Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

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I have a different question for the OTs...Black Sex-Links are a cross between a RIR cock and a BR hen. they're bred for exceptional egg production from what I understand. Can I breed my own Black Sex-Links from my RIRs & BRs and, if so, will they be the same as the hatchery sex-links and produce likewise?
 
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track record of sucessful hatches/surviving chicks. I don't care how crabby the broody is with ME, as long as she doesnt kill her chicks, or take them outside and forget about them. I also hate the ones who have chicks hatch and wont get off the nest to feed those ones. I found a broody with 3 chicks so I took her eggs away and put her down with the babies. She hopped back up to sit more and lef them. So I took her out again and blocked off that nest box. She found a lower-level box and took the chicks with her and sat there in an empty box till those chicks died. Stupid hen.

Can anyone tell me.....does it matter if you let a broody stay broody for long periods of time? What I mean is, will it encourage more broodiness down the road by letting them stay that way, or if you discourage it frequently does it tend to die down in the long run?
 
I am not a newbie, but just for reasearch purposes what combinations of breeds would suggest for thriftiness, broodniess, size, and egg laying?
 
I really found all those qualities in my White Rocks and New Hampshires, with the Black Aussies coming in a real tight second along with the NHs. The BAs were by far the sweetest of the three breeds but they all lay like crazy, still go broody on occasion and make excellent mothers, have nice meaty frames, thrifty on feed, forage well and are hardy to the max.

These three breeds are my top of the line favorites for dual purpose, self-sustaining type flocks~those chickens for the person who wants to hatch their own replacements without involving an incubator, likes to save money on feed but still have the meatiest retired hen carcass one can get, plus just plain outright longevity of lay. I bought a bunch of chicks containing these breeds 5 years ago, culled my flock hard for egg laying and these three breeds have never made the cull list...not once.
 
When we get ready to add more hens, I hope to add New Hampshire Reds. I was all crazy about the Buffs, but they have not been thrifty or broody. So Im thinking of maybe a Cull-N-Can project soon
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The Buffs I got in that same order were culled within their first year....ate too much, layed too little, squatted too many times and got bald backs. Killed them each and every one and will never have another BO.
 
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These layed wonderfully at first! I dont why not now but Im going to wait until spring and see if it improves any then.
 
They look like big, fluffy pieces of butterscotch...almost good enough to eat. They fool you into thinking they will be just the BEST layers and mothers, don't they?
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