and you lost a cock or hen in the race, will the parent that is left, finish bringing up their babies.  Also - will one baby have a better chance at surviving than two, if only one parent has to finish the job off?

If so - Is a Hen or a Cock better at looking after 1 or 2 babies on their own?

Many thanks in advance

Phil (blueskylofts)

if I race with a yb in the nest its always single reared never 2 in the nest ...have a mealy hen here that's been feeding a yb on her own from about 10 days old as her ck paired to another hen and was sitting in another box ...no way would I want a single parent rearing 2 ybs in any situation but that's me as for who is best rearing I think it depends on the bird itself so either a ck or hen ,I notice in my loft in a couple of pairs that either the ck or hen seems more keen on their ybs

yes a bird will rear its young if one goes missing ,the work load is easyer if only one but it will look after 2 , I would say at that age the cock will be quite happy to do the job , but a hen will carry on anyway .

Thanks Darren and Steve - Sound advice - I hope I can remember it all next year, if the occasion arises.

Phil

blueskylofts wrote:

Thanks Darren and Steve - Sound advice - I hope I can remember it all next year, if the occasion arises.

Phil

I buy a diary every year phil just for pigeon jargon like laying and hatching dates ,useful tips anything really vaccination dates etc... its been very useful at times

if you put all your babies on the floor at 18 days old all birds will feed all young birds none will get scalped , and the old birds have got there box back to themselves ready to go again should you require , feed them in a wide trough on the floor with old birds they soon get the hang of feeding themselves hope this helps .

oldstrain wrote:

blueskylofts wrote:

Thanks Darren and Steve - Sound advice - I hope I can remember it all next year, if the occasion arises.

Phil

I buy a diary every year phil just for pigeon jargon like laying and hatching dates ,useful tips anything really vaccination dates etc... its been very useful at times

Do you mean any old diary Darren?  Which you adapt to suit your needs. Or a special one, made especially for pigeon people?

I keep REALLY good records - both on the computer and a 'Hard Copy'.  I believe that keeping proper records is one of the answers to good pigeon husbandry.

Have a good one - you-all.

Phil

A4 size diary just ordinary day to day one nothing special and gets stored each year you can never lose it once its written down whereby computers can go down atb phil

oldstrain wrote:

A4 size diary just ordinary day to day one nothing special and gets stored each year you can never lose it once its written down whereby computers can go down atb phil

Computer going DOWN! 

Tell me about it - we have just had to replace our main computer as it went 'fut' and died.

Luckily, I had backed up all our data - but it is still taking an age to find everything.

Thanks
Phil

weve weaned ybs in the past around 14 days old with the hens....this means all ybs will be fed by all the hens, regardless of whos the parent.....I tried this a couple of years ago when the ybs were a bit older but it didn't seem to work too well, the hens wernt that interested, although I did find the cocks fed them better if the ybs were older.