breeding ?

[abhaya]

I am new to raising chickens and have never done any breeding. I finally have a roo he is good natured and a looker to boot.

I am just looking to not have to keep buying chicks every year to keep the flock young and laying.

right now I have 1 roo to 6 girls 1 laying 5 really close to starting to lay. I also have 5 chicks I think 1 is male. My silkies are seperate.

Do I ust let nature take its course or what do I need to do? I do not have a bator and really would ust prefer to let the hens go broody.

 

[cybercat]

Alot depends on what you want to do be a breeder or a producer. Purebred chicks sell alot easier than mutts. Those bred toward the Standard of Perfection sell even better. If you want to breed then you will have to keep breeds seprate or else you will have just mixed chicks. Since you already have the silkies seprate and they will go broody for you, you have a start. Now you need to narrow down you other birds to pick just one breed if you want to go that route. If not then do not worry about it and let chickens mix it up. We do have a breeds and breeding section here just down below. I sugest you do some reading there for all posts are geered to breeding. You will also find many breed only posts. Breeding is alot of fun exspecially if you are doing it to perserve a rare breed of chicken. Many colors of the well known breeds are very rare like the one I am working with. So there is no real limit on choosing if you want to go this route. If you need help on choosing just go to my chickens blog and click on the one that is called The Search. I detail how I narrowed down my choice for chicken.