highroller
32 posts
Sep 07, 2004
7:46 PM
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Very sorry to hear of your misfortune. It will be very hard to build a kit from just one pair of breeders. Are there any more birds available to you? You mentioned losses to hawks; if they are bad this time of year in your area they may continue to wipe out your young birds as you try to train them. It may be best not to fly till spring if you cannot afford to lose any more birds. I just locked down 4 of my best spinners today after losing one to the hawks...I had a pair of redtails and a single coopers attacking the kit at the same time and as usual, they get the good one!
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
225 posts
Sep 07, 2004
8:40 PM
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Man that is a crushing blow to have to endure. Sorry to hear of your loss. If I were in your position, I would take the four remaining and mate them up. It sounds like one of the pair is already mated up. I would try to get at least one more pair from the guy who was generous with you. It sounds as though you are happy with the birds so even if you have to purchase them this time, it sounds like it would be worth it. I would then see if you can get some culls from someone to use as fosters, say about four to six pair and then pump those good pairs. But even more important is to not build one kit box, but two. You can build a nice double out from roughly the same amount of wood you would have to buy to build the one. And you will find that you will probably fill the one up quickly, then end up needing another one. This way, if something devastating happens to the one kit, you will have another to fall back on, and not find yourself in the unfortunate situation you are in at the moment. And as you found out the hard way...never fly your breeders unless you feel you can replace them.lol. Good luck.
Brian.
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spintight
29 posts
Sep 07, 2004
9:13 PM
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as brian noted you NEVER fly the breeders unless you have others to back them up in stock. They are just too valuable to risk in my opinion. YOu can breed many outstanding birds from a good pair per year so it's not worth the risk.
you have an odd situation but I would try to match them up and also as brian says see if you can obtain a few more from the guys who helped you out.
I wonder if he knew you were flying the breeders?
I have lost too many good producing birds by trying to refly them in the early part of the fall months. They just can't get in shape well enough to out fly the falcons here in most cases, some can out fly them but they are very rare. YOu need to do some better planning of your lofts and try to replan your breeding program before I would consider letting more out this winter. I would chalk up my losses and lock them all down until it is better weather in the first part of the year.
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fhtfire
50 posts
Sep 07, 2004
9:23 PM
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Man that sucks! I went throught the same thing starting out. Scott Campbell gave me an awesome cock and hen. He told me...do not fly this cock. He is out of my foundation. He said it like three times. It did not even make it to the Loft. It flew right over my shoulder and out. I felt like I was going to die. I was mad, frustrated, sad ect. I told Scott what happened and he said it happens...but he still reminded me that I should never have lost that cock!..
To make a short story long....let the person know what happened and maybe he can supply you with more birds. Scott came through for me...and gave me another chance and gave me a nice cock we picked from the air and a nice hen that he breeds from.
If that guy does not have any for you..I would get a couple of Foster PAIRS to help raise the young. Maybe some breeders out there can help you out with some pairs...
Post a message and ask....Tony has some nice birds, Scott Campbell, Steve , maybe they can help you out...but you have to ask.
paul
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Mother lode lofts
169 posts
Sep 08, 2004
6:00 PM
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You just need to get up and dust yourself off and chaulk it up as a hard lesson learned.
Scott
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chachi
3 posts
Sep 09, 2004
2:49 PM
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Fellas, thanks for the advice. All well put and re-assures what I need to do. Took another hard look at what you guys were saying and got another thought. I must first fine tune my breeder loft before even considering getting another quality pair of birds. Got the medication for bath water, meds for drinking water, quality feed, and some good info from lessons learned. Just need to get some pumpers and redo inside nesting boxes and perches to maximize my space and ease for breeding. Loft management, loft management, loft management. I believe that will be the first key to producing quality birds. Thanks for the input, NEVER FLY YOUR BREEDERS unless you can back them up! Going outside to kick my own ass now, thanks again. :)
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