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

[NikkiMiChickie]

Random questions... At what age does a cockerel become a rooster? And I know pullets are young females not yet laying, I've usually seen POL birds called pullets as well though. At what age does a pullet become a hen?

Thanks for indulging my ever-inquisitive mind

 

[marty8587]

Beekissed mentioned her chickens love fermented pumkin. I have 2 20#ders and acess to more, but haven't a clue as to how to ferment a pumkin. Please educate ne on that.

Thanks,

Marty

 

[bruceh]

Random questions... At what age does a cockerel become a rooster? And I know pullets are young females not yet laying, I've usually seen POL birds called pullets as well though. At what age does a pullet become a hen?
Thanks for indulging my ever-inquisitive mind

after 1 year.

 

[normanack]

Another breeding question for the OTs:

I have a trio of rare-breed young birds from hatching eggs. The cockerel is from one breeder, the two pullets from another. Don't know how closely the pullets are related, but basically the whole breed comes from a small gene pool.

I had expected more than three of the eggs to hatch so I'd have a bigger number to start with. Best-laid (ha) plans, etc.

Is there a breeding plan that would work for this small of a starting number, and no new stock probably for another year or two? Or is it necessary to start with more than three?

I don't plan to become a big-time breeder. My goal is simply to help get the breed going by providing chicks to 4-H kids and interested chicken people in my area, and doing what I can to choose the healthiest birds with the fewest faults to propagate.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Random questions... At what age does a cockerel become a rooster? And I know pullets are young females not yet laying, I've usually seen POL birds called pullets as well though. At what age does a pullet become a hen?
Thanks for indulging my ever-inquisitive mind

The terms are applied in a "grey" way, in that different countries apply slightly different terms at different points. In the UK, they don't use the word "rooster", as I understand it, rather "cock" or "cockbird".

I'd rather use the terms the way the American Poultry Association does. Perhaps I, or someone else, could get a link to that.

In my own little world, I use pullet until her one year date, then she is a hen. I use cockerel until he is a year old, then rooster, then when he is fully mature, around 18 months, I prefer to use cockbird. But again, words only have meaning when the speaker and the hearer are agreed as to their meaning.

In a perfect world, we'd all, me included, would use the dictionary approved meaning/useage of words or APA designations for the fowl, but alas....... tis not the way it is.

 

[Beekissed]

So given the study that declares a large red comb as a sign of fertility in hens, do I hatch eggs from my extra-large floppy combed leghorn hen? What Would Bee Do? Lol. I know it's ultimately my decision, but if there is a good reason NOT to breed her, I'd love to hear it.
Other news: my flock is now silkie-free. Jerk roo left tonight to go to his new home on 80 acres. I'm curious to see whether he survives the winter, but I didn't want to feed him just to see

If she is a good layer and you want her progeny, go ahead and let 'er rip. Congrats on being silkie free! Pesky thing to be afflicted with.....

Beekissed mentioned her chickens love fermented pumkin. I have 2 20#ders and acess to more, but haven't a clue as to how to ferment a pumkin. Please educate ne on that.

Thanks,

Marty

If you have a shed outside with good airflow, just leave them out there for the winter. Long about Jan/Feb if you get a thaw, they will have probably reached the right level of "seasoning"
...they will be deflated and their fluids will have leaked out but the spongy thing left behind is some kind of delicacy to the chooks and they will attack it like sharks on chum. The skin will be easily ripped off in pieces and the insides will be a spongy, mushy mess but, for some reason, this is how they like it.

 

[thedragonlady]

Hey, I care!! LOL

My anointed prince, (due to ascend the throne before breeding season), is gaining his voice very well, thank you. Some of his ladies in waiting also entered POL yesterday.
As I wipe a tear from my eye and exclaim, "Don't you just adore how the young'uns are comin' up?"

You'd think after 50 years, all this would be old hat. Don't believe it.

Almost better than Christmas!

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a question for the breeders and folks who incubate quite a bit....what would be the effects of having eggs with a larger than normal yolks have on the chick, good or bad? In my head I'm thinking that this is more nutrition and would make for a stronger chick but would the extra yolk crowd the chick in a smaller egg shell?

Here's an example of one flock's egg size on regular feed(on the left) and the egg on the right was after 2 wks on fermented feeds:

 

[thedragonlady]

OK, for just year 'round, Bee is right. One for a couple dozen is plenty good. We do not hatch chicks year 'round, so maximum fertility is meaningless. When we enter breeding season, however, we don't do "flock breeding" anyhow. We match-up very intentionally, as a good breeder should. Otherwise you're just hatching, propagating, whatever you want to call it.

We select the cock bird we want and put him over those 4-6 hens we want under him. Won't go back over all the reasons why those selections are done, but suffice to say, we are intentional. These breeding pens get populated 3 weeks before we start collecting eggs for incubation. (I'll leave out a broody situation for now). After we've collected our final batch of hatching eggs, the breeding pen gets broken up. We start around March 1 and breed/collect until May 15 or so. That's it.

I hope that helps.

The whole process of selecting and culling, in two or three stages during the year, is another discussion related to this management issue as well.

Fred,
I bred hard to breed dogs , Mastiffs, for years. I always found that the key to a good breeding male was to put him in with some old hussies. I've used this theory in poultry for years,and it works. Put a cockerel you are planning to use in with some old hens. They will teach him manners,and you will get many more fertile eggs.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Another breeding question for the OTs:
I have a trio of rare-breed young birds from hatching eggs. The cockerel is from one breeder, the two pullets from another. Don't know how closely the pullets are related, but basically the whole breed comes from a small gene pool.
I had expected more than three of the eggs to hatch so I'd have a bigger number to start with. Best-laid (ha) plans, etc.
Is there a breeding plan that would work for this small of a starting number, and no new stock probably for another year or two? Or is it necessary to start with more than three?
I don't plan to become a big-time breeder. My goal is simply to help get the breed going by providing chicks to 4-H kids and interested chicken people in my area, and doing what I can to choose the healthiest birds with the fewest faults to propagate.
Thanks for your thoughts.

A trio is a good place to start. Breed what you have. Hatch 30-40 chicks, if you can. Now, you have a full year before the next breeding period. Grow them out and take your time culling. Wait until 8 months to do your major culling (as in kill or sell, but remove from flock). No sense carrying all those "less than wonderful" birds through the following winter. Bob Blosi preaches, "go slow, go small, and go down the middle". He means don't flock breed, for one thing. Choose your very best two cockerels and pen one each to breed back to his mother. Choose two or three very best pullets and put those back in under their father.

This is how one gets started. When you setup your breeding pens for the second go 'round, you already have three "families" or houses. Hope that's clear. You'll have three sub-lines going now. Round three breeding season, should you get that far, then requires yet another matchup. I suggest you might enjoy Mr Robert Blosl wonderful blog on breeding in this fashion. http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/id60.html

In Bob's world, one never mixes in "new blood". One does get blood, but only from the same line you have, at the 10th generation mark from another reputable breeder who is also breeding your line.

Hope that helps some.

thedragonlady, or KathyinMO please jump in here.

You can surely be of more help here than I.