My thought is to use a "trail cam" like the one used by hunters. They are motion triggered, take a series of snapshots and even video. Here is an example: http://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-Trop...=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1327978688&sr=1-1
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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 should start laying in the next 2-3 months, and more due to hatch as i get the eggs set for incubating. and the bantams are eye candy, so i'm not relying on their eggs either. once my breeding pens are up and running, with actual laying birds in them, THEN i'll have the trap nesting set up. if only to record which hens the eggs are from to keep good breeding records.GALANIE
KI4GOT
and any others secretly trapnesting now....lol how is everyone's winter log looking??
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 the inbreeding even more. I've got 3 birds from the same hatchery stock, and one pullet from another line, and now 7 pullets and 3 cockerels from the first trio. and I do keep records of what's being laid, since i'm attempting to incubate ALL of my dorking eggs. the roo's finally started doing his job again so there's hope yet!ki4got------ lol you know i'm gonna disagree!!!
A flock can be started with 1 rooster and 1 hen, in my opinion, depending on how many eggs you can hatch from that hen. how ever many make it to laying can be trapnested. you should still be keeping a log on total flock per day,per week, etc. its good practice for when you do get technical.lol
I have read that egg laying ability is inherited from the rooster rather than the hen. Of course how you know how many eggs a rooster can lay is a mystery to me![]()
Seriously though, I read in one of the old, old books about breeding and layers that the rooster's line is the one the egg laying ability comes from.