How young is to breed a hen?

[Craig52]

I have bred quite a few young crimsons this year,the majority being hens.The oldest being six months old and now fully coloured.I have spare cocks bred last year raring to go.I say this as when i was breeding gouldians in a colony system,many uncoloured young went to nest and brought out young of their own.Last year at Fog Dam near Darwin,most of the half coloured crimsoms had paired up.I've got a feeling that young crimsoms pair up very young in life and this maybe why there's not so much aggression between them.the only thing is,my spare cocks are 12 months older than these coloured young hens.
What do you reckon??

[djb78]

I personally would wait till my hens are at least 12 months, but I have never breed crimsons before and they maybe a bit different.

[Tiaris]

I think virtually all species will establish pair bonds very young in life if given the opportunity to do so. Whether they should be allowed to breed whilst still young is another issue - probably not such an issue in Summer.

[desertbirds]

If conditions are favourable i would let them go, particularly if the weather is warm. White Bellied crimsons are from the same area as Lessers which have been known to produce young as early as 4 and a bit months old. Its been common knowledge for years that Diamonds are better bought before they fully colour up. If you have a large aviary with uncoloured young that are unrelated it would be almost ideal as far as pairing young offspring. Given your location egg binding would be one of the issues.

[Tiaris]

I just spoke to a very successful Crimson breeder last week & he very firmly advised that to put Crimson hens out to breed at younger than 10 months enormously increases the chances of losing the hen. So I'll have to adjust my earlier opinion based on his far more extensive experience with Crimsons.