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

[al6517]

Quote:
Only on BYC can you get away with talking like this, Al. Other people might think you were talking about something entirely different, like, old hens and young chicks and they wouldn't think chickens..

Very true indeed, the old wet hens particularly take exception to that term

 

[Darklingstorm]

Newbie of sorts (had chickens as a kid but my first flock as an adult).

We are wanting to establish our own breeding flock, so we can replace spent hens with our own chicks. I live in town and though we have no ordinance on limit, I don't want so many as to bother the neighbors either. So I'm wanting to stick with a total of 12 hens and the breed will be Rhode Island Reds.

Any advice would greatly be appreciated on how to maintain our own flock without having to replace a rooster every year or have a lot of inbreeding.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
If you plan on ordering hatchery stock to start with I wouldn't be concerned with inbreeding, Hatchery flocks have allot of diversity in their backrounds to begin with so it's mute point. A good rule of thumb though is breed father to daughter or grandfather to grand daughter and reversed, this method will almost never result in very many defects. However brother to sister and vise versa can bring out more undesirable things more often, that is a simple way to start off without getting too deep into genetic's and you should be just fine without having to do any swapping around to add new blood. OT's have been tending their flocks this way for generations without a hitch.

 

[halo]

Southerndesert, is that a wild bunny in your first picture?

 

[Lollipop]

Quote:
Start with the best RIR`s you can find. Make sure the rooster is of a different bloodline. Then you can keep the same flock for a good 4 years. When prduction slows down to an unacceptable level, then you hatch some of your own eggs. Keep only the pullets from this hatch and after their production starts to slow (probably in 4 years), find yourself another unrelated rooster. Keep up this cycle and you will always have fresh vigor in your flock. A new rooster every 4 years isn`t a bad deal.If ya wanna stretch it out farther than that, shouldn`t be a problem to go 6 years, but the production will slow a lot.........Pop

 

[aoxa]

Can I just mention something?

My grandfather (in-law) is 80+ years old and worked with chickens from the time he could walk (honestly, the buildings were jammed packed with chickens. He said 40,000 +) and he INSISTED that you NEED a rooster to produce eggs. He got very angry at me when I told him otherwise.. I said, why would they allow only hens in the city with no roosters. Who would take on that task if there was no return? Other than that, I didn't try to force the fact on him. He grew up believing that, and still does even to this day.

I said that we got eggs before we got our rooster, and he seemed certain we had a rooster in disguise as a hen.

What should I say to get him to believe the facts? Should I just leave it alone?

 

[Terri O]

Quote:
Halo--I was wondering that very same thing! What a great shot!

Aoxa--I would just leave it alone. Old folks are pretty set in their ways...he probably "knows" it by now but it would embarrass him to admit he was wrong to his Grandaughter. If he believes it it certainly doesnt change the facts we know to be true! JUst smile and nod....

About the treat thing...I have been giving my flock "treats" for as long as I have had a flock. It is part of our composting thing. We have a stainless steel "chicken bucket" on the counter. Plate scrapings, refrigerator cleanings and anything else organic go in there. In the morning I take the bucket out with me and dump it in a pan in the coop. Lately, with the kids all in college there is not so much to dump...the girls always look slightly disappointed. They all fight for what there is...most usually get a little piece of something. I personally think it is one of the best things about having them. Nothing in the trash for the dogs or the wild critters to get at!
Terri O

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Start with the best RIR`s you can find. Make sure the rooster is of a different bloodline. Then you can keep the same flock for a good 4 years. When prduction slows down to an unacceptable level, then you hatch some of your own eggs. Keep only the pullets from this hatch and after their production starts to slow (probably in 4 years), find yourself another unrelated rooster. Keep up this cycle and you will always have fresh vigor in your flock. A new rooster every 4 years isn`t a bad deal.If ya wanna stretch it out farther than that, shouldn`t be a problem to go 6 years, but the production will slow a lot.........Pop

Thanks for the info about the RIRs.

I narrowed my layers down to RIRs as well. What hatchery has the "best" RIRs? I just ordered 40 from Ideal. The next state over to me and I could get the chicks in a day or 2. I ordered all pullets, so I will need a rooster from a different bloodline.

Glad that you posted this information. I feel better knowing this and now I know what to do.

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
Halo--I was wondering that very same thing! What a great shot!

Aoxa--I would just leave it alone. Old folks are pretty set in their ways...he probably "knows" it by now but it would embarrass him to admit he was wrong to his Grandaughter. If he believes it it certainly doesnt change the facts we know to be true! JUst smile and nod....

About the treat thing...I have been giving my flock "treats" for as long as I have had a flock. It is part of our composting thing. We have a stainless steel "chicken bucket" on the counter. Plate scrapings, refrigerator cleanings and anything else organic go in there. In the morning I take the bucket out with me and dump it in a pan in the coop. Lately, with the kids all in college there is not so much to dump...the girls always look slightly disappointed. They all fight for what there is...most usually get a little piece of something. I personally think it is one of the best things about having them. Nothing in the trash for the dogs or the wild critters to get at!
Terri O

Thanks

I will. I didn't want to embarrass him at the time, so I did leave it be. I just thought it was interesting how convinced he was.

Men just like to think they are needed (all species)

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
Eggcellent and practical advice!

I particularly LOVE this line.... If you are not zoned for poultry, don't get them. You have NO IDEA how many times I really, really, really want to just shout this phrase on this forum. It is a hard fact of life that you cannot have everything you want....if you want to live in the burbs in controlled settings, don't try to have a little house on the prairie.

Its the very same reason we don't have a Starbucks out here in the sticks.