Breeder Pen Plan

[leeandy91]

I want to breed a few different kinds of chickens and was wondering if I was headed in the right direction. I have a 30 foot by 6 foot long pen broken into 3 10x6 sections that was a turkey pheasant and quail pen. In each I want to put a rooster and a few hens for a week or so for breeding so I know who they are breeding to and for egg collection and marking then return them to the rest of my flock. Does this sound like it will work? Never done this before.
Thank you
Andy

 

[ChickenAndMore]

Yes it should work just fine but they will need to be together in the pen longer because it will take over a week for the eggs to come out pure bred. Hope that makes sense.

 

[leeandy91]

I didn't know it would take time I assumed it was as simple as something like dogs I didn't research the chicken side of it how long separated?

 

[donrae]

I've heard a hen can store sperm for up to two weeks, so you'd want to have your hens off any roosters you don't want to sire chicks for at least that long. Some folks here say 3 weeks, just to be on the safe side. Then, you can collect your eggs and you're good to go.

I think your set up sounds just fine. You can have the hens and rooster in there during the withdrawal period, or just the hens alone, doesn't matter. 10x6 should be fine for 6-8 birds short term.

Wish I had something similar already set up. I'm brainstorming with my honey on how to make my breeder pens.......

 

[aart]

I have been thinking of how to do this also....and wonder if you need to take into account the upset that can come from moving a bird to a new habitat.....and then moving them back into a general flock.
I may be reading more into it than necessary due to inexperience.
Hens can stop laying if they're stressed out....so no eggs and thus no clearing of sperm.

Should then pens be visible to the rest of the flock...or not?
Which would be less stressful for all creatures (including the chicken keeper) involved?
Segregation could last at least 3 weeks, maybe longer.

Sorry, I am trained to look for failure details when examining a process concept, I don't mean to be a DebbyDowner.
I also like to look for a long time before executing a project just so I don't have to deal with emergency fixes which can cost more money and stymie success.

 

[leeandy91]

Thanks I'll do that! And this was so easy to build my dad and I built it in a day. It's 6 ft deep because u can take a 6 foot roll of chickenwire and just roll it up one side across the roof and down the other side then run it across the walls. And I used screen doors and replaced the screen with hardware cloth

 

[donrae]

I think the moving birds in and out of a flock impacts flock dynamics much more with smaller flocks. If you only have say 4 birds, one bird's absence can greatly impact each other bird. I have over 2 dozen birds and really don't think moving them in and out will matter that much, especially as I plan to do it in groups of 6 or so. Other animals have just as much a social hierarchy as chickens, and get taken out of the pen/pasture for different uses or breeding all the time, and replaced in the herd/group without a huge fuss. That's what I'm banking on.

 

[leeandy91]

I have like 60 birds so I don't think they will notice a few missing for a month and my birds free range during the day and are put up at night so they will see them still too. I will eventually give this a try I have my hens now I just need somewhere I can get just one of each on roosters.... Jekyll (current head boss rooster) is not going to like this.

 

[Indiana Chicka]

I am trying something very similar. I have a clutch of 7 hens that have live by themselves. Then I have 4 roosters who each live in their own cages. Ready to breed, so I put the hens in with thier mate yesterday. Stayed out and watched nfor awhile and the rooters didn't seem interested in ghe hens. Today I went out 3 times and there weren't any eggs. The hens had been laying everyday. So now I wonder how long it will take for them to start again. Then I wonder if they'll be fertile any ideas? Oh, they are D'Anvers

 

[aart]

I am trying something very similar. I have a clutch of 7 hens that have live by themselves. Then I have 4 roosters who each live in their own cages. Ready to breed, so I put the hens in with thier mate yesterday. Stayed out and watched nfor awhile and the rooters didn't seem interested in ghe hens. Today I went out 3 times and there weren't any eggs. The hens had been laying everyday. So now I wonder how long it will take for them to start again. Then I wonder if they'll be fertile any ideas? Oh, they are D'Anvers

Any change can throw them for a loop, could take a few days to a few weeks for them to settle in their new digs and carry on with laying and mating.
Once they start laying, crack the egg open for eating and check the yolks for fertility.