Breeding Question

[hatchaneggfarm]

Hello, I am new to owning chickens. I have one main big coop filled with 40-45 hens and 6/7 roosters. I don’t want to continue with the “barnyard mix” eggs and want to start having pure breed hatching eggs. Now my question is what do ya’ll do with breeding? Multiple homemade coops? or..? My current idea is since I have an unused barn with multiple horse stables. I was going to rig two of them up with fencing, lights, roosts, nesting boxes etc.. And put 3 roosters in 1 with 10 hens and 3 roosters in another with 10 hens. And keep my mainflock of hens outside and then build 2/3 breeding pens and grab what rooster I want from a stable and grab the matching hens from the main coop to breed. Don’t know if theres a easier way, and if im approaching it wrong, or what. Opinions wanted

 

[Jraba1315]

What I do is have multiple smaller coops, one with each breed. And in the spring we will be rotating which coop/group gets to free range for the day so that everyone gets to free range at least once a week.

 

[chickenenthusiasts5698]

I think 3 rooster and 10 hens is way to many roosters. 1 rooster to 10 hens should be plenty. I currently have 1 black copper Marans rooster with about 20 Easter egger hens and how 0 problems with fertility and ive been hatching since spring.

 

[aart]

I don’t want to continue with the “barnyard mix” eggs and want to start having pure breed hatching eggs.

Are any of your birds pure breeds?
You'll need to sequester the hens for 3-4 weeks to clear any semen form other males,
then the chosen cock/erel can be added to the chosen hen pen.

I think 3 rooster and 10 hens is way to many roosters. 1 rooster to 10 hens should be plenty.

Ditto Dat!

 

[Jraba1315]

I think 3 rooster and 10 hens is way to many roosters. 1 rooster to 10 hens should be plenty. I currently have 1 black copper Marans rooster with about 20 Easter egger hens and how 0 problems with fertility and ive been hatching since spring.

Agreed. You MAY be able to get away with 2 Roos for 10-15 hens but not 3 for 10.

 

[Ridgerunner]

First, lets go through some timing. It takes an egg about 25 hours to go through a hen's internal egg making factory. It can only be fertilized during the first few minutes of that journey. This means that if a mating takes place on a Monday, Monday's egg will not be fertile from that mating. Tuesday's egg might or might not be, depending in timing. Wednesday's egg will be fertile.

In the last part of the mating act the rooster touches vents and hops off. The hen then stands up, fluffs her feathers, and shakes. This fluffy shake gets the sperm in a special container near where the egg starts its internal journey through her egg-making factory. That sperm can remain viable for 9 days to over three weeks. If you want to make pretty sure that the rooster you want to be the sire is the sire, the hen has to be kept away from any other rooster for at least three weeks. To be very sure four weeks is better. You can't swap roosters out every few days, you really have to plan ahead.

Barn stalls I'm familiar with aren't big enough to house ten hens and a rooster for a month or more. I don't know what your plans are for runs or any additional space. I like the basic plan of using existing stalls as the basis for your coops but I'd certainly add much more room. either in the barn or attached runs.

 

[Mrs. K]

Any real answer does depend on your set up, and it depends on if you can tell which hen laid which egg. If you can tell that, well you can pick what you want to hatch. If you just want one pure bred breed - well just keep that type rooster, in with your layers, and hatch only the eggs out of matching breed hens.

Or if you want different breeds, but want them pure breed, you could dedicate one year to one breed, the next year to another breed, just by replacing the rooster or roosters. Roosters are cheap and generally easy to get.

Your idea of the barn stalls is fine, but you really do not need to lock up 10 hens. Two or three of your best hens with your best rooster, will produce enough eggs to hatch at one time, if they are decent layers. Eggs can be 7-10 days old and hatch pretty well. 3 hens would or should give 25-30 eggs. Maybe you want more than that?

Just lots of ways to do this, play with it, some ways will work better and some will work worse.

Mrs K