Common Breeding Mistakes

The breeding season is full of pitfalls you can avoid if you know where to look. Each of the mistakes below has cost experienced fanciers entire seasons of work. Learning from others' mistakes is cheaper than learning from your own.

Mistake #1: Too Many Active Pairs at Once

Early-season enthusiasm often leads to overloading: 20, 30 active pairs at the same time.

• You cannot monitor egg quality, youngster condition and the health of each pair
• Problems go unnoticed — youngsters dead in the nest, hens losing condition, diseases spreading
• Fix: maximum 8–12 active pairs if you are working alone. Better 6 pairs monitored carefully than 20 neglected ones

Mistake #2: Insufficient Calcium for Hens

A hen producing 2 eggs every 10–14 days, for 4–6 rounds, loses enormous amounts of calcium. If you do not compensate, she progressively loses condition and may suffer spontaneous fractures.

• Grit (crushed oyster shell) permanently available — not optional
• Mineral block in every nestbox compartment
• Calcium + D3 in the water, 2 days/week during peak breeding season

Mistake #3: Ignoring Infertile Eggs

A pair that consistently produces infertile eggs (all clear at candling) has a problem. Many fanciers incubate all eggs hoping "maybe next time it will work".

• Candle the eggs at day 7–8. Clear eggs = infertile → discard and reform the pair
• If 2–3 consecutive rounds are infertile: check the cock's health (stress, vitamin E deficiency), change the partner

Mistake #4: Dirty Nests Between Rounds

• Same nest material from the previous round → bacteria, fungi, parasites (nest mites)
• Small youngsters in a dirty nest → skin, respiratory and digestive infections → increased mortality
• Fix: complete cleaning and disinfection of the nest for each new round. 10 minutes per nest, every time

Mistake #5: Weaning Too Early or Too Late

• Separation before 25–28 days: youngsters cannot eat independently enough, lose condition
• Separation after 35+ days: the hen has already laid the next round's eggs and is nursing both nests simultaneously — exhaustion
• Ideal timing: 28–32 days, when youngsters are actively eating independently and pecking without help

Mistake #6: Not Keeping Breeding Records

• Without records, you do not know which pairs produce well and which do not
• You cannot evaluate the reproductive value of any pigeon
• Solution: a simple notebook with columns: laying date, number of eggs, number hatched, number weaned, youngster destination

Concrete Action Steps

• Limit the number of active pairs to what you can seriously monitor
• Install grit in all nestboxes BEFORE putting the pairs together
• Candle at every round — do not incubate infertile eggs unnecessarily
• Clean and disinfect nestboxes systematically, not "when you feel like it"

Well-managed breeding is not complicated — it requires attention to detail and consistency. By avoiding the mistakes above, you will see a clear difference in the number and quality of youngsters per season.