June 2012

11 June

Ahh, the best laid plans!, another good hatch rate over the weekend but my plan to set the final nests is going to be out by a week. I did set 4 nests over the weekend but i still have 5 more hens laying / to lay and that will be me done. I've a fair few on the sticks and about the same number in the nest, and so far I'm 3 behind where i ended up last year, with hopefully a fair few more to come. So, all being well, on for my best ever breeding season.

Quality of the young looks really good, few nice clears coming through and some lovely selfs already out of the nest, one or two cinnamons starting to take a nice shape too. Have moved the birds around a little over the last week to make things a little easier, with 20 plus young weaning at a time it's got to be organised to take the daily changing of paper. Some more film to load up on the site and the DVD production is going well, I've got a good story board now and some more rough cuts to edit still a fair old amount to film but have some nice footage of the birds at various different stages.

Plans for next year are starting to take shape, in that i've got a very clear view of what i need, just got to wait for the birds to come through the moult before i know what i've got!.

19 June

Final four nests set at the weekend, i had five hens laying but one wasn't sitting tight enough, and as one of those set will produce cinnamons i've shuffled the eggs across 4 nests. Similar number of nests due this weekend , had a good look at the eggs over the weekend and there looks to be a fair few full ones, again there's a few cinnamon eggs in there. I'd move the cinnamon pair from their treble breeding cage to a new cage as she'd laid three eggs, she laid a fourth but showed no sign of sitting, so i've set them under other hens, 9 days later she started another laying cycle, i have 4 chicks off this pair on the sticks, 2 lightly variegated cinnamons, 1 lightly variegated fawn and a visual white cinnamon, they're a nice shape, so although she'll only rear 2 of her own rounds i should have three rounds off her.

Her sister, an unflighted heavily variegated hen, has also produced some nice birds for me, again for a variety of reason i've shuffled the eggs around (it's one of the benefits of breeding cinnamon pairs as you know where the chicks are!) i've a variegated fawn cock and a heavily variegated fawn on the sticks, and a couple of variegated cinnamons and a variegated fawn in the nest from her, so with a fair wind should have 12-14 cinnamons this year to select the show team from.

New shed plans are gathering pace almost finalised on the design, just got to got one or two more things to sort before construction starts, toying with the idea of building the cages in, rather than have them as seperate units seems to be a workable and cost effective solution!.

21 June

Posted the video filmed in the birdroom yesterday, some of the first round birds getting used to the training cages, one or two showing some nice shape although still got to get through the moult and come out of the other side.

Four nests under three hens due this weekend and i'll start to move some of the young i like the look of into single cages for them to moult out in peace, some of the green birds i've bred, particularly the 6 i have off my best green from North of England are really looking well, still an awfully long way to go but hopeful they'll make the show bench.

By the end of July I know if i'm going to release the DVD or not, starting to take some real shape and the format should offer some value, always a bit of a worry when you've done the filming yourself though!

27 June

Really good hatch rate at the weekend, even if one nest did catch me a bit by surprise! I've got more nests due this weekend then I'm done - compared to previous seasons its been a relatively short breeding season (feels so much longer!) but with chicks hatching April, May and June its just how i like it.

I've a dozen young birds in their own cages (2 to a cage for the time being) at the moment and will move another 6 or so at the weekend including a couple of blues and cinnamons who i like the look of. A local novice breeder, John Evans, who i've been supplying with birds for the last couple of years came to visit with 8 young from this year, although very early still i was impressed with the overall quality of what he had bred, and was particularly taken with a couple of variegated birds bred out of a pair i let him have last year. He did well on the bench in his second season as a novice and looking at what he's got this year he should do well again this year.

I've hens keen to go down again but for their (and my!) benefit i wont take any further rounds this year, I've put half a dozen of the cocks and ten or so hens in flight cages and i'm now making some draft decisions on what will stay and what will go. I've got a clear idea of what i need for next year and a good idea of where they'll be coming from in terms of the birds i've bred. At this stage i don't have plans to bring any additional birds in this year, i took 4 hens in last year (2 cinnamons and a blue from Gerald that were related to birds i had) and a very nice self green buff hen from Gordon Murdie (of the Murdie and Wilson Partnership) I paired that bird to one of my best yellow cocks and like the look of the young that i've produced so far, with more in the nest from a different cock pairing it looks to have improved on the elements i wanted it to improve on.