BREEDING PEKINS NATURALLY

snowbald · **Posted:** Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:57 pm

Hi PA, Over the years I have developed a cloth cradle that I put my birds in,where they are unable to stuggle and stress theirself, which gives me access to their vent and legs. I gentle pull on the vent feathers till the skin is slightly streched then hold the steched skin between finger and thumb and pluck the feathers. The birds hardly move. The scissor method always reminds me of sheep shearing --- there's always blood!!!.

I use the same cradle to do the roosters spurs,before mating. All the best,regards,
Snowball :-D

Jeff Trescott · **Posted:** Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:02 pm

Do you have a picture of the cradle snowball? sounds great do they squawk much when you pull them out? do they bleed much?

Jeff

snowbald · **Posted:** Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:08 pm

Jeff, No bleeding and no more squawking than normal. Next time I use it I will get some pic's and post.Regards,
Snowball :-D

Jeff Trescott · **Posted:** Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:10 pm

That will be good because they are hard to hold and pluck/cut and the wife wont help, she says it cruel

Jeff

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:04 pm

I'd be interested to have a look at pictures of the cradle too, Snowball, as I'm a bit clumsy with handling at the moment and don't wan't to terrify the poor things any more than necessary!

Thanks everyone!

Debbie

snowbald · **Posted:** Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:50 pm

Will get onto it ASAP,regards,
Snowball :-D

Peacocks Australia · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:14 am **Posts:** 310755

Hi Snowball, the Cradle looks excellent and what a GREAT idea, we are in the process of making one for our bantams (Smaller scale to yours) Maybe you should Patent it :idea:

Thanks
Peacocks Australia :lol:

schnapper · **Posted:** Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:07 pm

Welcome.
Being fairly new to this bird caper I had never heard of vent plucking or trimming until now! :oops:

However, every egg that I have tried to hatch from my one and only Pekin (Miss Moneypenny) has hatched. This is with 100% natural breeding. Mind you my rooster is a Light Sussex....don't know if that makes any difference....other than the offspring looking like carbon copies of their dad (all black with white neck/collar feathers). They do have the Pekin fluffiness and feet feathers though!
Interestingly, although Pekins are meant to be a fairly broody breed, Miss Moneypenny has never been that way inclined......However.....both her current (half caste) daughters have just started sitting within a week of each other!
Good luck whichever way you decide to go.

snowbald · **Posted:** Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:40 pm

Hi PA,
I have a smaller cradle that I use for smaller birds etc. What got me going on it was the amount of stress the chooks went through when you were trying to do routine jobs on them ---- my first cradle was more of a bag with a hole in one side for the head then holes for the feet and a hole the other side for vent inspection etc.etc. However I found that getting the chooks into this type bag stressed them out as much as trying to work on them one handed.

So after a few more failures I came up with my current one but have a couple of safety pins handy just in case you need to close the front a bit more.I've been using this type for about 15 years and have never had any problems. Because their feet are not in contact with any thing, it's hard for them to struggle to much, obviously I endever to have them in there for the shortest time possible,and to release them I just put the cradle on the ground open and they just walk out and often give you a very nasty look as if to say "What was that all about" :evil:

Having a sister in law who is very good on a sewing machine helps a lot. :!:

but they are washable so they tend to last a while.The one in the pic's I posted is approx. 4 year old.

As far as patent --- I have showed and given this to so many people over the years that I sure some one else has.
Regards,
Snowball :-D

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:04 am

Thanks for sharing the pics, Snowball.

The cradle looks great - time to get out the sewing machine here I think! :-D

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