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well, to update, i ended up going another direction... for now at least. instead of trap nesting i'm just using smallish breeding pens for a pair or trio at a time. i ended up with more varieties than i'd planned. so the free rangers will deposit eggs if/when/where they choose and those in...

it's also called "rotational line breeding" and Bob Blosl wrote several articles about it on his website. http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com i read thru most of his articles and agree with the breeding strategy. it can be applied to any breed, type, or utility. for myself, using my dorkings...

i'm still having issues of hens not laying where they're supposed to... so back in the 'egg pen' they went. in the week they were free ranged again, i got 1 egg LOL from 3 hens!

Quote: it depends on what you're breeding for. if you're breeding a RARE breed to SOP, then no you wouldn't want to mix breeds. if you're breeding what you have to improve on performance, then what you're doing is fine and will keep the line going for years. BUT with dorkings, there are very...

so you hatch eggs from the best layers, and keep the cockerels to breed from. i'd say keep the pullets too, and if you can deal with inbreeding some in the line, put that cockerel over his mother and sisters. and any other hens that are quality layers too i'd say. rooster lines may influence...

actually, i would disagree. especially when you're dealing with a heritage breed that is suffering from extreme inbreeding in the first place. with only 2 birds, you're either going to breed father to daughter, mother to son, or brother to sister. no matter how you cut that, it's concentrating...

Quote: Well i haven't got the trap nesting set up yet. i only have 6 hens laying so far, and 2 of them are broody. the rest are laying almost daily. I'm not concentrating on laying stats yet, as you can't lay all your hopes for a heritage breed on 2 hens and a roo... i've got 8 pullets that...

good luck with that. i have to practically flip the birds to read their bands. LOL. then again i've got stumpy legged dorkings. at least i can tell the girls apart right now by their combs... one's starting to flop the other is still standing up.

yup. works pretty good unless you have hens that look alike, or that lay the same size/color eggs. then the trap door method would be better because you can check your hens' ID (wing band, leg band, etc)

well the time for the free ranging flock is nearing an end. not because of free ranging problems in itself, but because i haven't collected an egg from ANY of the 13 hens in more than a week. some of the hens i don't think i've EVER seen one of theirs yet LOL. the only girls that have been...

Quote: well, you could always rig a trap door heading INTO the pen... then when she gets hungry she can come in and eat but won't get back out... that's why i like the pigeon style trap doors. it's one way only.

Quote: any chance she's got a hidden nest somewhere and has gone broody? couple of mine did that, and one finally came out for breakfast one day so then i followed her 'home' and gathered her up that night... during an ice/snow/sleet storm, half drowned and frozen, covered in mud... the...

Quote: the contribution from the roo would not be measurable, so no, a fertile egg shouldn't weigh any differently than a fertile one. tho i had a hen years ago that gave me double yolkers every egg, and we could tell hers by weight, even tho the shell was the same size. never tried hatching...

Quote: Use what you've got. i've got tons of old hose... that's what i get for leaving hoses outside in the winter.

leaky nest door... do you mean it's leaking in when you open it, or any time it rains? my other coop (and this one will be) i have a 2" piece at the top of the slope joining the box, then hinge on lower section. the roof on the coop overlaps where the gap is, but it leaked when it got openned...

Quote: I'm curious, what size milk crates do you use? i've got a bunch of the 12" ones and wonder if they'd be big enough for LF birds.

Quote: i wondered why you didn't do a lift top... that's what i[m doing on mine now... may put trap doors on the nests, not positive yet for this coop... but i'm having fertility issues with the dorkings and wondering if it's a single hen or just random between the 2... so we'll see...

Quote: well i can't go by how much my guys are eating, they all free range, i give them a 16 oz plastic cup full twice a day spread out on a piece of plywood. some meals it stays there quite a while. they all come in to see what i've got, so i can do head counts but then they all wander back...

Quote: i would say cut the feathers rather than pluck... then they won't be inclined to grow back so quickly. you might watch for breeding activity, it may be his technique that is lacking... my dorking roo had poor balance control, and the first 6-7 eggs were no good, but the last 5 put...

Quote: thanks for that pic... i'm actually planning a breeding pen setup similar to that and wondered about accessing eggs/nests... that's what i needed !! now i have my pen design in mind, and with my breeders in each pen (4x8 for bantam, 8x8 for lf trio/quads) and trap nests, I should...