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

[IvyMaeWilliams]

Fred, thanks for posting that roo and the illustration you posted yesterday. It really helps me get it! The barring is very crisp and uniform, isn't it?

 

[IvyMaeWilliams]

Bee, when you say you get replacements, what do you do? Eggs, chicks, what source, etc?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Here are two photos off the web. These are both utility or hatchery grade Barred Rocks. If they were this quality? Yup, I'd breed them for meat/eggs and utility.

 

[delisha]

Raven (Great Grandma)


Granddaughter(she does not have a name because I have no idea if I am going to keep her yet. She has a nice tent, but I am not crazy about her top line. It is only about 15 degrees.


Grandmother and daughter(Back) They are in molt and still laying a few eggs a week.




Grandson..that is a 5 gallon bucket. He is as large as my adult Muscovy. I like his color and top line. He is wide and I can put my hand easily between his legs. His chest is filling out really nice. I do not know the heritage of his sire, it was a visiting neighborhood Roo. I think it is a Silver Pencil Rock, but not sure. Only thing I dislike about this bird is when I handle him he stresses and pants like he is going to die any second.

The grandma is 5 years old, the daughter is 2 and the kids are about 24 weeks old
I feel I have improved the stock through generations. They are all hardy and good foragers. With having Cornish as a foundation in all of these birds I have kept size. By adding other breeds I have kept egg laying and broody to a nice balance. Most of the hens hatch out two clutches a year. This last generation is huge already and tons of growth to do yet. They are not copies of body shape and style to any breed since they are such a mix of different breeds through the years. I would like to improve on the width of the tent, The hens I have culled seems to be the ones that have a smaller tent. I have a young pullet that is pretty pinched, but, she is my last one from my full Cornish hen.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Bee, when you say you get replacements, what do you do? Eggs, chicks, what source, etc?

Here's the thing with breeding utility stock you just have around. Why bother? In my opinion, unless a bird has a minimal feature set? Why create more of them? eeeeww.
An awesome, well shaped, super duper, great at everything except for being purebred? Sure. But even then, out of 100 utility birds, quite frankly? It is likely that less than 5 are worthy. That's my experience in breeding utility birds for many, many years. Let's face it. They aren't and don't need to be show winning type stock, but honestly, there needs to be some reason to propagate them. 3-5%. That's the reality, as I've seen it unfold over the years.

Yes, buy a trio, gets hatching eggs, etc from a solid source and you'll be miles and miles and many dollars ahead of the game. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Fred's Hens]

delisha,

Good job. If those photos are any indication, very nice husbandry.

 

[Mountain Momma]

Here's Jeremy Whoppel's bird that he showed recently. Our birds came from Jeremy through Kathy, (I think?). We've got some of this bird's "cousins" over here, LOL, and yup, this is what they look like at roughly 10-12 months.

He is absolutely gorgeous. The tight and tiny bars are so cool and seem really modern to me and almost like an optical illusion. I wonder how a predator sees those markings. My PR markings seemm so muddy compared to him. I love him!
L

 

[Fred's Hens]

He is absolutely gorgeous. The tight and tiny bars are so cool and seem really modern to me and almost like an optical illusion. I wonder how a predator sees those markings. My PR markings seemm so muddy compared to him. I love him!
L

MM, what I know about genetics wouldn't fill a thimble. But, as I understand it, however unscientifically, that the crisp barring is the result of an On/Off gene. The ringlet line has that gene, but none of the hatchery stock does. There is a link, that I do not fully understand, between fast feathering and great egg laying. Thus, messy barring, fast feathering Barred Rocks that the hatcheries sell, well, that that they sell as Barred Rocks are egg layers. To get that egg laying rate as high as it is, something has to give. What "gives" is the true barring, slow feathering and larger body type. Our heritage birds are nekked until they are 8 weeks old. I mean nekked!!! LOL

The utility BR is smaller, lighter, faster feathering, cuckoo, not really barred, and lays like a son-of-a-gun. After 100 years, this "fork in the road" between the heritage BR and the utility BR has resulted in essentially two different birds altogether. Hope that helps.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, when you say you get replacements, what do you do? Eggs, chicks, what source, etc?

I just source flocks or hatcheries for laying/DP birds and let them do what they do, culling for laying, health, disposition. I keep those who lay and reproduce on my husbandry methods and cull those that do not. When I want another breed or type, I order some chicks to add to my original breeds.

You see, I'm not breeding a certain breed but I am always looking for a certain type. But I am much more casual about it than the breeder guys because I'm only concerned with if the flock earns their keep. If they earn their keep and are pretty self-sustaining, they remain in my flock. I'm not a perfectionist nor are my standards all that rigorous except performance and hardiness. Those I have to have.

WV has literally NO breeders of good, dual purpose breeds...do a Google and you will see. I've perused every livestock bulletin available in the state and, if there are any reputable breeders, they sure aren't making themselves available. Out here in the hills folks are pretty much like me...chickens are food and that's about it. If you can develop a flock that makes more food, great! If they can make more food for longer than just 2 years, even better! If you can avoid having to buy new stock all the time, the best!

We take a very casual, easy view of poultry here and I don't know of any shows in the state, even. No breeders, no shows, no SOP dedicated people at all and I won't travel too far to get better stock because that just defeats the purpose of me having the chickens in the first place...to save me money.

In the past 7 years I've only ordered chicks twice. The first time was pretty successful and I kept many of those for several years, the second time I was about 6 mo. into the newer bunch when I rehomed my whole flock to other places, so I didn't get to see how that second infusion of chicks did but I have a few of them now, again, and I'm not impressed.

 

[fowlman01]

Hatchery barred birds have as Fred notes, a cuckoo pattern, not a barred pattern. True barred breeds have bars that are a fairly straight line with black at the tip of the feather. Cuckoo is more of a V barring. V barring makes the pattern look muddy or indistinct.

Walt