The days are getting longer and by now you will notice the cock birds are starting to sing the signs are there it is nearly that time again

                                                                  “ The breeding season”.

I start to get my birds ready for the forth-coming breeding season starting with Feeding my Irish Fancies some egg food I feed this once a week in January then in February twice a week and in March three times a week by now you should notice that the cock birds should be in full song and the hens should be getting restless hopping or flying to and fro continually calling. She will often half open and flap her wings and will gather up any thing she can find carrying it around in her beak. When these signs are noticed its time to give her a nest pan and introduce the cock bird. The hen should have her nest complete within a week building a neat little nest made up from commercial nesting material or moss whichever one you choose to use. Shortly after the nest is complete the hen will start to lay her eggs she will laid her eggs one a day until she has laid a full clutch she can lay between four and six eggs different hens different amounts of eggs laid. As the hen  lays her eggs I collect the egg each morning as it is laid and I replace it with a dummy egg I do this each morning until she has laid her fourth egg then I place her eggs back in the nest removing the dummy eggs and the hen starts to incubate the reason for removing her eggs it that all the eggs will hatch around the same time giving the young an even start. This method is not compulsory again its personal preference. Now that all her eggs are laid she will incubate them for fourteen days. At this time I cut down on the amount of egg food that I would normally give to the hen as a sitting she gets very little exercise as to much rich food could upset her inside.

 The next thing is the hatching of the eggs you should always keep a record of the time the eggs are due to hatch. After the eggs have hatched the young for the first twenty four hours of their lives require little extra in the way of food, as they are still absorbing the remainder of the egg yolk inside them. What little food they require will be provided by the hen in the form of pre-digested food from her crop. Do not over feed in the first few days, little but often is the secret the egg food and soaked seed should always supplied fresh after the first week the young should flourishing and by this time you should have increased the egg food  and soaked seed as to as much as the parents will clear up at a time. It is, of course impossible to state the exact quantities, as this depends on the number of young in the nest. When the youngsters are fourteen days old they should be feathering well and another week later they should be ready for weaning. Weaning this can be a trying time some young will become independent with no trouble at all, while others can take for ever there is no hurry I leave the young with the parents until they are feeding by themselves. Now that they are independent I move them to a small flight cage and I keep them on the egg food and soaked seed for another few weeks along with some canary mix by now they should be thriving and the task is complete.