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There are a few common problems that are encountered every year, egg binding, infertile eggs, fertile eggs that fail to hatch, and youngsters not fed.
Preparation of your breeding pairs can eliminate many potential problems from the start, the Bengalese seems to be prepared to attempt breeding at any time, even in the middle of a full moult.
But we should ensure maximum fitness of our pairs, if we anticipate full nests of chicks reared to maturity, our birds can be in the breeding cage for 6 months of the year if we take 3 rounds of chicks, so preparation is important.
What should we be looking for when we pair our birds? .
Any bird that is not actually sick will sing, it's like an itch they must scratch it, we are
looking for cock birds that are not only singing but displaying, fluffing up and bouncing around when singing and showing every sign of wanting to breed. Our hens fit and active and carrying round anything that looks like potential nest building material.
The most important criteria in your pair selection is age, many pairs fail due to immaturity, Bengalese will show every sign of wanting to breed as early as 3-4 months old, if they are your own youngsters you will know their age and resist the temptation. This is where
obtaining your birds from a fancier who can also indicate their age is important, some young pairs will breed and rear young without problems, most will not, avoid the temptation of pairing these birds if you want fit and healthy youngsters who will fulfil their full
potential. Aim for a minimum of 9 months old and ideally 12 months old as the age to
commence your birds breeding activities.
Even then these "novice" birds can present you with problems, most due to inexperience in the breeding cage, but most of these can usually be resolved.
I have found that one of the important aspects of preparing Bengalese for breeding is foot care.
Ensure you check and reduce toenails on a regular basis, on most birds the vein or quick can be seen running through the nail if held to the light. Cut to avoid this, err on safety's side if you are unsure where this is, if you still cut into this and it bleeds, I always strike a match blow it out and immediately apply to the end of the nail, this stops bleeding 9 times out of 10.
Overgrown toenails present many problems, they could prevent cocks obtaining correct grip and posture for successful mating, the birds cannot land correctly on perches, causing them to become reluctant to fly, thus causing loss of condition. Long nails entangle
trapping birds on cage wires, puncture eggs and, drag eggs and chicks accidentally from nest boxes. Feet can become encrusted with excreta and this hardens causing toes to be lost, the provision of daily baths will aid you in preventing this.
Having ensured your birds are prepared for breeding success it's disheartening to find
problems occurring, the first of which you might come up against being an egg bound hen.
This often seems to occur in young hens, that are laying their first clutch, the reason for this is simple, insufficient calcium.
The free calcium a hen requires to form eggs is held in the bones, calcium is passed from the bones into the blood and vice versa, a hen requires a good supply of calcium to produce a clutch. Any shortage when eggs are being produced and the body takes the calcium it needs from the nerves and muscles, this affects the muscles and nerves and they become unable to expel the egg, leading to egg binding.
In the past and indeed now the answer was warmth, and holding the vent over steam to relax the muscles, thus allowing the egg to be passed.
Now I administer a dose of liquid calcium supplement, keep the bird warm and invariably within an hour the egg appears. This need never happen in your bird room, ensure your birds are
receiving a calcium supplement, before breeding commences, increase it's frequency during egg production, and you should have no problems with egg binding. Never breed with a hen that has suffered from egg binding until at least 3 months after, give her time to regain strength and condition and rebuild her calcium reserve.
Do not feed a calcium supplement every day of the week, 5 days a week when eggs are being produced and youngsters are being reared, 2-3 days when they are not. The bones need to "learn" how to release calcium when the body calls for it, feed supplements 7 days a week and they "forget" leading to as many problems as if
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