Dreaming of Spring...

[bobbi-j]

OK, so it really hasn't been a long winter, but I found myself perusing the Murray McMurray Hatchery site today. I am down to seven 3-year old hens right now. They, of course, are taking their sabbatical and I haven't gotten any eggs since November. (Thankfully I have a coworker who also has chickens so I can buy eggs from her.) Anyway, I'm dreaming of fuzzy little chicks. My self-sustaining flock plans haven't panned out too well since I didn't have any broodies at all this year. Then my rooster died this fall. So, it's time to start over. I'm thinking heavy breed, brown egg layers. I haven't decided if I just want the Brown Egg Layer special, or if I want to get a straight run batch. I live on a farm, and we eat extra roosters, so that won't be a problem. I'm just a little concerned about not getting "enough" hens, but not even sure what "enough" is at this point. We eat eggs, I give eggs to my family and sell to friends on occasion. It's certainly not a money-making venture for me. Just a fun hobby. I for sure want another Welsummer hen or two. I LOVE those eggs! Maybe a couple of blue egg layers, too. Beyond that, I have no idea. Just that I want them to be somewhat meaty when it comes time to butcher. (I'm down to my last jar of canned chicken.) What are your favorite breeds? For those of you who have Rocks of any color, how are they for meat? I know they won't dress out like a meat bird, but I would like a little meat on their bones. Other than the Welsummer, I don't think I have a preference.

 

[aart]

I don't want to get farm store chicks, let alone order any, would rather hatch some out from local sources...
....if I can coordinate the other 2 sources, that can be a challenge as I like to hatch early so gatherers need to be freeze wary.

We shall see, just nice to start planning and researching to keep the light at the end of the darkness lit.

 

[bobbi-j]

At this point, I'm not so much doing *breeding* so much as *hatching eggs*. If I get a broody or decide to incubate, I put whatever eggs I have under the hen or in the bator. I may get more selective as time goes by. Mostly I'd like heavy hens covered by a heavy rooster so I can have a dual purpose flock of mutts that will give us eggs and meat.

 

[bobbi-j]

I placed my order for bantams for my breeding projects. Went with MMM. Ordered some red frizzle Cochin, barred Cochin and partridge Cochin. The plan is to hold a red frizzle rooster and put him over some barred hens to make little bantam frizzled sex links. then maybe a pen of the barred, and the partridge just cause I needed a few more birds to fill out the order and they're such eye candy

. They won't all be available until June, though.

I'm telling myself I don't need the Murray's choice layers. I really don't. Well, I'll wait til March or so and see if I need them then

.

The feed store will start getting chicks around the end of Feb. They usually have a decent variety of the more common breeds, so I can always get my fix that way.

Cause I can quit whenever I want, you know

Right - just like the rest of us!

 

[bobbi-j]

Here is one that I snapped this morning. There is a cover for the box to help keep the heat in. When I went out to check on them this morning, they were all spread out contentedly around the light, but not huddled directly under it. Outside temp was 43*. I may lower it a bit this weekend when it's supposed to get down to the mid-20's.

 

[aart]

There is an incubator at school, I have a student that wants to hatch eggs, so I am setting them tomorrow. I plugged it in tonight, it is just a styrofoam incubator, but the kindergarten teacher last year had great success with it, so what the heck.

Currently I am getting 6-7 eggs a day... for two people, like I need more chickens!

Mrs K

HAHAHA!! Now we know why you didn't go to the feed store!

 

[aart]

I'm thinking the same thing.....even tho winter actually just arrived here with a storm that left a few inches of nasty ice pellets that is now locked up in freezing temps for the next 4-5 days.

I could hatch to sustain population....but thinking I may want to add something from outside.
Have a Wellie cock that's made some nice hefty OE's over my blue laying EE, but she's not laying steady after molt (yet?). My Wellie hen had been a fairly terrible layer and only a couple of her first eggs were viable under a friends broody, 2 other batches I've tried to hatch never developed.

Will follow along for possible inspiration.

 

[blkjak]

My Barred Rock hens are my best layers all year round. Roosters dress out nicely and fairly large (6/7 lbs.). I always try to add 3 new hens each year so I always have soft brown BR eggs all year.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Favorite breeds? You can get some diverse opinions here.

I got 18 Buff Rock cockerels from Ideal last February, kept one to be my new flock master and put the rest in the freezer. I butchered around 5 months of age and they were pretty good. But to be honest most hatchery dual purpose breeds are OK.

Each hatchery has their own people deciding which chickens get put in the breeding pen so the same breed from different hatcheries can be different. I think strain is more important than breed, though some breeds do have tendencies. I haven’t done it yet but I’ve been tempted to try Wyandottes because they should be more curvy and round than most other breeds. It would be interesting to see how the white-dark meat divides with them.

Instead of ordering straight run, I think you are better off ordering by sex. I once got 7 Buff Orp pullets on a straight run order of 6 from Cackle. They threw in an extra chick because they had extras and just in case one died. None did. I would have liked to have had a couple of cockerels. The worst I’ve done on straight run pullets was four cockerels and two pullets on another Cackle order but I don’t do many straight run orders. Hatching your own is as straight run as you can get. Last year with one hatch I had two pullets and seven cockerels. I had an incubator hatch of 14 pullets and 7 cockerels. Straight run is just luck.

I don’t know how many you plan to order, but if you are getting many cockerels you will probably come off cheaper by ordering pullets and cockerels separately. Cockerels are pretty cheap. And you get what you want.

I can’t say I have a favorite breed. I like a multicolored flock of barnyard mutts and am partial to blue or green eggs. That’s why I went with a buff rooster. My flock was getting too dark for my tastes and buff can do some strange things to other colors. By hatching green eggs I can keep the green eggs coming.

My basic laying/breeding flock isn’t that different than yours, six to eight hens and one rooster, though during the season I may have more than 40 chicks and chickens out there, most growing to butcher size. I’ve bred mine to go broody a lot but I still have to use an incubator to get enough chickens to eat one chicken a week. The only way you can control hatching is with an incubator. One decent incubator hatch each spring should provide fresh pullets to keep your flock young and laying plus some meat. Any broody hatches after that is just Lagniappe. Of course if you hatch them you have to brood them. I really like my broody hens to raise them but I also want the meat.

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm thinking the same thing.....even tho winter actually just arrived here with a storm that left a few inches of nasty ice pellets that is now locked up in freezing temps for the next 4-5 days.

I could hatch to sustain population....but thinking I may want to add something from outside.
Have a Wellie cock that's made some nice hefty OE's over my blue laying EE, but she's not laying steady after molt (yet?). My Wellie hen had been a fairly terrible layer and only a couple of her first eggs were viable under a friends broody, 2 other batches I've tried to hatch never developed.

Will follow along for possible inspiration.

I hope you get some inspiration, Aart! It would be fun to know what you've decided on. I'll let you know when I make my choice, too.

My Barred Rock hens are my best layers all year round. Roosters dress out nicely and fairly large (6/7 lbs.). I always try to add 3 new hens each year so I always have soft brown BR eggs all year.

I've had Barred Rock hens in the past, and have good experiences with them. The one rooster I had, though, was pretty aggressive. I know that doesn't mean they all are - I could have just gotten a bad one. But I do like the fact that they dress out nicely.

Favorite breeds? You can get some diverse opinions here.

I got 18 Buff Rock cockerels from Ideal last February, kept one to be my new flock master and put the rest in the freezer. I butchered around 5 months of age and they were pretty good. But to be honest most hatchery dual purpose breeds are OK.

Each hatchery has their own people deciding which chickens get put in the breeding pen so the same breed from different hatcheries can be different. I think strain is more important than breed, though some breeds do have tendencies. I haven’t done it yet but I’ve been tempted to try Wyandottes because they should be more curvy and round than most other breeds. It would be interesting to see how the white-dark meat divides with them.

Instead of ordering straight run, I think you are better off ordering by sex. I once got 7 Buff Orp pullets on a straight run order of 6 from Cackle. They threw in an extra chick because they had extras and just in case one died. None did. I would have liked to have had a couple of cockerels. The worst I’ve done on straight run pullets was four cockerels and two pullets on another Cackle order but I don’t do many straight run orders. Hatching your own is as straight run as you can get. Last year with one hatch I had two pullets and seven cockerels. I had an incubator hatch of 14 pullets and 7 cockerels. Straight run is just luck.

I don’t know how many you plan to order, but if you are getting many cockerels you will probably come off cheaper by ordering pullets and cockerels separately. Cockerels are pretty cheap. And you get what you want.

I can’t say I have a favorite breed. I like a multicolored flock of barnyard mutts and am partial to blue or green eggs. That’s why I went with a buff rooster. My flock was getting too dark for my tastes and buff can do some strange things to other colors. By hatching green eggs I can keep the green eggs coming.

My basic laying/breeding flock isn’t that different than yours, six to eight hens and one rooster, though during the season I may have more than 40 chicks and chickens out there, most growing to butcher size. I’ve bred mine to go broody a lot but I still have to use an incubator to get enough chickens to eat one chicken a week. The only way you can control hatching is with an incubator. One decent incubator hatch each spring should provide fresh pullets to keep your flock young and laying plus some meat. Any broody hatches after that is just Lagniappe. Of course if you hatch them you have to brood them. I really like my broody hens to raise them but I also want the meat.

Thanks for chiming in, Ridgerunner! I am hoping for some diverse opinions. It's fun to hear others' experiences and thoughts. I think I will order pullets and cockerels separately, just so I can have a better chance at what I want. Maybe I'll get 15 of the Brown Egg Layer special, order a couple of Wellies to be sure I get them, and then 5 or 10 cockerels and see what I like best and want to keep. Somehow, that suddenly seems like a lot of chickens.... I also have a preference for blue and green eggs, so I'd have to order a few EEs, too, just to be sure!

As my flock ebbs and flows, breeds and colors vary. I'll get a mixed batch of chickens, varying breeds, but birds that are supposedly purebreds, find a rooster I like and the next year or so will have a flock of mutts. Hatching depends on the year, too. I do have an incubator, but don't use it every year. Last year I was gone 7 weeks out of the summer and didn't want to fuss with babies or have someone else have to deal with them. I was hoping for a broody (I had one chicken go broody twice the summer before, but not at all last year) so I could get a few hens to keep things going. Oh well, it doesn't hurt to bring in new blood now and then. I had Freedom Rangers a couple of years ago for meat birds. I did like the red ones - they dressed out nicely. Kept one hen out of the bunch, but she died that winter. I guess if I can just breed heavies and get a good, meaty bird, I'd be just as happy to do it that way than order chicks every year.

ETA - I hadn't thought about the "strain" being more important than the "breed". Thanks for pointing that out. I have only ever ordered from McMurray, so I don't really have anything to compare them to.