Hiya looking for advice regarding the following. I have both Silkies and Pekins for the below scenarios, however this case I'll talk about silkies only.
I have several coloured 'groups' of silkies being a young male roo and a few pullets for each colour - Splash, Black, Blue, White and some silver partridge pullets, currently in one large 12m x 12m (40ftx40ft) enclosure on my section with coop, all under 6mos old. I am looking at separating these guys out in order to breed - NOT for show purposes but general good quality breeding for pets etc. My chooks are from showline breeders so am fairly confident in their genes.
Idea 1 - separate the 4 colours out completely to their own 12m x 3m runs with smaller coops. This would be Splash, Black, Blue and White with 3 silver partridge. This would be ideal for colour purposes, keeping males separate and premium coop space, however very time consuming and finance heavy!
Idea 2 - separate the group into two colours each. Two large coops (they are suitable for 8x 'normal chicken' sized coops with three nesting pens for reference) and larger 12m x 6m runs to share. Thinking, Splash and Blue together, and Black and white with s/p together. This would be a lot easier on my budget and time, and tbh the one i'm leaning towards. Obviously though then the predicted colours would be a mix bag and would have two roos together.
....Would it be ok having 2 roosters with approx 4-5 pullets each, in one shared area?
....What might a white roo and s/p hen produce?
.....WHat might a white and black mating produce?
TIA ;-D
I have several coloured 'groups' of silkies being a young male roo and a few pullets for each colour - Splash, Black, Blue, White and some silver partridge pullets, currently in one large 12m x 12m (40ftx40ft) enclosure on my section with coop, all under 6mos old. I am looking at separating these guys out in order to breed - NOT for show purposes but general good quality breeding for pets etc. My chooks are from showline breeders so am fairly confident in their genes.
Idea 1 - separate the 4 colours out completely to their own 12m x 3m runs with smaller coops. This would be Splash, Black, Blue and White with 3 silver partridge. This would be ideal for colour purposes, keeping males separate and premium coop space, however very time consuming and finance heavy!
Idea 2 - separate the group into two colours each. Two large coops (they are suitable for 8x 'normal chicken' sized coops with three nesting pens for reference) and larger 12m x 6m runs to share. Thinking, Splash and Blue together, and Black and white with s/p together. This would be a lot easier on my budget and time, and tbh the one i'm leaning towards. Obviously though then the predicted colours would be a mix bag and would have two roos together.
....Would it be ok having 2 roosters with approx 4-5 pullets each, in one shared area?
....What might a white roo and s/p hen produce?
.....WHat might a white and black mating produce?
TIA ;-D