My breeding season started as of this morning. Hens have been in lay for a couple of weeks and breeder hens were just penned with first males to be bred to this season. Many of the chicks I want hen hatched and reared but do not want to tie breeders hens with broody cycles because I am after numbers. One hen in particular I want fifty offspring from so will be using her daughters as broodies. Her full-sibling daughters (pullets just past point-of-lay) have been running free-range for over a month and were exposed to a rooster for the first time in a breeding pen. I set up three nest close by breeding pen hoping they were in hoping the would check nests out when released. Most of my older hens when coming into lay will immediately check out any nest I set up and really get into it when cock points the nest out. I have a couple cocks that are more interested in nest sites when I bring them out than they are into food. This round I did not release cock from pen and pullets were penned up while I setup nest. Pullets stayed with cock for three hours before they were released and they clearly had eggs peaking at that point. Upon release the three pullets walked immediately as a group to the west (nest were 4 feet to north), through the woods, across the fence and into neighbors shed. This was with full crops and watered up so they were not hungry. They went to lay eggs. That was a crapper on my efforts. They already imprinted on another location. To override I caught all three off roost plus cock and placed them in a larger pen that is elevated. Nest where installed in pen so they faced opposite directions, The group will stay in pen until pullets go broody which should take about 2 weeks with each laying about q egg every day during that time frame. Once the pullets go broody each will have her eggs replaced by those of their mother plus some American Dominique eggs.
Setup is sloppy looking but should work. Pictures will follow.
Setup is sloppy looking but should work. Pictures will follow.
