Getting ready to breed

[Carm]

What do you do to get ready for the breeding season? I want to breed for January instead of the spring. What do I need to do to get the ball rolling. I have lights on a timer for when the time comes. How early/gradual do you start changing the daylight hours. I assume you bump the feed protein level up a bit also. My breeding birds stopped laying in June. They didn't lose many feathers, so it was hard to tell when or how long they were moulting. Any tips?

[bamachicken]

Carm I don't do anything really special except make sure I have hens laying steady and a Cock or Cockerel that is breeding. I check the eggs for fertility. Sometimes on the older boys you may not get good fertility until later in the Spring. The older guys seem to have favorites and so I never give them over 3 at a time.

[d12chandler]

Carm, I don't do much different either. I do a few management deals like cleaning pen and putting down
fresh chips. I also worm and debug. I also trim feathers around vent. I turned my lights on today. I will
be ready when they are.

[Carm]

Thanks. If I put them under lights now, do I put the male in too? Or should he be under the lights but kept separate until they start to lay?

[d12chandler]

I put mine together, when they lay the first eggs, I'll check it to see if it's fertile.