# Old breeders breed good yb??



## ohiogsp (Feb 24, 2006)

How many believe that most young breeders breed the best birds? I have alot of older breeders I am using this year that were already paired and I left them together then I got a bunch of yearling that I paired together. Most people say to pair young and old so I am thinking of breaking my pairs and repair them and raise anouther round that way. What do you think? How many raise good birds off old breeders? Alot of my really good proven birds are old and I wanted to keep this blood for my family but if the young they produce don't prove themselfs this yb season what do I do?


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

ohiogsp said:


> How many believe that most young breeders breed the best birds? I have alot of older breeders I am using this year that were already paired and I left them together then I got a bunch of yearling that I paired together. Most people say to pair young and old so I am thinking of breaking my pairs and repair them and raise anouther round that way. What do you think? How many raise good birds off old breeders? Alot of my really good proven birds are old and I wanted to keep this blood for my family but if the young they produce don't prove themselfs this yb season what do I do?


My thoughts on this are that it's not so much the breeding, but the older bird RAISING the babies. Maybe they just don't always have that zest they had when younger. I do know that with my older breeders (I don't have that many), it seems that their first round is usually better than their second round and I don't let my older birds raise a third round. 
This is mostly based on what I THINK, because I've haven't been doing this long enough to have many old breeder. And what's considered old? I believe an OLD hen gets run down more than an OLD cock simply because it's her body that have to produce the egg and lay it. BUT.......I think how MUCH they've been bred has a lot to do with it. A hen that lays 4 eggs a year and raises 4 babies (IMO) shouldn't be as worn out at say the age of 8 years, as a hen who's laid 8 eggs a year and raised 8 babies. 
I may be way off base here. We'll see what others think.


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## k-will (Dec 15, 2007)

again renee is on point.the older pigeons cant always care for the young as well as they once did.i have moved eggs to other younger pairs in some cases when i saw youngsters out of older pigeons that werent developing like i thought they should.i would suggest changing your pairs for a different round of young anyway ohio.i plan to raise 3 different rounds this year with 4 pairs.the only reason im not going four is i have a brother/sister in the mix,and on the 4th change they would be paired together.i dont need to pair them as of yet.


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## zimmzimm3 (Aug 17, 2007)

k-will do you re-pair you birds every round?


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## k-will (Dec 15, 2007)

i dont always zimm,but i will this year.my method is to pair every pigeon to in this case 3 different mates.then i will fly the young next year as yearlings,and i will fly them hard.then i will have a great idea who breeds the good birds and who dont.if you breed 2 pigeons together for a whole year,and then you get no results from youngsters,whos fault was it?the cock or hen?or both?but,if that cock raises young with 3 different hens and vice versa,and then none score,you start to figure out he might not be any good.i have done this many times in the past with success.one year i had a cock raise race winners with 3 different hens,and in that same year of breeding i had others that didnt raise a diploma winner with any pigeon they were mated to.those pigeons moved on and i then brought in pigeons to replace them,and did the same thing the next year.funny thing is,the ones that were good the first year,were also good right on thru the years.many others came and then went.

keep in mind zimm,this is my first year back in birds in some time,and i only breed out of 4 pairs max.it is easier this way to identify the good and the bad quicker.and when youre only breeding from 8,you have to do this in my opinion.as i say,this is a tried and true method,but takes work. ohio-you should try to get a different round.then you learn more about the quality of the individual bird as a breeder.


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## bloodlines_365 (Jan 15, 2008)

how old....do you guys define old ages?? cause i have two pairs the males are ten years old and the females are two years old and in two months they already produce three cluches by fostering their eggs... but i will let them raise the fourth clucth and retire the males.. and in breed on the mother and son in order for me to get the same line and crossbreed after...


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## warriec (Feb 2, 2007)

how old is old? there is an optinum age for a pigeon to be an experienced parent.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

bloodlines_365 said:


> how old....do you guys define old ages?? cause i have two pairs the males are ten years old and the females are two years old and in two months they already produce three cluches by fostering their eggs... but i will let them raise the fourth clucth and retire the males.. and in breed on the mother and son in order for me to get the same line and crossbreed after...


I think you have to look at each individual bird. We've got two dogs. One is 11 and one is 12 which is close to being in their 70's in human years. One still acts like a puppy, running and playing all the time. The other is an old grouch and would prefer to just sleep, eat and poop.  in that order.


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## ohiogsp (Feb 24, 2006)

Thanks for the help everyone. When I talk about old birds I think 7 years or more is old to me.


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## warriec (Feb 2, 2007)

I am still new and i dont have any birds older than 7 years in my lofts. I consider past 5 as a cut off point for breeding although they still should breed well past that age.

I have read that an older hen paired with an active young cock will have a higher fertilty rate and a good chance of bring up young well. A combination of young + the experience.


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## Pigeon0446 (Apr 22, 2007)

warriec said:


> I am still new and i dont have any birds older than 7 years in my lofts. I consider past 5 as a cut off point for breeding although they still should breed well past that age.
> 
> I have read that an older hen paired with an active young cock will have a higher fertilty rate and a good chance of bring up young well. A combination of young + the experience.


That made me laugh 5 years old is the cut off a 5 year old pigeon is still a young pigeon. I had a hen that still flew races until she was 7 years old. 

But I think as long as the hen still lays the eggs and the cock can still fertilize the eggs it doesn't matter how old they are. I had a Silver hen for 15 years that I liked but never raised me anything good. Thats until she was 13 years old when she raised me a combine winner against 1900 pigeons. She breed for another few years until she passed away. And right now I have a few cocks in my loft breeding that are over 12 years old and they'll raise me good yb's this year for sure. One of them being my Dun Grizzle the foundation cock for my family of yellows which are excelent in the 300 mile YB races. He's 12 years old but you'd never know it he looks like he could of been last years young bird. And he still drive his hen like he's a young stud. LoL Well maybe he doesn't look like last years YB but you'd never think he was 12 years old.

After writing all that about having a bird for 15 years it made me realize that I'm getting old. LoL Well not really I'm still young well compaired to most pigeon ppl anyway. LoL


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## k-will (Dec 15, 2007)

point is a older pigeon that has been well kept in a proper environment may breed young as well as a 3 yr old in others loft.you have to watch each individual bird as they get older.like alot of other things in pigeon racing,there is no firm time that a pigeon is too old.i think they are too old when they die. or become infertile.


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## re lee (Jan 4, 2003)

I have bred from birds 11 years old had no problems at all. I have loft flown birds 15 years old and they flew fine . A key bird prpotent bird you need to breed it until it can not breed no more. sure foster some young but breed the birds if they have the tools that great pigeons.


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## ohiogsp (Feb 24, 2006)

Good to hear some of you still have luck with the older ones. My best birds are older cause some of the bigger racers had problems breeding them or they were just wanting to breed out of younger ones. I think my oldest is a 96 hen but I have probably 5 pair that are 8+ years. I brought them into my garage put them in breeding pens put lights on them and some heat and "wa la" babies everywhere!


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