advice please re. y/b racing

This saturday is our longest y/b race for the season i have been pondering what to do; as some of the birds have paired up do i seperate cocks from hens but let them go back together on friday for a couple of hours before basketing and just send cocks or hens or seperate and send all of them or keep together and send all or just cocks or hens. im at a loss what to do.

if it was me m8 I would keep them together and just send the cocks provided they were in good feather ....but I would not send the hens as they could be about to lay if they are paired up ...make sure they are all in good feather m8 ....did you use the darkness system for yer ybs or are they natural ybs

yes they were on darkness and are still in good feather.

only my opinion mate but I would just send the cocks for reasons stated above and don't see the point of separating them for a day as they will be motivated enough to get back to the hens and they would then be settled for basketing atb for the race m8

We have split ours up they will run together Friday for 1 hour then we will send the hens as our cocks have been stopped now there are a few of them paired up so hopefully it will give the hens a boost our race is 197,miles.

VanReet Man123 wrote:

We have split ours up they will run together Friday for 1 hour then we will send the hens as our cocks have been stopped now there are a few of them paired up so hopefully it will give the hens a boost our race is 197,miles.

would their be any point in him splitting his now with less than 24 hours before basketing don't see the point now it may ruin the ambience and would you not be worried that the hens may be in egg
maybe you are experienced enough to tell

Sorry I misread the post I put on wot we are trying this week your probably right Oldstrain 24,hours split won't make hardly any difference to them.

dont basket until friday so that would be 48 hours, would this make a difference

your call m8 I would leave them together in their love nest the motivation will come with the night away on the transporter

ok cheers lads and all the best this weekend

From all the posts posted there is solid advise but another trick is to place nest bowls on the floor with straw on the floor this will get the hens to start building the nest which will encourage the cocks to get there mind into gear

Jmo cheers and all the best that extra 24 hours will help

I separated my ybs on sunday, going to let the cocks in with the hens Friday night an hour b4 basketing , but im with daz think separating for just 48 could do more damage than good but wat do I know lol

this is just my experience, but ybs paired up, or cocks paired to two hens flew well for me....ybs sitting eggs I never saw again.......

Don Webb wrote:

From all the posts posted there is solid advise but another trick is to place nest bowls on the floor with straw on the floor this will get the hens to start building the nest which will encourage the cocks to get there mind into gear

Jmo cheers and all the best that extra 24 hours will help

thats sound advice from a man that knows nothing

I would definately keep them together as stated above give them a nest bowl with a small bit of straw in, and scatter a bit of straw randomly here and there around the garden.
personally I would also give them an open loft if possible, if you dont get predator trouble.

good advice don.
works for me.

I personally wouldn't send ybs to the furthest race I would keep them for next year, but If your going to send then a trick which works well for me is...separate them then let the cocks and hens out separate each morning hens first, then when the cocks come in from exercise the hens are waiting for them as they come in, leave them together only a few minutes then separate again. this has worked wonders for me in the past, not sure totally why but the birds associate exercise with seeing each other. and fly home knowing the hens are there, but race both cocks and hens.