In the loft of: Johan Koster
The total floor area of my bird pen is 27m ².
In this space I have 40 cages that I use for the breading and to get the birds in show condition. The cages have the following dimensions: length 80cm, height 50cm and depth is 50cm.
At the end of August I get starting breeding with the first 24 couples. These are already proven breeding birds that have brought good young’s in the past. The remaining cages (16 pieces) I use to get the birds in shape for the show’s. The show birds in a breeding cage work’s better for me because I think the birds in flight, with superiors in 1 flight, often get small damage’s.
After the show season (January) there are another 13 cages used for farming.
In addition to the 40 cages I have 6 flights, 1 flight can be divided in 3 parts (a total of 8 flights). All flights are fully equipped with cloth from the inner side. This allows the birds do not demolish the woodwork.
In 6 of the 8 flights, are the young birds kept. The remaining 2 flights, I use the old birds. These are the fertile couples who now have 2 rounds bred (rest period) and the show birds that have not been linked to another bird. There is no distinction in this way in men and woman, but I keep the fischerie and the personata separated.
Indeed, another 3 cages I have not mentioned. These are cages which are slightly larger than the remaining cages, length 110cm. I use these cages for young birds ho just separated from their parents (often because they will no longer be tolerated) and are unable to meet the group in the flights. Often this is a short period of 2 to 3 weeks.
My pen is in a day 18uur lighting. In this period is between 9 and 14uur (depending on the season) with artificial light. It fires a total of 7 bulbs that illuminate the loft fully. There are 6 "normal" light bulbs that in a period of one hour simulate sunrise and sunset.
The loft is fully insulated, it is in principle not to be heated. Only during a prolonged frost period, through a jet stove heated. The temperature is just above zero.