Breeding Pairings for 2015

[KsKingBee]

I am hoping to get some feedback from ya'lls about how I might best pair up my birds. I have the breeders I want to use and will also need to 'park' some of the yearlings in with them as they may be in the pairings with that particular cock next year, and to keep them safe as I don't want to free range some of these 'special' birds.

My first pen will be headed up by;

Poppa P, Spaulding Purple Black Shoulder, four year old cock
Momma P, Purple Black Shoulder, four year old
3 - Cameo hens, three + year old
SweePea, Purple, yearling
2 - Purple yearling hens

Pied Piper, IB Pied WE/Cameo, four year old cock
Limpy, IB Pied, three + year old
Cameo Pied WE, three + year old
Spaulding Cameo Silver Pied, Three + year old
Silver Queen, Spaulding IBSP, three + year old
2 - Cameo Pied yearlings out of Pied Piper

Rocky, IBBSWE, three year old cock
2 - IBWE, two year old hens
2 - IBBSWE, yearlings
1 - IBBS/Cameo, yearling
1 - IBBS, yearling

Elvis, IBBS/Cameo
4 - Cameo hens

Other cocks on hand;
Mr. M, IB/BS, five year +
Big Daddy, IB, five year old +
Ron, IBBS, four year old +
Mr. White, IBWE, two year old

I am hoping to sell off most of the IB hens and the rest of the birds are mostly yearlings and two year olds

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

If it was me, i wouldn't put the yearling hens with them, since you already have many hens for one male, last summer i paired a white yearling hen with my spalding cameo male, they were also a breeder spalding hen in his pen, what i noticed is that the male will keep chasing the yearling hen and the breeder hen eggs start to look infertile, so i knew its because of the yearling hen getting all the attention, so i removed the yearling hen from this pen so the male can focus on the breeder hen, thats work and got some fertile eggs but unfortunately they didn't hatch, let see what others will think about this.

 

[DylansMom]

If it was me, i wouldn't put the yearling hens with them, since you already have many hens for one male, last summer i paired a white yearling hen with my spalding cameo male, they were also a breeder spalding hen in his pen, what i noticed is that the male will keep chasing the yearling hen and the breeder hen eggs start to look infertile, so i knew its because of the yearling hen getting all the attention, so i removed the yearling hen from this pen so the male can focus on the breeder hen, thats work and got some fertile eggs but unfortunately they didn't hatch, let see what others will think about this.

Last summer I had Fred and his yearling daughter penned together along with a Bronze BS breeder hen. Fred completely ignored his yearling daughter and only pursued the Bronze hen, too much IMO. This year I will have 2 Breeder hens in with him again. It probably ends up being different for each bird, having 14 males I can tell you their behavior varies greatly. Some are gentleman and some are plain jerks.

 

[AugeredIn]

If it was me, i wouldn't put the yearling hens with them, since you already have many hens for one male, last summer i paired a white yearling hen with my spalding cameo male, they were also a breeder spalding hen in his pen, what i noticed is that the male will keep chasing the yearling hen and the breeder hen eggs start to look infertile, so i knew its because of the yearling hen getting all the attention, so i removed the yearling hen from this pen so the male can focus on the breeder hen, thats work and got some fertile eggs but unfortunately they didn't hatch, let see what others will think about this.

Absolutely agree. It will affect your fertility.

 

[KsKingBee]

All three of you have given me a lot to think about, thank you.

Last year I had a poor hatch rate. I thought it was because of the birds not being in top condition, incubator, incubator humidity not kept right, etc. However, it makes sense to me that too many hens in a pen could have been my problem. I had what I figured four to six mature hens per cock and some immature birds that I thought to be low on the pecking order and not causing problems, perhaps they were.

Legg's web site states that he will put one pair or a trio in a 10 x 20 pen. One cock and three hens in a 12 x 24 with 8 x 10 shed, and one cock and six hens in a 12 x 36 with a shelter on one end.

Three of my pens are 12 x 36, two new ones will be 14 x 24, and two more are planned to be 14 x 50. I'll probably use one of the 14 x 50 for a flight pen for the yearlings that I don't want to expose to free ranging, and use the other one for chicks, and four of the other pens (12 x 36), for breeders and the last 14 x 24 for broodies. I will try to make the pairings fit the size of the pen.

I am curious as how many hens most people use per cock, share if you would please.......

 

[thndrdancr]

Well, this last summer I had 5 hens plus one yearling hen with one peacock and about 13 out of 15 of my eggs were clear. Then I brought home the 2 year old white, and after quarantine the hens love him. He is gentle with them whereas my IB is not. Then fertility was up to 7 out of 8 fertile. (That's all the eggs I could find anyhow).

So one male per 3 hens seems about right.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

Last summer I had Fred and his yearling daughter penned together along with a Bronze BS breeder hen. Fred completely ignored his yearling daughter and only pursued the Bronze hen, too much IMO. This year I will have 2 Breeder hens in with him again. It probably ends up being different for each bird, having 14 males I can tell you their behavior varies greatly. Some are gentleman and some are plain jerks.

Your males seem smarter, that's why i sold this stupid male LOL, he was a beauty but he was so aggressive with the hens!



Edited: just remembered there was an opal yearling hen with my bronze male and he fortunately was ignoring her.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

I am curious as how many hens most people use per cock, share if you would please.......

I don't put more than 3 hens with one male, 2 hens they will do perfect, 3 they will do great, 4 you will have many clear eggs, but its different from male to male, some could handle 5 and some can't handle more than three, last year my bronze male was doing great with three hens, but still got some clear eggs, on the other hand my bronze bs male was with too, and just got one clear egg, all the rest were fertile.

 

[KsKingBee]

I don't put more than 3 hens with one male, 2 hens they will do perfect, 3 they will do great, 4 you will have many clear eggs, but its different from male to male, some could handle 5 and some can't handle more than three, last year my bronze male was doing great with three hens, but still got some clear eggs, on the other hand my bronze bs male was with too, and just got one clear egg, all the rest were fertile.

Thank you. What are the sizes of your breeding pens?

I would really like to hear more from the rest of you about the sizes of your breeding pens and how many hens to cock you use....

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

Thank you. What are the sizes of your breeding pens?

I would really like to hear more from the rest of you about the sizes of your breeding pens and how many hens to cock you use....

Mine are 6x4 meters, of course its not the best size for four birds, i didn't know every bird needs 100 square feet when i built them.