Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[IvyMaeWilliams]

Hi OTs and OT appreciators! Just wanted to say this thread has totally revamped my outlook on raising chickens and I really appreciate it.
Would you all mind laying some wisdom on me about my upcoming culling? I have 22 chickens, half of which are RIR and half Barred Rock (from a small local hatchery). They're 19 weeks old and 10 are cockerels. I need to thin down these boys and will probably do that soon (first time butchering since my middle school Ag. class in the early 90s!).
How many cockerels should I keep and how do I select them if there is not a whole lot of roostery activity going on? The largest BR just started crowing today, but I don't have a really good idea of his temperament. Some of the cockerels are not as developed as others, Is that important in making these kind of decisions, or will they just catch up later?
I did see one BR male trying to mate, but that's it. Also, I have some that have crooked toes; not so crooked that it interferes with movement. Should I weed those out, or is this not something that's a big deal? I intend to just have a backyard dual purpose flock--I'm not trying to do anything too sophisticated here.
Thanks for everything! I've really been enjoying lurking on this thread.

 

[Eggcessive]

I'm not an oldtimer, but I just went through the same thing after hatching out and having broodies hatch out chicks last spring. Crooked toes are thought to be genetic, so I would cross those off the list if you ever want to breed. I would only keep 1 rooster for your 12 hens, but if I liked more than 1, I would start weeding out the guys you definitely don't want to keep. You don't have to process them all at once either if you need to let them grow larger to see how they turn out in looks or temperament. You can put them in bachelor quarters for a while and watch them so they don't drive the ladies crazy. We had 9 extra roos about 6 months old recently, and they were creating chaos. The day after I gave them to a friend to process for his family to eat, the coop and run were very calm. My older rooster needed a break from keeping order, and he looked thankful.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Hi OTs and OT appreciators! Just wanted to say this thread has totally revamped my outlook on raising chickens and I really appreciate it.
Would you all mind laying some wisdom on me about my upcoming culling? I have 22 chickens, half of which are RIR and half Barred Rock (from a small local hatchery). They're 19 weeks old and 10 are cockerels. I need to thin down these boys and will probably do that soon (first time butchering since my middle school Ag. class in the early 90s!).
How many cockerels should I keep and how do I select them if there is not a whole lot of roostery activity going on? The largest BR just started crowing today, but I don't have a really good idea of his temperament. Some of the cockerels are not as developed as others, Is that important in making these kind of decisions, or will they just catch up later?
I did see one BR male trying to mate, but that's it. Also, I have some that have crooked toes; not so crooked that it interferes with movement. Should I weed those out, or is this not something that's a big deal? I intend to just have a backyard dual purpose flock--I'm not trying to do anything too sophisticated here.
Thanks for everything! I've really been enjoying lurking on this thread.

OK, I love breeding utility stock, not just the heirloom birds, so I'd love to help you.

To do that, we'll need better specifics. Just propagating a bunch of crummy birds will NOT make you happy. I can assure you of that.

You'll get all the replacement birds you need by choosing just a cock and have him over 3 hens. You'd be able to hatch out over a hundred chicks between February and May. My breeding pen is setup right now, and I want 100 chicks. I am using one cockerel and only 4 hens/pullets. That's it. That's all I need. What I would ask you to do is this. Upload a photo of your best red cockerels. Then, upload a photo of your best Barred Rock cockerels. We'll start there.

Then, after choosing the best cockerel, we'll move on to choosing the best pullets. But, there's time to do this slowly and proficiently and at the same time, not overwhelming you with having to take tons of photos. Is that a deal?

 

[Maven]

OMG ITS HAPPY HEN DAY TODAY !!!!! Guess what I found in the coop just now ????


My first ever egg !!!!

This just made my night after a horrible migraine at work & 12 hours at work.

They just turned 30 weeks old this week & I really thought I was not going to see an egg till spring......so glad I dont go in till 11 tomorrow so I can see if I can figure out who laid the 1st egg It wasnt in the nesting box but on the ground below it in a hen crop circle they made. I was wondering if all the hen crop circles I saw in the coop & run was maybe from them getting ready to lay.....now I dont know what I am going to do with it lol Might just blow it out since its my first egg ever

Hey!

we got our very first eggs on the same day!! YAY!! Congratulations!

 

[Maven]

OK, I love breeding utility stock, not just the heirloom birds, so I'd love to help you.

To do that, we'll need better specifics. Just propagating a bunch of crummy birds will NOT make you happy. I can assure you of that.

You'll get all the replacement birds you need by choosing just a cock and have him over 3 hens. You'd be able to hatch out over a hundred chicks between February and May. My breeding pen is setup right now, and I want 100 chicks. I am using one cockerel and only 4 hens/pullets. That's it. That's all I need. What I would ask you to do is this. Upload a photo of your best red cockerels. Then, upload a photo of your best Barred Rock cockerels. We'll start there.

Then, after choosing the best cockerel, we'll move on to choosing the best pullets. But, there's time to do this slowly and proficiently and at the same time, not overwhelming you with having to take tons of photos. Is that a deal?

You are so kind, Fred. When I'm ready to start serious breeding, I'ma come lookin' for you!

(um, breeding chickens that is...

)

 

[delisha]

Quote: Congrats Maven!
Egg discovery is so much fun!

 

[IvyMaeWilliams]

That sounds like a great idea, Fred! I really appreciate it. It might take me a day or two to get some good pictures, but I'll post them as soon as I can. Getting help from y'all will be a great antidote to my mom's advice: "oh, that one's so cute! You HAVE to keep that one!"
And Maven, too hilarious. Glad you specified what kind of breeding you were talking about!!

 

[Fred's Hens]

You are so kind, Fred. When I'm ready to start serious breeding, I'ma come lookin' for you!

(um, breeding chickens that is...

)

This is an OT thread, after all, so that's about the only kind ............ah.....um.... well, ya know.

 

[fowlman01]

I have a question for the OTs: which threads do YOU follow most closely, and why?
My #1 thread is this here front porch, as RachelsFlock put it

I also follow, although less closely, the FF thread and the Road Less Traveled.
~*Cult of Bee*~ for sure!

The other thread I follow is the heritage chicken thread started by Bob Blosi. This is in the genetic, show etc section. This is another thread with accurate info. They are talking about Mareks now. It is directed more toward SOP breeds, but is full of good accurate info. The "experts" don't last long in that thread either, because the real experts frequent it..

Walt

 

[Fred's Hens]

Following long running threads? Only this one, the Heritage Rhode Island Red, and Heritage Large Fowl threads. That's it. Mainly because those threads are active. The Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch thread on Barred Rocks isn't active. Partly because of it's name, I guess. There isn't a Rock thread that lives on, with good contributors. Too bad.

That's it. No other long running threads hold any interest to me.

Of course, I'll pop into just about any thread that holds interest to me. This is partly my job and partly to try an help answer people's questions. But all that gets tedious in a hurry and one has to take breaks, long breaks from doing that heavily, day in, day out. I do not engage threads trying to fix bad information, only if it is so absurd and potentially dangerous. I've posted 1000's and 1000's of instructional type answers over the years. Many I've repeated 100's of times. Cannot do it forever. Nice to see some others mature a bit and take on those roles.