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

[rowerjen]

Quote:
Maybe mine is the exception that proves the rule. He's friendly, respectful to me and toward his flock, and keeps a good eye out when they're roaming the yard. Hasn't hassled the ladies at all, of course that could be because they're all bigger than he is.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Maybe mine is the exception that proves the rule. He's friendly, respectful to me and toward his flock, and keeps a good eye out when they're roaming the yard. Hasn't hassled the ladies at all, of course that could be because they're all bigger than he is.

Being their bigger might make a difference.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Here's where breeding for better birds comes back into play. Not to be overly repetitive, but when a hatchery indiscriminately breeds in large pens of cocks and hens, thousands per pen, for generation upon generation, no one, absolutely no one is particularly giving a tinker's darn about the temperament of the birds. Just mass produce them. Careless propagators (not serious breeders) do the same thing. The result is all these nasty roosters, plain and simple.

Over on the Heritage Rhode Island Red thread, a breed widely described as having nasty roosters, the breeders are, right now, discussing how tame, gentle and calm the heritage Nelson birds are. This goes against all the popularly held beliefs of people whose only experience with Reds is with the hatchery production versions.

If you get a good rooster? Use him. Chances are great his offspring will also be good birds. Get a nasty rooster? Why in heaven's name do people breed them? I honestly do not know. I keep preachin' it. People just need better birds. This is precisely why I include temperament in my breeding criteria, especially for my utility birds.

 

[Beekissed]

Amen, Fred! I've never had a problem with any RIR rooster I've ever owned...great birds, each and every one. Smart, brave, vigorous, hardy, beautiful...what more could a person want?

 

[haemony]

...

 

[Fred's Hens]

The difference for many here is that some of us have been in chickens for a long time. We take a longer view, I guess. We're also in it for the long haul. So, if we have a group of birds we like, maybe they are from hatchery stock, so what? We choose the 4-6 winners out of a box of 50 and go from there. When you've only got a backyard "flock" of three birds, I know this is impossible, but it is what we do on the farm. Take those half dozen decent birds and breed them for generations and generations, constantly culling and improving them. We're not talking purebred, heritage stock here, just run of the mill chickens.

I haven't bought any "outside" hatchery birds in a long time and will not be going forward. There's no need. After 4 or 5 generations, our birds, from hatchery stock, are far superior than 95% of the hatchery/feed store chicks I could possibly buy.

Everyone wants chickens like great grandma had. Well, because of my age, I learned chickening from grandma. Any nasty bird? She'd wring it's neck and it would Sunday dinner for Pa and served with dumplings faster than you can say Rumplestiltskin. Can you say Selective Breeding? That also suggests Selective Stew Potting. My grandmother bred great birds. It wasn't "scientific" and she likely didn't use that fancy calculator we talked about earlier.

Just old time grandma sense.

 

[Pozees]

Here's where breeding for better birds comes back into play. Not to be overly repetitive, but when a hatchery indiscriminately breeds in large pens of cocks and hens, thousands per pen, for generation upon generation, no one, absolutely no one is particularly giving a tinker's darn about the temperament of the birds. Just mass produce them. Careless propagators (not serious breeders) do the same thing. The result is all these nasty roosters, plain and simple.

Over on the Heritage Rhode Island Red thread, a breed widely described as having nasty roosters, the breeders are, right now, discussing how tame, gentle and calm the heritage Nelson birds are. This goes against all the popularly held beliefs of people whose only experience with Reds is with the hatchery production versions.

If you get a good rooster? Use him. Chances are great his offspring will also be good birds. Get a nasty rooster? Why in heaven's name do people breed them? I honestly do not know. I keep preachin' it. People just need better birds. This is precisely why I include temperament in my breeding criteria, especially for my utility birds.

Repeat it all you want, some of us are hard-headed

Thanks for including temperament when considering breeding - it makes such a huge difference!

 

[haemony]

...

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
She sounds like my grandma!

....And me.

One of the first birds culled from this rehab flock was done, not because of any other trait, but simply because she was just too nasty. I don't tolerate nasty in my flocks either. Too many nice layers and roosters out there to be had to put up will bullies and big britches.

 

[unkadan]

"My sister recently donated an EE rooster to my flock(I did not need a rooster but got it anyway) and he was just horrible as a rooster. I know that young roosters are just a bit more randy and clumsy than most, but I've had many young roosters over the years that were not like this one. He relentlessly stalked and pursued the hens, even those not receptive to mating, until they couldn't eat, forage or relax with him around. We killed him the other day to give the flock back their peaceful existence. "

Bee I was sorry to see this, now we will never know what colored eggs he would have laid!

Fred , a question, how has your luck been in breeding forward with your "production" birds? or were your recent posts only talking about your heritage breeds?