By now most breeding for 2007 will have ceased, apart from the odd late bred from that best pair, whose youngsters are usually of a better standard than the majority. Certainly in late spring or early summer some of the best youngsters can be bred if, for no other reason than the weather is kinder, warmer and with more daylight hours that seems to be beneficial to our stock.
Not having electricity for extending daylight in late December or early January, breeding my small team of Birmingham Rollers or Garden Fantails started later this year, towards the end of February instead of the middle (normally Valentine's Day - 14 February). My four pairs of Birmingham Rollers were increased to six pairs with each pair containing a yellow, including two pairs of 2006 birds.
I had fitted six nest boxes in one section of my newly-built starter loft and twelve white plastic v perches in the second, specifically for this year's youngsters. The nest boxes are nothing fancy but a combination of young bird pipo boxes and traditional box perches and similar to the German style up-and-over nest boxes in the racing loft. The boxes are 12" deep, just deep enough to take a nest bowl, and 18" wide, not normally large enough but adequate for small Birmingham Rollers.
All pairs had paired successfully and were sitting within thee weeks. As long as I have kept pigeons, which is now over 42 years, I have never had all pairs lay within 10 days as the experts proclaim is the time span for eggs. Likewise, mishaps and accidents occur from time to time, this year being no exception as with the odd clear and broken egg, eight babies were hatched and successfully reared without further mishap. At this stage I realised I had made a serious blunder, No 2007 rings! Having been a member of the Northern Counties Tippler & Tumbler Society (for rings only) I had not received membership renewal forms as in previous years. However, I contacted Avian Rings of Distinction who regularly advertise in the Feathered World magazine and received my Roller size rings within six days and in plenty of time.
Jim of the company could not have been more helpful in spite of the fact that my order was for 10 only, a first-class service with the year, my initials and colour of my choice for only 25p per ring plus 65p postage and packing. In early May a further 10 were ordered from Avian Rings, as the second round were hatching and I had a more successful breeding season than I expected. This also included my couple of pairs of white Garden Fantails that have reared young for fun, nest after nest using the same nest felts and feed mixture. These have been rung with last year's unused racing pigeon rings, something that I have practised for several years now.
