Ideas on conditioning worth keeping
Purpose of the Keep
Naragansette
Keep in mind that the purpose of any keep is to have a cock (1) fresh (2) alert (3) active (4) confident and (5) happy. If anything in the keep or any other one interferes with those objectives, abandon the practices or the feed which you think is causing the trouble and do something else.
No set schedule or formula will cover all conditions of weather, state of health and flesh, temperament of cocks, etc. You must appraise all these things as you go along by observing the cocks and noting their responses to what you are feeding or what you are doing to them.
I'm a great believer in changing the cock's location frequently during the keep. Coops on green grass one day, fly-pen another, regular small pen with dirt or sand bottom the next, etc.
Such changes keep them fresh and eager. Whenever the weather is favorable, I like to keep them outdoors during the daytime.
I'm not afraid of getting them "loose" on fresh grass provided they have been on grass prior to entering the keep. It keeps them fresh. You wouldn't like to be shut up in a close, hot stall and neither do they.
It's the same on cold or windy or rainy days. Put them were they'll be most comfortable.
Don't be a slave to a schedule.
Keep water in front of them all the time until the last 24 or 48 hours before fight time, then give them less depending upon the weather. I do like to keep them quiet and resting the last three days or 72 hours prior to their fight, but use judgement on this too and by all means have them comfortable and happy.
What you feed, how much you feed , when and how you exercise the cocks will vary somewhat with every bunch you put up.
Just keep in mind what you are trying to accomplish, as stated previously, by observing the reaction of the fowl to what you are feeding and doing, and dont be a robot to this or any other system.
