Cliff
5 posts
Nov 04, 2004
5:01 PM
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I would like to use fosters for the first time during the upcoming breeding season. I have about three pair of related spinners to use as basic stock. When I put a cock and a hen together for pairing, how long does it take the hen to imprint on the new cock and forget about the old mate? (And vice-versa for the cock) A few days? A week? Two weeks? Also, I keep reading in articles "time it so the fosters and breeders lay within 3-4 days of each other". How is that timing pre-arranged, especially since the fosters are already established and experienced pairs?
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fhtfire
64 posts
Nov 04, 2004
9:35 PM
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I used a foster pair this past breeding season. They raised 4 rounds of young. What I did is when I was ready to get my breeding season underway, I picked the pair that I wanted to get some extra young from. So, I mated them at about the same time as the foster pair. They usually would lay within a day of each other. Once they laid 2 eggs, I would take the eggs from the good pair and put them under the foster pair and just discard the Foster pairs eggs. Then your breeder pair will lay again in about 10 days. Of course they will not be on track when it is time for another round. So as soon as the Fosters lay another set of eggs when the young are squeekers...I break them as soon as the second egg is laid. The fosters will lay again in about 10 days and then so will your breeder pair because they were about 10 days behind from the first round....then you switch the eggs again. This only works if you have an active foster pair and breeder pair that mate and lay like they are supposed to. It worked very well. This worked for me last year.
rock and ROLL
Paul Fullerton
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Bill
3 posts
Nov 07, 2004
7:16 PM
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You said you want to breed for the up coming season. Well if you seperate your birds for several months, then the cocks will be ready to mate with anything female. Just don't have last years breeders close to each other or in the same cage. This way when the foster birds are paired, the new breeders will be ready too. You may have one or two lay later if they take longer to get aquainted. If you had (like I have) a cage with four compartments and each cage has a sliding door so the new breeders can see each other before pairing, this will help. If you wait until spring (say mid february here in northern Calif.) after having the birds seperated all winter. They should all be ready to nest soon as you put them together. Unless you have a fairly young cock or hen, they may need more time. Give them a lot of materail to build a nest and this will help kick in the mood. I use seperate cages for all breeders. If you use a community cage for your good breeders this will be a harder task. Community pens work great for fosters though. Bill
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