One of the kids said, "its like we have a whole new life, without Moonlight." Also, the farm is so much more peaceful without the squeaking of hens being attacked. I am so relieved. Thanks for your support in this decision. I feel like we have gone through an initiation and are on the other...
Thanks for your reflections. I think the reason for my emotional attachment is that he was my first chick ever incubated and raised from an egg. Lol Ultimately, he always has been aggressive. He pecked the heck out of each chick as they were born. It ended up causing troubles for the whole...
I asked the kids today if they wanted to work to help Moonlight be nicer or cull him. They all voted unanimously to cull him. They requested soup. Farm life.
So to answer your question, I'm not sure. If I had pure bred birds, I would want separate flocks. Part of the time I want to let them become a big flock and then other times I think the bachelor flock with rotational breeding would be best. To be totally transparent, I don't know.
I didn't have a real plan because, I never imagined having so many chickens so fast. My chicken math was exponential growth. Lol. WD bought a property that came with 35 chickens (1 died right when we bought it of coccydiosils, an other has an impacted egg that resulted in a massive prolapsed...
Male to female radio is poor, but not as bad as with the youngest flock. The youngest flock has 8 cockerels, 6 pullets, and 4 laying hens. The other flock has 32 laying hens and 1 rooster.
I have one pullet in particular that is a super sweet gentleman, but I can't put him in with the resident rooster (gamecock) that's in the other coop, unless I move him out to the bachelor coop. He fights and chases all the other males away, where as the rest of the males are in a flock...
This was his brother, at the same age, which I why I thought Josephine was a pullet. That means out if the 12 eggs I incubated, only 5 hatched and they were all cockerels. Lol.
Hi y'all.
So this year I got 19 chicks (hatched 5, bought 10 straight run, and purchased 4 pullets). Of of those chicks, aside from the purchased pullets, I got 2 pullets. Two. So, needless to say I have a lot of cockerels. I had 3 mature hens and then we moved onto a property that came with...
I thought this was a pullet for months. Even named her Josephine. Now I'm not so sure. I saw "her" crow yesterday and face off with a rooster today. Now I'm noticing more male feathers. "She" is a easter egger / black copper maran mix.