# Racing and egg laying



## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

I have several hens on the race team that have layed and are laying now. My question is how long should I wait after a hen lays an egg before I send her to a race. The race Saturday is a 95 mile race for me. I have two hens that will lay their second egg friday, just before basketing.

I know I have sent them 35 and 50 miles the morning before they'd lay, and also the day after. These two hens that layed their first eggs yesterday just came back from 35 miles this morning at over 1300 YPM.

Ace


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

ace in the hole said:


> I have several hens on the race team that have layed and are laying now. My question is how long should I wait after a hen lays an egg before I send her to a race. The race Saturday is a 95 mile race for me. I have two hens that will lay their second egg friday, just before basketing.
> 
> I know I have sent them 35 and 50 miles the morning before they'd lay, and also the day after. These two hens that layed their first eggs yesterday just came back from 35 miles this morning at over 1300 YPM.
> 
> Ace


No one can tell you how a hen feels when she's ABOUT to lay or has JUST laid.........some try to compare it to having a baby. I doubt seriously it's that's painful or stressful.  However, my personal rule is, if the hen laid her second egg the night before shipping, then I will send her. If she's due to lay an egg on race day, I DO NOT send her, hoping that she'll make it home in time to lay her egg. Even if it's a short race. If she lays an egg on Friday and the race is on Saturday, meaning she should be home to lay her egg on Sunday, I don't send her. What if she DOESN'T come home on Saturday? What if she's injured somewhere and CAN'T come home........she's still going to lay that second egg. I guess bottom line for me is, if she's laid BOTH eggs before shipping, then she can go. If there's still one to be laid, she stays home.
To me there's a big difference in sending one on a short training toss with their own loft mates and sending one to a race with all those other birds. SO many things go wrong on the races.......especially the first one. If the bird has been trained out to 30, 40 or 50 miles, it's pretty certain that she'll make it home from the toss. The race is totally different IMO.


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Thanks Renee,

I will be holding the two that are laying the second egg friday. I'll start them next week at 125 miles. They will be setting 8 day old eggs by then.


Ace


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