May 2012

3 May

Well the first few chicks are rung and away, with more due over the weekend, all of the hens in the breeding team have now laid and in the last few days I've set some of the second rounds.

The mixed weather has had an impact with dead in shell numbers higher than previous years in the first round, but the second round hatch rate (from those with a clear first round) has been much more encouraging, a few nests of fives and plenty of threes and fours which is great. Theres a regular flow of setting eggs and nest hatching in the shed now which is just how i like it, i'm really pleased with some of the early birds out of the nest, quality looks to be there again even at this early stage.

Regular readers will be aware that just over a week ago i lost a 3 year old ticked buff hen, who along with her mate an unflighted clear yellow cock were rearing a nest of 5 young (only one of which was there own!). The young in the nest were just around 13 days old when she died and at that age, and with nowhere to shift them, i was concerned i'd loose them all, delighted to report that the single cock bird has carried on feeding the young on his own and all five are now out of the nest and picking up themselves, i plan to leave them until the weekend and take them away on saturday morning.

Two further nests out of my blue cocks have hatched, I've set the third blue nest this morning (along with the variegated buff hen from the home page of the site who's laid 5 second round) and i have a blue hen on her third egg, with one fawn almost away, a variegated white and self blue feathered up at 18 days in the nest and more to come i hope to have a strong white ground team to show this year. Just wish the weather would pick up!

11 May

More and more young on the sticks, the super 5 are starting to develop nicely, some of the dark birds look like they're going to be really nice. I'm toying with the idea of producing a dvd charting the development of young birds from the nest to the show bench and then with some footage of them at the shows, have done a little bit of work and know from my own experience how useful it was to see young Fifes at an early stage to get an idea of what to look for (and help inform if the pair should be run again). Will see how i get on and if it's a goer will make sure updates are on the site.

My North of England Winning Self green buff hen has laid again this morning, her young have just started to venture out of the nest (they're 21 days tomorrow) and i have to say - i really like the look of what i see, i already have 2 from her that were reared by another hen (she laid 2 eggs and showed no sign of sitting), they have lovely free necks, even at this early stage and the looks of nice roundness.

The first round hatchings finish this weekend with a nest of cinnamons due out, and the way the staggered start works, the first second round chicks will also start out in the next week or so. I have a couple of cinnamon hens and a fawn cock this year, I've one on the sticks so far, the other cinny hen has laid her fourth egg today so i'm hopeful there'll be a fair few to put on the bench, i know the pedigree is there (the two hens are sisters, one flighted one unflighted, the over years hen bred a special winner for Gerald last year). So hoping to really kick on with them this year, it's been a few years in the making but hopefully the patience will pay off and will be rewarded with success on the bench.

I've been using the two Belgium products again, and have to say I'm really pleased with them, to the point that I've shipped a small supply in, I'm not going into business but if anyone is interested in getting some, drop me an email as i should have some spare.

I've run the Super dad cock bird with a new buff hen, i like the look of the single chick off him and for his parenting skills alone (outside of the fact he's a lovely little bird) I feel he should get the chance with another mate. The hen he's with is is Auntie, a flighted buff hen, never showed her but she's got plenty of quality for a stock hen and bred me some nice youngsters last year.

Only hope now is that the weather sorts itself out, the damp conditions seem to have had an impact on the dead in shell across the country and my young birds like to bathe in the early morning sunshine - which is currently non-existent!!!

18 May

Posted the above video of Super dad last night, the young are all away now and feeding themselves, with several of them showing some real early potential. Have had some encouraging feedback on the DVD idea so going to spend sometime over the next couple of weekends and see if i can get anything worthwhile out as a starter.

I've also had a fair few emails about the Belgium products, not got huge quantities to go but think i'll still have a bit left, if you're interested email me and we can take it from there.

First second round hen (Vari Buff from homepage) hatched her second nest yesterday, from her first round i have a lovely clear and a really nice three parts dark, I've set my North of England winning hen on 5 eggs in the week, one of my cinnamon hens is down laying again, Super dads mate has laid her second egg this morning, I haven't seen him mate her so theres a chance they'll be empty.

I have two clear yellow hens each with young in the nest who've been mated with a lovely variegated buff cock (the brother to the varigeated buff hen) who i expect to lay early next week, two of my blue cock brothers (half brothers to North of England winners) each have 4 in the nest, hens are starting to show signs of wanting to go again. I've had to develop a weekly schedule to try and keep track of everything!.

Although it's the midway point of the breeding season I'm planning ahead to the winding down, the majority of hens who lay in the next couple of weeks will be laying their final clutches of the season, there will be a couple that i go for a third round on inevitably, and a couple who i retire for the season after they've finished rearing their current clutch. Ideally i want the last nests hatching out by the 3rd week in June a nice quick moult and a quick turn around. I have a house move planned for early september and i'm currently toying with the idea of letting a number of this years breeding team go prior to the moult as i'll need to have as few numbers to move as possible.

25 May

Finally some sunshine! the first round young on the sticks are enjoying regular baths and a little bit of sunshine at the moment, one of my second round nests hatched today, i have seven more second round nests to set tomorrow morning and more nests due next week. There's some lovely clears coming through some very eye catching white grounds and a fair few chicks in the nest. Looks like i'm on course for my best ever breeding season.

I've 7 or 8 hens on eggs at the moment, a further 7 nests to set tomorrow and 4 or 5 hens with young in the nest that will be two weeks old at the weekend that i'll run a cock with to go for the second round. Ideally i'd like final nests to be set around the 8/9 June to hatch around the 22/23, may be one or two outside of this but thats the target. I've 5 in a nest from a self blue hen and clear yellow cock bird, they're a week old today and just starting to pin up, although its too early to say for sure it looks like they're 5 variegated and by the looks of it 4 could be white ground, on target to have my best ever season with white ground birds, currently got 7 on the sticks, another two fawns in the nest and three hatched from a white ground hen this morning.

My aim is to breed quality birds regardless of colour, my ambition is to win every colour special as a champion exhibitor at specialist Fife shows across the country, I've done pretty well so far in that i've won best Champion Clear, Heavily Variegated, Self Green and Allied to white on at least one occassion, so the cinnamon and variegated specials are required to complete the set!.

Mixed reports from people across the country, and i'm sure just as the damp weather created a few problems that this current hot spell will bring it's own challenges (not least my deathly white legs on show in shorts!!!)

31 May

The hot spell, despite regular spraying and baths, has taken its toll on three nests that were due tuesday wednesday, so far just 6 out of 12 full eggs have hatched, bit cooler today and a bit of rain too. Will start the process this weekend of moving the first few hens that i'll retire for the season, have earmarked 9 hens that i'd like to take another round off, most have got chicks in the nest that will be 21 days on Sunday and have already been mated up again.

There's some nice young, although many of the early bred birds have now lost their initial shape as they start the moult in earnest, there's a couple i really like the look of, a self green yellow, think its going to be a hen is very nice and there's a clear buff hen off the variegated from the home page that looks good too. Always trying to think ahead for next year and the year after when pairing the birds so the stud continues to develop, i bred about 8 or so light buff cocks last year and a similar number of darks, this year doesn't seem any out yet, sure that will change (at least hope it does as i'll be in need of some for next year!!).

Work on the DVD is going well, got some really nice footage of young in the nest and it's starting to take shape as something that should be worth watching, after the edits i've got about 24 minutes of final film so far (from hours and hours shot and what feels like days in the birdroom!), the concept is to follow a number of young from hatching through the moult and to the show bench, showing their development along the way and then their performance on the bench. Obviously still much much more to do on it, aiming for it to be about 60 minutes long, and most importantly offer some value. Got a few more things to work through on formatting, reproduction etc but wanted to see what i could get to in terms of quality first before exploring that in any great detail. More news on this to follow.

Have done some designs for the new shed, which i've now got about 12 weeks to get up and running, it will be a relatively modest set up, but should make things simpler for the management of the birds moving forward. As and when, and indeed if, it gets off the ground i'll get some footage on the site.