Advice Please! A Rooster/Coop Issue!

[CYGChickies]

I have a waiting list for my Australorp eggs. They want fertile eggs for hatching, and some people are wanting chicks. (A result of my young Aussies winning blue ribbon over several adults at the fair) I have 4 roosters and 10 pulleys together with 10 silkies and 13 guineas. All are young but the Aus girls are about to start laying. I witnessed one of my silkie Roos mounting a hen this morning. My waiting list is for Australorp eggs and chicks, not Silkielorps! My question is, should I take out just the Silkie Roos until my waiting list is taken care of? (Since the silkie hens won't be laying for a long time) OR should I separate the silkies for good and have two flocks? I want to let all the Australorps stay together so I can get more eggs that will be fresher for hatching instead of isolating one pair for breeding. Any suggestions are welcome! I'm pretty handy with a J-clip so I could probably build a separate yard and divide the barn into three sections instead of two.

CYG

 

[Patricia Jane]

If you have a waiting list for Australorp eggs and you want to keep them together then I would seperate them. But then that's just MHO

 

[mstrrlm]

separate

 

[VI KING RANCH]

Seperate

 

[CYGChickies]

So I should separate them PERMANENTLY or just temporarily? I don't plan on having chicks all winter but also if someone pops up wanting fertile eggs I'll have to oust the Silkies again. I guess I need to just build a separate enclosure but I think the Silkies will miss being part of the flock. Not to mention I have at least four roosters out of ten silkies. I wish I could get the roos some kind of protection so I wouldn't have to move them!

CYG

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
If you're going to be serious about selling eggs or chicks that are purebreed, you'd have to separate for good. You probably already know this, but if your pullets are already being bred by the silkie roos, I think it takes 3 weeks (or longer) to toss the eggs they produce (eat them) and start over. So if they are all together and you decide you want to sell eggs, you'll have to oust the other roos for what, like a month before you can get pure eggs/chicks. It sounds like a lot of work. I guess it's all up to what you want to do. But if anyone accidentally gets a mixed breed/egg from you, your reputation will be shot, and people remember stuff like that forever.

If you're just dealing with a neighbor or a friend or two- it would likely be less of an issue. But people you don't know- they don't usually see the humor in having mistakes like that made. Just sayin'. It might be best to decide now if you're serious about starting a venture or just enjoying what you have now. I've seen some pretty nice breeding barns and runs on here. If you decide to go that route, you might ask to see examples of other people's set ups if you need more ideas on how to separate them out.

 

[CYGChickies]

Well I planned on just having seasonal chicks and stuff but people wanting eggs surprised me so yeah. I've only seen one silkie mount another silkie and they're all about 2 and a half months old so by the time the Aussies start laying the alleged silkie breedings--if any--should be obsolete.

CYG