Thinking about next year

[Andy]

I am already thinking about what changes I need to do for next season. I have decided that I am going to have some on widowhood. The section I’m going to use is 92”. Standard widowhood boxes are 29”. This means I could get 3 rows of 4 boxes. 12 pairs. Or I could have 4 rows of 4 smaller boxes. 16 pairs. I welcome your thoughts.

[Murray]

Only my thought Andy but I would probably put 12 full size widowhood boxes in that section. I think widowhood cocks like having plenty of space and it would be more peaceful with 12 rather than 16 cocks in there.

[Buster121]

If you are having 16 pairs then you will need at least 16 boxes

[Andy]

Thank you. I think I probably will go for the 12. Although the smaller boxes would allow me 4 more cocks to race it would mean having to cut the widowhood fronts down to fit. It would be much easier to have them full size. I only used to keep a small team for racing so quite happy with that. I would look to just race the cocks on a proper widowhood system and not go for roundabout or double widowhood.

[DarkPiedCock]

I think i will be doing roundabout .

[Andy]

I think i will be doing roundabout .

I don’t think I have the right sections to do roundabout. It would be a lot of messing about moving birds from one section to another. I wouldn’t really want the hens in the section next to the cocks. Also the section I plan on using for the widowhood hens isn’t big enough for more than about 20 youngsters. I am also going to have 8 pairs of naturals. I would only be “sacrificing 12 hens to use as widowhood hens. I have 7 hens that won’t race anyway, either old, been hawked or stock. These would be used as widowhood hens along with 5 others, probably yearlings.
These are my lofts.

My plan is from left to right.
Far left 8 natural nest boxes will go in here. Currently young bird loft.

Next section will be for the widowhood hens.

In the main loft the big section is where I am thinking of putting the 12 widowhood boxes.

The final section on the far right with the little aviary on which has currently got 8 nest boxes in will be used for the young birds.

Should get around 30 box perches in there.

[Buster121]

Good luck with it all Andy

[Murray]

That all sounds like a good scheme, Andy.
The best racing I ever had was when I was using the widowhood.
I am of the opinion that the roundabout is best played with yearlings. I had never done it, but I knew a bloke who had a team of yearlings split up and they were dynamite!
I suspect old cocks get sick of it pretty quickly.
Best of luck with it.

[Andy]

That all sounds like a good scheme, Andy.
The best racing I ever had was when I was using the widowhood.
I am of the opinion that the roundabout is best played with yearlings. I had never done it, but I knew a bloke who had a team of yearlings split up and they were dynamite!
I suspect old cocks get sick of it pretty quickly.
Best of luck with it.

Same here Murray. The best seasons I had also both in Sussex and Cornwall was when I raced widowhood. I only had a small team in those days. 12/16 cocks.

[DarkPiedCock]

Hope you find the happy medium Andy.