Breaking a yearling hen.

[Diamond Dave]

Whats the best way please?
Friend of mine gave me a good ylg hen when.he packed up. Said to try to break her.
I've never done this before so looking for some help pls.
My friend said try it when she is on babies, so I have waited and she is now sitting 3 day old squabs.
But when and how do I do it?
Desperate not to lose her as I would lose the babies as well.
I have a sputnik trap and have taken her out, shown her round the garden and put her thro the sputnik 4 times .
Do I let her out on her own, or with other birds?
Do I let her come out when she is ready of her own accord or do I carry her out ?
Do I take her off the nest and carry her out or when the cock is sitting.?
Do I do it in morning or last thing at night.?
Etc etc.
Any tried and tested techniques would be appreciated.

[king]

Whats the best way please?
Friend of mine gave me a good ylg hen when.he packed up. Said to try to break her.
I've never done this before so looking for some help pls.
My friend said try it when she is on babies, so I have waited and she is now sitting 3 day old squabs.
But when and how do I do it?
Desperate not to lose her as I would lose the babies as well.
I have a sputnik trap and have taken her out, shown her round the garden and put her thro the sputnik 4 times .
Do I let her out on her own, or with other birds?
Do I let her come out when she is ready of her own accord or do I carry her out ?
Do I take her off the nest and carry her out or when the cock is sitting.?
Do I do it in morning or last thing at night.?
Etc etc.
Any tried and tested techniques would be appreciated.

Does he still have her old loft up? If so just let her out with your other birds. In my 50+ years with birds, I've broke many birds, I never had to collect a bird from it's old location more than twice. The more intelligent the bird, the easier it is to break them. There's no techniques Dave, I once broke a old hen that had raced to FOUR different locations, she was 2nd from 500 miles for the owner before me. And I settled 7 ybs mid racing in just 4 days when a guy packed up.
If her old loft is not still up. Wait till the young are old enough and then let her out sitting.

[Buster121]

Agree with King on this

[Diamond Dave]

Cheers King. I believe her old loft is still up but is owned by someone else now and I dont have any contacts. It's also over 200 miles away.
Would that make any difference? If she does fly back to her old loft, I dont think I would get her back. But she does appear to be an intelligent bird.

[Murray]

King offers good advice.
I've broken many pigeons over the years. When you move them lock stock and barrel with the loft, it's easy. Breaking them to a new loft, well some will and some won't.
We once moved 150 miles. The day we arrived I stood the loft up, and put the pigeons in. Two days latter I let them out. Never lost one.
This time my pigeons spent 6 months in a shed before they went back in their loft. I lost quite a lot.
There's no rules. A couple of days after I put them back in the loft a yearling hen got out. Spent the day flying around and back in. Others have just disappeared.

[king]

Cheers King. I believe her old loft is still up but is owned by someone else now and I dont have any contacts. It's also over 200 miles away.
Would that make any difference? If she does fly back to her old loft, I dont think I would get her back. But she does appear to be an intelligent bird.

Has the hen had access to an aviary or sputnik? I bought a ex racer from a fancier some 200 miles away. She was never let out, and I never tried to break her, but loaned her to a club mate. The hen escaped and still returned to me! having only ever seen the outside of my loft from a sputnik.

[Murray]

On the subject, the last cock in the loft which hadn't been out is a big dark chequer W/F Heremans. He's paired to the little hen I mentioned in the last post, they have 10 day old babies in their 4th round.
This morning I let the young birds out and 10 minutes later let the stock birds out too. When the old birds dropped and were poking around in from of the loft I opened the sputnik and walked away. He dropped onto the ground and wandered around with his mate for a while. When the youngsters came back and were landing and taking off and being stupid he took off with them. When they dropped he was still zooming around the place. I was quietly confident he'd be back and sure enough, I looked out before and there's a big thing with white wings in the sputnik.
You can do it, breaking them to a new place, but one thing I have been reminded of this time. Pigeons are funny things. Old Diver, who is 12, went to Bendigo and back, I reckon, when I let him out. 150 mile round trip. Other younger ones have simply vanished.
When you see them go in through the trap, you can believe it.

[Murray]

Whats the best way please?
Friend of mine gave me a good ylg hen when.he packed up. Said to try to break her.
I've never done this before so looking for some help pls.
My friend said try it when she is on babies, so I have waited and she is now sitting 3 day old squabs.
But when and how do I do it?
Desperate not to lose her as I would lose the babies as well.
I have a sputnik trap and have taken her out, shown her round the garden and put her thro the sputnik 4 times .
Do I let her out on her own, or with other birds?
Do I let her come out when she is ready of her own accord or do I carry her out ?
Do I take her off the nest and carry her out or when the cock is sitting.?
Do I do it in morning or last thing at night.?
Etc etc.


Any tried and tested techniques would be appreciated.

Does he still have her old loft up? If so just let her out with your other birds. In my 50+ years with birds, I've broke many birds, I never had to collect a bird from it's old location more than twice. The more intelligent the bird, the easier it is to break them. There's no techniques Dave, I once broke a old hen that had raced to FOUR different locations, she was 2nd from 500 miles for the owner before me. And I settled 7 ybs mid racing in just 4 days when a guy packed up.
If her old loft is not still up. Wait till the young are old enough and then let her out sitting.

I just read that again and note the hen is on 3 day babies. I would not let her out yet. If she does bolt, the cock will not raise those to weaning.
Wait another week, if she does bolt, and we all hope she doesn't, the cock will keep raising those at least until they are big enough to feed themselves.

[Diamond Dave]

Thanks King and Murray it seems it might be easier than I thought, but I will heed your advice and leave her for another week or so.
In the meantime when she is not sitting, I will put her in a basket in the garden.

[Murray]

Thanks King and Murray it seems it might be easier than I thought, but I will heed your advice and leave her for another week or so.
In the meantime when she is not sitting, I will put her in a basket in the garden.

No, I wouldn't do that. That will only unsettle her, taking her away from the babies. Just leave her alone to do her thing for a week. when the youngsters are about 10 days old they become more relaxed about it. That's why I chose that to let the big Heremans cock out today.
Nice morning, no heavy clouds or wind, babies doing well, it was too good a chance to miss.