Q: How do you breed early youngsters?

If you want to breed very early youngsters, you need to mate your birds Thanksgiving weekend. Your youngsters will be ready to band about January 1, when 1999 bands are issued. In order to stimulate the laying process, you will have to give the birds total light of 14 1/2 to 16 hours beginning about 2 to 3 weeks before you mate and then staying on that many hours for the entire winter.