# how to stop them breeding



## dingweding (Jun 2, 2012)

this year I had about 20 chicks born in my loft, I get attached to most of them, I do not want to sell most of them.

however, I have limited space to keep them all, esp the parents keep breeding...

my loft is one unit, so I can not seperate the male from female... I know I can use dummy eggs, however, even I use dummy eggs, the hen will still lay new eggs every month, when they found the eggs are not hatching... so I am worried it is not good for their health.

meanwhile, I feel bit guilty to throw away their eggs, as I know there is a little life inside


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

aslong as you give them calcium fake eggs are fine, I feel guilty and let my birds either have a round of their own or feed up some young race birds so maybe you could let each pair have one young each spring to keep them happy. Even then you need to find homes for quite a few birds.


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## Jason Heidlauf (Apr 2, 2012)

this will be an interesting post . the only way I know is to replace eggs .or separate the sexes


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## Cgosch (Jul 31, 2011)

Morning after pill. LOL


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

Cgosch said:


> Morning after pill. LOL



The way pigeons breed it would be an every morning pill lol


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## Ross Howard (Nov 26, 2009)

An easier ? to answer is "how do you stop the wind. Build another coop & separate or separate your coop with solid wall or do what others say lots a calcium fake eggs or I use golf balls when not separated. It's natures way & you can't stop nature.


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## 9toes (Apr 4, 2012)

When you separate them which do you move from the nest, the male or female?


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## Pollo70 (Jan 3, 2012)

9toes said:


> When you separate them which do you move from the nest, the male or female?


I separate the hens


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

dingweding said:


> this year I had about 20 chicks born in my loft, I get attached to most of them, I do not want to sell most of them.
> 
> however, I have limited space to keep them all, esp the parents keep breeding...
> 
> ...


There is no life untill it gets heat for many days IF fertile., so loose the guilt and think of your birds first, not the fantasy that you are killing baby birds..because that would be incorrect. you are tossing just an egg at that point and that is all.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

spirit wings said:


> There is no life untill it gets heat for many days IF fertile., so loose the guilt and think of your birds first, not the fantasy that you are killing baby birds..because that would be incorrect. you are tossing just an egg at that point and that is all.


*THIS ^^^

...and I agree it would be best to seperate the couples, have a seperate room inside the loft for hens or you don't have enough room build the hens a seperate loft. This is better then just pulling eggs and replacing. Hens need vacation from laying eggs and all the stress that goes with it. Overcrowding is animal cruelty and unnecessary, pulling freshly laid eggs is not (if you can't build a seperate unit for the hens.*


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## dingweding (Jun 2, 2012)

I do not have space to build another loft to separate them, if I can, I will do it tomorrow... so far I have to wait until I got enough money to buy a bigger house..

anyway, even you separate male from female, they still pair up and lay eggs, I mean the hens, I visited my friend's loft, many of his hen pair up laid 4 eggs, and cock bird also pair up busy shagging each other


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

use dummy eggs, not much more to add here. unless you just want to make bad choices for your birds. in which overpopulated lofts can cause stress which can cause sickness and the over feeding and caring for babies is another thing that brings birds down. it is a no brainer. use fake eggs.


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## Ross Howard (Nov 26, 2009)

dingweding said:


> I do not have space to build another loft to separate them, if I can, I will do it tomorrow... so far I have to wait until I got enough money to buy a bigger house..
> 
> anyway, even you separate male from female, they still pair up and lay eggs, I mean the hens, I visited my friend's loft, many of his hen pair up laid 4 eggs, and cock bird also pair up busy shagging each other


There you go animal nature so what's the problem you have all the answers now so pick one . One you don't have put each bird in its own small pen then no eggs no shagging.


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## NZ Pigeon (Nov 12, 2011)

dingweding said:


> I do not have space to build another loft to separate them, if I can, I will do it tomorrow... so far I have to wait until I got enough money to buy a bigger house..
> 
> anyway, even you separate male from female, they still pair up and lay eggs, I mean the hens, I visited my friend's loft, many of his hen pair up laid 4 eggs, and cock bird also pair up busy shagging each other


THis last sentence has me stumped. What is the problem here? Babies yea..... Well if hens are laying eggs with hens and cocks are mating cocks I think we can say you will NOT get any babies. Unless I misunderstood the birds and the bees talk.


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## Pijlover (May 5, 2010)

There are two different approaches in keeping the birds, either you have it for breeding purpose or for flying that will not encourage them to have eggs or have babies simply and that does not mean that there will not be any eggs but those eggs will not produce any babies, you can find it in the section of "loft design"

Keeping the birds separate is the best to stop them laying and keep your birds stress free


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Hi dingweding
If u can't build a separate loft thn U can build a cage up on ur loft or a little tower like structure with many little perches. On first day let ur hens out to fly and after flight train them to sit in the cage or on the tower. On the second day make ur cocks do the same. This scheme works on an alternative day basis-one day hens out,second day all the cocks out. Fanciers over here including me use this tactic and it works. There will be no fights between cocks. And this way they will get required vitamin D from sunlight or u can cover the top of cage or tower for shade if its too sunny. If u don't have space on ur loft for this thn u can build it on ur rooftop. Pigeons will get used to it in 2-3 days.
And trust me once they get used to this cage/tower they enjoy their freedom, and stay stress free. If u don't have cat/hawk attack problem thn go for the tower unless cage.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Just change out the eggs for fake. You will have to check often though, as they will lay again beside the fake eggs. No way you are going to stop them from laying. But you don't want to be over run with birds either. Make sure they get enough calcium and vitamin D3 to stay healthy. They are doing what they are programmed to do. You can't change that.


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## jakell2010 (Nov 29, 2011)

Throw the Eggs away and get over it,,,,put dumby eggs under the hen,,that'll solve the issue for at least 2 months


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## Doig (May 18, 2013)

dingweding said:


> this year I had about 20 chicks born in my loft, I get attached to most of them, I do not want to sell most of them.
> 
> however, I have limited space to keep them all, esp the parents keep breeding...
> 
> ...


I have tried feeding them just a certain amount of food or type of food. This one time I tried just feeding them corn and wheat with a little of milo. It worked for the winter season, which they stopped laying eggs and the pairs just nurtured each other, but there was always that one pair that will always have eggs even if they are only living off of corn/wheat/milo diet. But, that is what I do every winter, feed them corn, wheat, and milo. I will sometimes give them brown rice and peas, but not every day (once a week).


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I don't think that cutting back on their food, or the quality of it is the answer to them not breeding. Just use fake eggs.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*1. seperate hens from cocks. (if possible, then follow number 2 for any hens that are still laying)

2. replace eggs with dummy eggs

3. Cut back on feed so they have just enough to eat, approx. 1 tablespoon per bird.

You don't have to cut quality, just quantity. *


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