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Post by Scully on Feb 7, 2007 19:15:15 GMT
how old should a hen be, for her first brood?
Darcy laid an egg, but its far...far.. too cold anyway, and shes quite young. so i was wondering?
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Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2007 19:39:20 GMT
they can breed safely as young as 8 months, but if you can get her to wait, an ideal age would be from 12 to 18 months karen and buuz will have more info for you though, they are more experienced than me with budgies
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Post by buuzbee on Feb 7, 2007 20:44:53 GMT
Hi Scully, most say its best at 18 months, but i've had hens lay eggs before a year. I dont breed them until after a year old. As for it being cold, a lot of first time hens wont incubate untill they lay their 3 egg!
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Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2007 20:57:01 GMT
see told ya buuz would know **polishes halo** kaks are more my forte lol pssst buuz - i think she means the weather when she said its cold, its been -3 today
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Post by buuzbee on Feb 7, 2007 21:07:28 GMT
gotcha & brrrrrr!
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Post by Scully on Feb 8, 2007 0:00:33 GMT
aww poor girlie..will have to wait quite a while yet, still a baby for that sort of thing its Harvey...its getting quite manly hehe cheers all
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avril
Flock Member
HENRY
Posts: 372
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Post by avril on Feb 10, 2007 18:50:31 GMT
They can lay fore they are 12mths old but a lot of them are not viable eggs and make poor mums and that is a blueprint for disaster as they learn poor habits from the start.
I don't breed mine until they are at least 16 to 18mths old, I lean towards the 18 more. The body structure and reproductive organs are well developed then as well as their parental instincts.
By breeding them at this age they will also show after their first adult moult if there are any feather deformities or skeletal ones as well, by this I mean if they had any soft developed bones due to over crowding and injury they had strengthen their bones and they are well formed.
Take the nesting box out if you have one in the aviary, that will also discourage her from laying poor little baby.
She is trying to grow up too quick.
Hope that helps good luck.
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Post by Scully on Feb 10, 2007 23:38:29 GMT
I have taken out the Gourd(spelling?) that she laid the egg in, and certainly dont want to encourage her, she is far too young. I think i was more surprised to see she laid an egg so young.
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avril
Flock Member
HENRY
Posts: 372
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Post by avril on Feb 11, 2007 14:28:55 GMT
she might drop another egg in the aviary but with you taking out the gourd her hormones will start to regress and she can grow up slowly
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Post by Berserka on Feb 13, 2007 22:08:10 GMT
I knew my Boris was growing up when at around 10 months old she laid an egg in my hand.
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Post by judy on Feb 14, 2007 22:13:36 GMT
Rockette my green breeder lol I cant stop the poor thing from having clutches. I have had her for 3 months and she has had 3 clutches. So after this clutch I will be taking the nest box of her for a month or so to give her a break.
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Post by Berserka on Mar 6, 2007 22:12:10 GMT
I would rest her until Spring Judy. Too much egg laying will seriously deplete her reserves and any additional babies could be weak & sickly, plus you could lose her. It is not a good idea to let a budgie raise more than 12-15 babies a year.
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