Post by bw on Aug 21, 2005 17:08:44 GMT -5
Fly Pen Keeps
by
Countyline
One thing to be accomplished in the keep is to condition the cock's muscles and build his wind, endurance, and coordination. Just putting a cock in a flypen won't accomplish this. I like to use a young, pre-breeding age pullet. This is a pullet who is too young to let the cock breed her. He will chase her all day, making natural turns, trying to cut her off and catch her, flying to the roost after her, etc., all natural moves and actions that he would use in battle but without sparring. When he gets tired, he will rest before he continues, allowing his muscles to recuperate. Handwork does not allow this and certainly could not be done all day long but the chasing the pullet can occur all day. This method will condition a cock as good or better than handwork. Because the actions are natural, there will be no soreness or tightness, no broken feathers, and the cock will be loose and cutting at the end of the keep. Try it, it works. One day you give him a pullet, the next day he doesn't get one but the cock next to him in the next fly pen does. In other words, I put a pullet in every other flypen. A cock will have a pullet on one day, the next day he won't, but the cock that didn't have a pullet on the day the first cock did, will have a pullet the next day. This also builds the testosterone level naturally in the cocks or stags. They get all excited but have no release for the build-up. Some will actually kill the pullet out of sexual frustration. The cock in the pen next to him (who doesn't have a pullet) hears all the squawking and hollering the pullet does when chased and caught and he wants to destroy the cock who is doing this, just like every cock on the string walk yard has a fit when a cock out there grabs a hen or pullet.
This works especially well for people who work a 12 hour day like I do. When you work 12 1/2 hours, have an hour travel back and forth to work, figure in the time it takes to eat and bathe, it don't leave much time for the fowl does it? This method however will make the cocks work themselves, more naturally and better than most can handwork a cock and will give you good results. Sometimes all it takes is a little common sense.
by
Countyline
One thing to be accomplished in the keep is to condition the cock's muscles and build his wind, endurance, and coordination. Just putting a cock in a flypen won't accomplish this. I like to use a young, pre-breeding age pullet. This is a pullet who is too young to let the cock breed her. He will chase her all day, making natural turns, trying to cut her off and catch her, flying to the roost after her, etc., all natural moves and actions that he would use in battle but without sparring. When he gets tired, he will rest before he continues, allowing his muscles to recuperate. Handwork does not allow this and certainly could not be done all day long but the chasing the pullet can occur all day. This method will condition a cock as good or better than handwork. Because the actions are natural, there will be no soreness or tightness, no broken feathers, and the cock will be loose and cutting at the end of the keep. Try it, it works. One day you give him a pullet, the next day he doesn't get one but the cock next to him in the next fly pen does. In other words, I put a pullet in every other flypen. A cock will have a pullet on one day, the next day he won't, but the cock that didn't have a pullet on the day the first cock did, will have a pullet the next day. This also builds the testosterone level naturally in the cocks or stags. They get all excited but have no release for the build-up. Some will actually kill the pullet out of sexual frustration. The cock in the pen next to him (who doesn't have a pullet) hears all the squawking and hollering the pullet does when chased and caught and he wants to destroy the cock who is doing this, just like every cock on the string walk yard has a fit when a cock out there grabs a hen or pullet.
This works especially well for people who work a 12 hour day like I do. When you work 12 1/2 hours, have an hour travel back and forth to work, figure in the time it takes to eat and bathe, it don't leave much time for the fowl does it? This method however will make the cocks work themselves, more naturally and better than most can handwork a cock and will give you good results. Sometimes all it takes is a little common sense.