Need A Little Advice

[deserthotwings]

I have a 2 year old Amherst male that is currently in a large pen (25X25) with a dozen RG's. They have grown up together and get along fine. I want to transfer him into another large pen of about 35 seven month old Amherst, both male and female. Will this work or am I asking for trouble ? I want to be fairly certain before I make a fatal mistake. Thanks for the help...

 

[Tony K T]

You are going to lose him for sure.It's a lot of work,but if you switch all your birds and add the amherst to the new flock that you want,it may work.You need more pens as they will be pairing up in Jan for their breeding season.The males will kill each other,even if they were raised together.Unless you have a 5 hen to 1 male,you maybe able to keep the 12 birds in 1 pen.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[deserthotwings]

Thanks for the input Tony. The pen I'm wanting to put him in has 24 young (7Month) old Amherst hens and 5 males, all the same age. As young as these birds are do you think they will still present a danger when I put him in, or will he be more likely to attack the younger males. I'm constructing additional pens now and hope to have them seperated by mid January. He has done fine for 2 years in the pen with 3 other RG males and 6 hens.

 

[Tony K T]

A new bird is usually always a threat to an established colony.Wow 24 hens,where did you find that many hens?
You can run a bacthelor pen,as long as you keep it away from hens.You can put as many males in there as you want,providing it is big enough for all.Plus you can run all different species of males in there.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[deserthotwings]

I bought 35 L.A. eggs from a breeder in Bakersfield Ca. He only raises Lady Amherst and I picked the eggs up myself so there was no shipping involved. I hatched 29 out of the batch and have raised everyone of them, 24 hens and 5 males, hows that for odds? The bachelor pad idea sounds great sinse I have a lot more males in the RG and Ringnecks. Will the Ringnecks get along with the other males if seperated from the hens?

 

[Tony K T]

Eggcellent ratin the ringnecks,I would keep an eye on them as they are cannibals on their own,so I don't know how they would be in a bachelor pen.
Would that breed in Ca. be Wes?
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[deserthotwings]

No, it was Stan Gates in Bakersfield. He has excellent Silvers, but will not ship anything. Local pickup only. I threw that Amherst male in with the young ones Tuesday morning and watched them like a hawk all day Tuesday. He was a little upset about being taken out of the pen he's lived in for 2 years and being away from the gang, but seems to be adjusting fine. I think maybe with that many hens and only 6 males now they might get along. He hasn't shown any signs of aggression and neither have the other birds. I've raised ringnecks a long time and I know what you mean about them being cannibalistic. Don't think I want to chance mixing the ringneck males with any other birds. Have you ever done so?

 

[Tony K T]

I haven't raised ringnecks in years,I stick to the ornamentals.The last ringnecks I had were black ringnecks,I got rid of them about 5 years ago to a friend that wanted to raise them.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[deserthotwings]

The money and pleasure is certainly in the ornamentals. I started out with Ringnecks years ago and just got addicted to them but most of my sales come from Amherst and Goldens. Tony I was talking to a guy last night who has some silvers and he told me he got them from a guy in WVa. by the name of Jerry Morris. I know your pretty up to date on a lot of breeders and was wondering if you had heard of him. This was the third day and all is still going smooth with the introduction of the Amherst male.

 

[Tony K T]

I don't know if it is possible to make money raising any birds with the cost of feed nowadays.As long as I can pay for feed with the birds I sell,I am happy.I haven't heard of Jerry,but it sounds like he has the amherst breeding figured out.I don't raise true silvers anymore,but I do have lewis silvers.They produced 3 chicks this year and I ended up with a trio.Now I need to find another pair so I can switch the males.
In N.H.,Tony.