A couple questions

[Sherol]

I got a mixed flock.. BO, Black Astralorp, Barred Rock. Red and Black sex link, SLW and some cuckoo marans. I also ordered a black astralorp roo. They are 4 weeks old and headed out to the coop this weekend. First question is will these birds start laying the first of the year with it being winter? I am in Texas and it should be mild.. but will the time of year they mature delay the start of egg laying.

Second question is maybe next fall or following spring I would like to allow a hen to raise some chicks. I will end up with astralorp crosses because of the roo. My plan is to allow a hen to sit on eggs from my best producing hens. If I want to continue to raise a few chicks every year do I need to think about getting a new roo every so often? Does there come a point of too much inbreeding? Any thing I need to consider with this approach? I tried to choose good laying breeds that were also dual purpose. I will want to keep the flock size consistent and just replace the ones that age and I retire the freezer.

 

[Mrs. K]

I had chicks hatch in July, and I do not expect them to lay until mid to the end of January, however, I am quite a bit farther N than you and my daylight gets pretty small in December. Those breeds should be laying between 4-6 months.

I dabbled in raising chicks, just some riffraff hens, and whatever rooster I had. This year a bit unexpectedly, I was offered a very good rooster. I paid $20 for him. And truthfully I am very impressed with the chicks that hatched, they are just a higher quality bird.

So, when you do decide to get a new rooster, look around near you, for someone who takes his breeding very seriously. They will have lots of roosters, that might not quite fit their quest for perfection, but will vastly improve your line.

You are talking about a year from now, do not be surprised that you find you like some better than others, and some breeds you really don't care for. I have often thought, Oh, I would really like those, only not to like them so much later on.

There are so many kinds of chickens that one can have, it is a fascinating hobby.

Mrs K

 

[Den in Penn]

If all you are doing is raising them for eggs and meat, then bringing in new blood only needs to be done only every few years. Breeders will often inbreed to set traits in their flocks. A flock can go quite a few generations before and if any genetic defects happen. With your very mixed starting flock, I would think you could go for some time. When it does come time to refresh then I agreed with Mrs K, look for quality.

 

[donrae]

When your birds start laying will simply depend on the individual bird. I've had birds start laying in the dead of winter (one on Solstice!), and some wait until the days started getting a touch longer.

I think with the breeds you've mentioned, you'll get some very nice barnyard mix chicks. I've bred a mixed flock for years and found I change out my rooster about every 4 years. I've not noticed any inbreeding issues, but that seems to be when his fertility starts to decline, and also when I decide I want to try something different

. With your Aussie cock and those hens, you'll get a lot of black chicks and may decide on a different color at some time.

Putting your rooster over your barred Rock and cuckoo Marans hens will give you sex link offspring, always a nice option.

 

[Sherol]

Guess now one has to ask where is good information or a good book on chicken genetics? Not sure want an all black flock.. lol. I have bred fish for years to a standard so the genetic end of it wold be interesting. What about the egg color? How do you keep the blue/green type colors?

 

[donrae]

You don't have any blue/green egg layers there, so you'd have to add birds to get them. If you want your offspring to lay colored eggs, your best bet is to get a rooster that has the genes for blue eggs. Ameraucanas (true bred birds, not from a hatchery) and Cream Legbars are the most common breeds to use. With egg genetics, blue plus brown equals green, so if you put a blue egger male over your brown egger females, the offspring pullets would lay green eggs. Breeding them back to their father would give some blue and some green.


There are several threads here about color genetics. Just settle in and spend some time surfing, that's how I learned most of mine. Most of them are in the SOP/genetics section, or the FAQ section.

 

[Sherol]

I have some Easter Eggers that should give me the colored eggs. I will head over there to do some research ... thanks