This loft houses our very best Breeders Such as the "President" Line, Golden Mattens G-children, Mistler Houbens, SFL USA Ludos, and our Meueleman birds.  This only houses 10 breeding pairs and it is 7x10 with windows on 3 sides to allow for plenty of sunshine which is essential to raising quality YB's. This loft was built under our deck as we are limited to the number of outbuildings we are allowed in our area.  The privacy panels seen in the picture keep prying eyes and predators away from the building housed within.  The "Yard" allows the birds outside air time and the ability to move about more freely. These birds are primarily our "Egg producers"  as we foster most of their eggs out to pumpers in our larger loft.  They are allowed to raise 2 rounds of their own per year but the young are removed at 21 days and transferred to the larger loft where their weaning and training begins. These breeders have their own individual pens to ensure parentage and must produce quality birds to ensure their spot in this loft.

This loft is our OB/YB loft and is 10x18 with 3 rooms. Vents in the roof and at floor level ensure that plenty of fresh air comes in but drafts are kept to a minimum.  One section houses the YB's and has box and V perches. It can comfortably house 60 YB's without overcrowding. This is very important as we believe the comfort of the birds entice them to return home quickly. We do not need more than 60 YB's per year as we believe in quality not quantity. We fly on the "Light System" and have found it to be effective for us. Our birds are exercised in the mornings and evenings prior to feeding to ensure they trap quickly. Our UNIKON timer tells us who is laging even when they beat us home. They are never allowed to just "Lounge" around as MR. COOPER is always looking to visit. If they are not in the air they are tucked safely away in their loft.

Another section houses the "Pumpers" of which we have 10 pair to match up with the 10 pair of breeders. These birds are quality birds from our race team and/or stock birds that could probably be primary breeders in someone else's loft. They are treated the same as our "foundation" breeders as they are passing on the antibodies when they feed out the young. Some of these may end up in the primary breeding loft as time goes by. 

Finally, the last room has our OB's. In it we have aprox 20-25 OB's from prior years racing team and if they do not produce they will be "Off the Team". At no time will we keep more than 40 OB's for the team. We fly Natural and do not incorporate the widowhood system at this time. However, we are always looking to improve and this system is being considered. As we start with a low number of YB's every year we don't have many birds that make the cut at the end of the year to end up in this section of the loft. It takes a real special bird to make it to here.