Jump to content

norfolk flyer

Donator
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    1,965

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Blog Entries posted by norfolk flyer

  1. norfolk flyer

    Led's Contd

    By norfolk flyer,

    All here at last is the final part. All wired up and paired up.
    Only 2 out of the 13 cages didn't work but everything now working fine,
    I'm really pleased with finished item, being honest better than I anticipated.
    I know it's only a short time but I've noticed a difference in the birds they seem more alert, if that the right word.
    Pic at top is of the timer/ dimmer in case someone is interested in getting one,

    Hope you all enjoy pics as I did putting this all together,

    Trevor.
  2. norfolk flyer

    Led's Contd

    By norfolk flyer,

    Best of plans can go awol and mine did, my daughter decided to give birth 3 weeks early so had to abandon plans.
    Last weekend managed to get back to things and cleaned out the last 5 cages.
    Today the 5 cages are back into position, led lights fitted and wired + tested.
    So tomorrow it's making up the circuit, fitting timer, stand back and switch on, results will be posted tomorrow night + pics.
    Oops forgot, pair up as well.

    Trevor.
  3. norfolk flyer

    Led Cont'd Photo's

    By norfolk flyer,

    Here are 3 photo's of a bank of 5 linked up,

    This is a temp set up just for testing purpose and it worked, well pleased,

    So at the mo I've got a bank of 5 linked together and a bank of 3 wired but not linked up yet,

    So all's left is a bank of 5 to be cleaned and fitted with led's,

    Fingers crossed next weekend,

    Hope you like them,

    Trevor
  4. norfolk flyer

    Led's

    By norfolk flyer,

    Having cleaned 3 cages out, I have wired them up only on a individual test a all worked ok.

    Now today I've cleaned out 5 more cages and tomorrow I shall be wiring these up + testing them.

    If all goes ok only 5 more to clean out and test plus connect all together.

    Gradually getting there.

    Photo's possibly tomorrow to view so far.

    Thanks for reading.

    Trevor
  5. norfolk flyer

    Changes Ahead

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    During the next few weeks I shall be completing a big task in my shed and will be posting blog plus pic's

    Got to finish cleaning cages out first then we're ready to make a start,

    I've done some prep work which takes time and you can't really see what i've done but it's necessary,

    I look forward to my next blog,

    Trevor
  6. norfolk flyer

    August 2013

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    All zeb's from last blog all went out into the aviary, had one nest with 5 BBLB's and they were absolutely filthy but problem was I was away on hols but my son and daughter looked after my birds for that week and they took box away and over a period of time these young gradually cleaned themselves and the bonus is one of them is a male. This is the first male of this type I've had so happy days on that.

    This month I have had a few firsts as I said first BBLB male, others are BFBCBB male, BBCFW fawn hen, BCBB normal male and a BFBB hen. So even though the numbers are down compared to 2012 the quality is up.

    Also I mentioned last month about a silver, well my other silver male paired with a BF hen have got 3 young 1x Normal and the other 2 you've guessed it as before both Creams why ??? again only with a different pair. Not knocking the Creams but I needed silver but that's how it goes sometimes.

    All the best for this month and i'll be back for the sept blog.

    Trevor
  7. norfolk flyer
    All,
    Another month has gone this one I think slipped under the radar, whosh it's gone.

    Hope you all are picking up on the breeding after the slow start most of us had.

    Mine now seem to be in batches, I knew I had 3 young out in two cages but when I went to check and clean today blimey! a total of 22 young that was a shock.

    Had a couple of surprises one in the shed and one I the aviary.

    Shed first, Silver male x BB Grey 2 young 1x Grey and 1x Cream Why???

    Aviary, had this zeb out looks after itself now, it's a dirty white (best way to describe that) and it's got pale grey cheeks which also indicate he's a BF as well hmmm! i'm a little stuck on that one i'll try and post pic of him.

    Another bonus the weather IT'S SUMMER !!!!

    All the best to you all,

    Trevor
  8. norfolk flyer
    All,
    Things are starting to pick up but slowly in the sense of small nests of young.

    So far this season I've now rung 22 with more in nests but I've only had 4 out of one nest all the others have been 2x 3's and the rest are 2's and 1's

    Is anyone else getting small nests ?

    Haven't hit my aim so far but with nests down on young plus the percentage would be low for what i'm after, the results become more difficult.

    Bought a pair of BCBBLB's from the east of England sale so that will help me along a bit.

    We've just had a brilliant week of weather had nests of zeb's come out coinciding with the sun, now as I write it's cloud for the last two days and the temp dropped by 7deg's plus a NE wind (great)

    Hopefully julys blog I shall be able to say that my aim was successful in breeding what I was looking to get.

    All the best to you all,

    Trevor
  9. norfolk flyer

    May 2013

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    Things are start to pick up now, got rid of the low pressure that was parked over Norfolk and replaced it with a high one.

    Had 4 young leave the cage and now in prep cage for release to the aviary, they are BC grey + BCCFW from BFBC x BCCFW &

    BCLB Pied + Fawn Pied from BFBC grey Pied x BCLB Pied.

    In the other cages i reckon to have approx 12 young round about 6 days old.

    Now started to get young in aviary but they to are still in box

    As you probually read in my post i lost a BB hen this is the second hen i've lost in the last 2 weeks the other one was a BF grey hen, so lets hope i don't lose anymore. Bit of a job to replace them at the mo cos the replacements are sitting in the aviary so it's unfair to remove them.

    Next blog hopefully will be a bit more young zeb's to talk about.

    Hope things are going well for you all,

    Trevor
  10. norfolk flyer

    April 2013

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    All pairs in shed seemed to have settled down, all cages had eggs.

    I wasn't banking on to much first time around, due to weather and most are first time parents.

    One of the Silver males x BB hen had two eggs hatched one but died other egg clear, now got two eggs. (cage 7)

    BFBC x BCCFW had five eggs hatched four out, one died so they have 3 young 6 - 9 days old. (c2)

    BFBC x BCFW had two eggs hatched one and that died + other egg clear now got fresh nest. (c3)

    BFBC pied x BCLB pied have got 2 young 2 - 3 days old+ three more eggs. (c5)

    Other cages have eggs so we'll see how things go.

    Things must start to get warmer soon, today was a sunny day and i kept shed door shut and when i went in during the afternoon you could feel a bit of warmth in there.

    Hope things are ticking along for the rest of you.

    All the best,

    Trevor.
  11. norfolk flyer

    March 2013

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    Well things have gone to plan, sold about 60 zeb's at Newark + 6 at Norwich didn't take many only what was left over from Newark.

    Bought in a BC pied male, a swop with Dave H a BC Cr LB (unfortunatly died) from Newark, and from Norwich i bought 4x BCBBLB males.

    All my zeb's were paired up on the 23rd Feb, all settled in well. Checked them today and i've got 6 eggs out of 13 cages, a 1, 1, 2 and a 2.

    Looking forward especially to my attempt to get my BFBCCFW's 3 cages are set up for this so we'll see what happens, i'll keep you all posted with that.

    Hope for some more good news next month.

    All the best to you all,

    Trevor
  12. norfolk flyer

    Feb 2013

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    Still haven't paired up yet weather over the last month has been diabolicle, no way was i going out to the aviary to sort zeb's out.

    Plan B, i've got Newark sale on the 10th feb so i'm going to kill 2 birds with one stone (not literally) catch all the birds, sort out for Newark + what i need to start my season off.

    I wouldn't have thought a late start will make much difference, hopefully because it's a late start might get some results of what i'm aiming at as a reward.

    If i do acheive my aim for 2013 the forum will be first to know and i'll back up with pic's in my gallery.

    Here's to keeping you all posted,

    Trevor
  13. norfolk flyer

    Jan 2013

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    Mass food and drinking season is over, trousers are tighter but hey ho who cares we all enjoyed it.

    Not much to report on zeb's, weather has held me back unable to catch what I need in aviary.

    Have repaired a part of my aviary which needed to be done, put an extra shelf in shed so tidied that up cos i'm a bit tight for space anyway.

    Cages all ready for their new families.

    Got my breeding programme sorted, list of zeb's I need to catch, so you can say i'm on the starting grid.

    Once I've caught up, I shall put 2 males in a cage and 2 hens in a cage for the total of 13 cages, they will stay like this for 2 weeks then they all will be paired up.

    Well that's the plan anyway, as that man said "I do like it when a plan comes together"

    All the best to you all with your breeding for this season,

    Trevor
  14. norfolk flyer

    Dec 2012

    By norfolk flyer,

    Hi all,
    Maintenance is jogging along, just got to wash and wipe walls of cages + freshen up the cage fronts.

    Made one slight error though when i caught and sorted the zeb's for the newark sale which i gradually caught during the week leading up to the sale. I put them in my breeding cages but i put one 2012 pair to one side on their own, these i bred those 3 grey isabels. Anyway later on that week caught some more out of the aviary and yeah you know what i did put them into that cage. I still never twigged what i'd done.

    After the sale on the monday puttuing birds back into the aviary then went into shed to put 4 show cages back looked around and then i realised what i'd done.

    Don't know where they are, sold or back in the aviary, no rings on that pair so that's it. So even if you kept zeb's for a long time don't get complacent always ring the birds, hope this has helped someone out there who thought shall i ring them or not.

    Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a great NEW YEAR to you all,

    Next time i blog it'll be 2013

    Trevor
  15. norfolk flyer

    1St Nov 2012

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    Season done, finished, finito total zeb's from my shed 97 and that pair i had no luck so 12 out of 13 pairs bred.

    Now i'm going to do the mantenance cleaning each individual cages, when they're out clean all behind them, disenfect etc.

    Had a good sale at newark sold 65 zeb's of various colours.

    I'm set up for next years breeding season, this will be the 2nd year of my programme out of 3 and the bonus is it will be all my own stock which i shall be using. My 2nd programme i shall be running along side will be it's 1st year and 64% of those zeb's will also be my stock. Which i'm pleased and excited about that to.

    By the time of my next blog hopefully i shall be coming to the end of the shed maintenace.

    Well done to everyone who entered shows and got good results.

    Speak soon,

    Trevor
  16. norfolk flyer

    October 2012

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    8 more rung, bringing the total to 83, out of the 8 i had 6 greys all from same nest and i need the males as they will be split for cfw, this will be interesting to see how many males i get when you need them. The other 2 are BC grey and a BFBC hen haven't bred many hens of this type so that's a welcome.

    As you might have read on a recent post my BB grey x CFW have produced 2 more isabel type along with 3 grey (split cfw if males).

    I moved the pair out of cage 10 to cage 3, reason, a bit more natural light. Layed 3 eggs one young, but chucked it after 3 days. Bit disappointed but at least they produced.

    Stafford is nearly on top of us now so any of you showing, good luck. I'm going only looking, so hope to meet up with some of you.

    Getting to the what i call the stagnent part of the year, shed gradually winding down, couple of shows to look at and sale at newark which i've got a table, then the maintnance work.

    Hope you all acheived your targets this season and gain success on the show bench.

    Speak again,

    Trevor
  17. norfolk flyer

    Sept 1St 2012

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    Following on from last month, all the 24 young all left and now in aviary, this now brings my curent total for 2012 to 75.

    All the pairs which had these young had new boxes and have got eggs + two cages have young, one has 2 they are 3 days old and the other cage has 6 young they are now 10 days old.

    With the late rush of young i'm fairly well set up for part two of my programme for 2013, when in april i doubted it, that i would get anywhere near my target.

    Well cage 10 hmmmm! still nothing no young so new clean box and we''ll try again.

    Some of the earier zeb's which have been in the aviary for a while now, are looking quite good especially the BFBC males i'm getting a decent ammount of black on, BBCFW hens are nice size and clean white.

    When next blog goes out it'll right near stafford, blimey time does fly.

    All the best,

    Trevor
  18. norfolk flyer
    All,
    Appoligies for late entry for 1st July so to even things up i thought i would post Aug1st early so i's evened things up.

    Things have realy turned around zeb's and weather, during the month of june i rung 18 young, concidering up until then i'd had 25 to ring so not bad.

    July obviously quietened dowh and i rung another 6, not worried because i knew i'd got eggs in other box's.

    As of going to press, i've got an astonishing 24 young in box's. Plus this year i've had young from 12 of my 13 cages and probually would have had all cages successfull but if i hadn't tried to breed two hens (ho! ho!). But by the time my next blog goes in you never know cage no.10 might have got young, then it will be 13/13.

    Hope you all have good summer hol's and i'll blog again on Sept 1st.

    Trevor
  19. norfolk flyer
    All,
    After a disasterous month the only way is up and sure enough my zeb's have pulled it around. following on from last month i lost my best cock bird a BBCFW but he had gave me 6 BBCFW hens so on the bright side i can keep that line going.

    Weather has definatly improved in my neck of the woods out here in east anglia.

    Checked zeb's today and i've got :- 1x BBCFW + 2x BB greys from the cock bird that died, the hen is bringing them up very well.

    BB grey x CFW = 3 young
    BCCFW x BF grey = 1 young
    BFBC x BCCFW = 3 young
    BCCFW x BF grey = 4 young
    Cream x Fawn = 3 young

    So as you see things have picked up, these young are approx 4/6 days old, so next weekend i should be able to see what types they are.

    I had a BFCFW come out in the aviary and he is doing very well (keeping fingers crossed on him)

    Going to East of England bird sale tomorrow see if i can pick anything up, i doubt it but i will let you know next month.

    Hope everything is working out for you all with your breedings,

    See you all next month.

    Trevor
  20. norfolk flyer
    All,
    Talk about highs and lows, march high, april low, out of those 21 young i have lost 10. 4 different nests i've lost them from a 4,3,2 and a 1.

    Reason ? Don't know i'm relating it to the weather/climate to much of a coincidence, apart from one nest i've been getting 1's and 2's in the box's.

    On a brighter note my BBCFW x BB have produced another good round, 5 young 3x BBCFW and 2x BB now in the aviary,

    Other young what came through are BC, BFBC and BCCFW's all now in aviary. Next to be in will be 2x CFW's, BCCFW and a Fawn.

    Got one nest with 2x CFW's in fingers crossed one or both are BFCFW.

    When junes blog goes in lets hope the weather has improved 100%.

    All the best to you all,

    Trevor
  21. norfolk flyer
    All,
    Norwich bird sale went ahead, had a lot of interest in the forum handed out quite a few flyers, hopefully may lead to new members.

    Those 2 young i mentioned last month turned out to be cfw and grey.

    When i checked this weekend i was amazed to find 21 youngsters. The box i'm pleased with had 2 creams + 1 fawn and the other pair have 4 young which also could have some cream in.

    In the last month i have lost 1 male and 1 hen from different pairing but have replaced with identical types.

    Next month's blog could be quite busy with these younsters as they will be indentifiable and i will let you all know the results.

    All the best,

    Trevor
  22. norfolk flyer
    All,
    Hope everything is working out for you all in your new breeding season.

    Didn't go to Bird sale at Norwich, because all of the weekends it decided to snow was that weekend and it was called off, we'll try again on 18th March.

    As for my birds i've had several clear eggs on first round, seems to follow last years start, all be it with different birds.

    So far i've got 2x BBCFW hens, 1x BC grey male, 1x BFBC grey male and 1x BFBCCFW hen (to be confirmed)from another box. Also this weekend i've got 2 young from another box to small to say what they are but one is deffinate CFW (fingers crossed for a BFCFW hen).

    Thats me summed up for another month, hope you enjoy the read.

    Trevor
  23. norfolk flyer

    1st Febuary 2012

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    In my area weather has been kind to us, as of writing temp's are down and they are forcasting snow for the next couple of days. Who would want to be a zeb in an aviary.

    Paired birds up, had prob with 4 pairs, males were chasing females all over the place,so not happy with that took the males away and replaced them with identical males, everything settled down.

    At present i have 3 young and 46 eggs this is from 13 pairs so at the moment doing ok.One nest has got 2 young they are about 7days old now (BBCFW x BB Grey)are the parents. The other one is about the same age (CFW x BF Grey) parents.

    Getting ready for the East of England Bird Sale tomorrow as i have a table there not looking to sell to many as it's not a zebby area about here.

    Thats all folks, here's looking forward to March when (fingers crossed) the weather should be improving.

    Thanks for reading,

    Trevor
  24. norfolk flyer

    1st January 2012

    By norfolk flyer,

    Hi all and a happy 2012,
    Well dec went quick, i managed to get all my cages (13) refurbed. Not because i did them but they really look the dogs bits. I did the cages in stages each weekend 2 here and 3 there, thats one of the problems with this time of year, the daylight hours.
    On the dark evenings i've sat down (not every night) and wrote down possible pairings for 2012 scrubbed some added some and finally got the finished artical, worked out the possible breedings from each pair and noted everything.
    Actually caught all the pairs up today and fitted the boxes, so now it's fingers crossed and wait, compare my notes to see how far out i am with my predictions.
    Hope you all have a good year, and hopefully i will be able to tell you of any happenings in my cages next month (feb).

    Trevor
  25. norfolk flyer

    1st December 2011

    By norfolk flyer,

    All,
    2011 is history now for the breeding, went to newark sold a few zeb's + bought one as well a male BBCFW.

    Started my 2 year refurb over the last 2 weeks, 2 cages done completely last weekend and 3 more this weekend completed. 5 down 8 more to go.

    Keep tinkering about on a A4 what to put with what i know roughly, suppose you call it fine tuning.

    Next blog will be in 2012 (could have a few pairs down) so have a happy christmas and a good 2012 for breeding and to yourselves as well.

    All the best!

    Trevor