DocumentedPure
In the Brooder
Hello my wise and experienced chicken raising friends,
I am new to breeding chickens. In the chicken keeping I have done, I have always placed concern for the well-being of my feathered friends very highly on my list of priorities. I am careful to not expand beyond my abilities. I would appreciate if we could keep the discussion relating to the topics at hand. If you have any questions or complaints please contact me directly, or contact an administrator on this site if you choose. But let's please keep that type of discussion off of this thread. Please reply with thoughtful responses. Thank you.
I have found out that across the board, young chicken sales decrease during the summer and winter months. The winter month sales drop makes sense to me because people do not want to brood a chick indoors, and because people want to enjoy observing their chick grow, which is less fun to do when enduring cold weather. But why are the sales high in Spring and Fall with a sharp decrease during the summer season?
Do you, or are you familiar with, what is done to reduce or mitigate negative effects of the drop in sales? Do you separate the roosters from the hens? Do you reduce the size of your breeding program by taking some of the hens out of the programs to match demand or until anticipated rises in purchases? Do you just continue your normal rate of production, and make decisions about overstock once you get to that point?
This question is a little off-topic, but at what point do you pull chickens or roosters from the program and install new ones? I plan to have coops of ten, but I am curious about how I could monitor individual hatch rates so that I could see which ones are performing, which ones have gone broody, how long they take until they have started producing after their molts, and to remove older ones once their biological clock tells them to retire. Have any of you separated the hens into solitary enclosures (within view of each other) a couple times per year in order to monitor egg production rates on an individual level?
What are some methods of gauging rooster virility rates without pulling out a microscope? I have read that 9 to 1 hen to rooster rates are ideal, but at which point should I consider swapping a rooster for a younger one? Do you do it based on fertility rates over time in your populations? Do any of you have age limits where you systematically replace them?
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and even more thanks if you respond. I look forward to your feedback. I am new to this, as I will always be for decades to come. We are all students of the world. The more I learn, the more I understand how little I truly know. Thanks again!
I am new to breeding chickens. In the chicken keeping I have done, I have always placed concern for the well-being of my feathered friends very highly on my list of priorities. I am careful to not expand beyond my abilities. I would appreciate if we could keep the discussion relating to the topics at hand. If you have any questions or complaints please contact me directly, or contact an administrator on this site if you choose. But let's please keep that type of discussion off of this thread. Please reply with thoughtful responses. Thank you.
I have found out that across the board, young chicken sales decrease during the summer and winter months. The winter month sales drop makes sense to me because people do not want to brood a chick indoors, and because people want to enjoy observing their chick grow, which is less fun to do when enduring cold weather. But why are the sales high in Spring and Fall with a sharp decrease during the summer season?
Do you, or are you familiar with, what is done to reduce or mitigate negative effects of the drop in sales? Do you separate the roosters from the hens? Do you reduce the size of your breeding program by taking some of the hens out of the programs to match demand or until anticipated rises in purchases? Do you just continue your normal rate of production, and make decisions about overstock once you get to that point?
This question is a little off-topic, but at what point do you pull chickens or roosters from the program and install new ones? I plan to have coops of ten, but I am curious about how I could monitor individual hatch rates so that I could see which ones are performing, which ones have gone broody, how long they take until they have started producing after their molts, and to remove older ones once their biological clock tells them to retire. Have any of you separated the hens into solitary enclosures (within view of each other) a couple times per year in order to monitor egg production rates on an individual level?
What are some methods of gauging rooster virility rates without pulling out a microscope? I have read that 9 to 1 hen to rooster rates are ideal, but at which point should I consider swapping a rooster for a younger one? Do you do it based on fertility rates over time in your populations? Do any of you have age limits where you systematically replace them?
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and even more thanks if you respond. I look forward to your feedback. I am new to this, as I will always be for decades to come. We are all students of the world. The more I learn, the more I understand how little I truly know. Thanks again!
