Crossbreedint hatchery hatched hens, with Hen raised roosters.

[Jtodd99]

So, my buddy has tons of chickens on his property, and a good bit of them have been self sustaining themselves for a few generations. What I mean is he does not feed them, and they live off the land and whatever feed gets spilled from the other animals. Hens will go broody, hatch chicks, and normally only a few will make it to adulthood. These hardy chicks then go on to raise their own brood, etc etc. so he had too many roosters, and gave me two from his flock. Very pretty boys, who take their job very seriously. Always looking out for the hens, and the most vigilant Roos I’ve ever met.


In the past four months of having them, I only just lost a hen to a hawk, only because she was out foraging by herself. So all my hens are hatchery hatched purebreds, and I hatched some eggs from all of them. My goal in the long run is to breed a hardier chicken for my flock, who can still lay a decent amount of eggs.

At a little over a week old, these chicks are already very flighty, and resemble more of a “wild” plumage. It’ll be interesting to see how they develop compared to the other chicks I hatched out a month ago, who all come from hatchery parents.

I’ll keep this thread updated for whoever may be interested

 

[sourland]

Good luck with your project.

 

[Mogul Moonshine]

good luck

 

[mskluck]

So, my buddy has tons of chickens on his property, and a good bit of them have been self sustaining themselves for a few generations. What I mean is he does not feed them, and they live off the land and whatever feed gets spilled from the other animals. Hens will go broody, hatch chicks, and normally only a few will make it to adulthood. These hardy chicks then go on to raise their own brood, etc etc. so he had too many roosters, and gave me two from his flock. Very pretty boys, who take their job very seriously. Always looking out for the hens, and the most vigilant Roos I’ve ever met.


In the past four months of having them, I only just lost a hen to a hawk, only because she was out foraging by herself. So all my hens are hatchery hatched purebreds, and I hatched some eggs from all of them. My goal in the long run is to breed a hardier chicken for my flock, who can still lay a decent amount of eggs.

At a little over a week old, these chicks are already very flighty, and resemble more of a “wild” plumage. It’ll be interesting to see how they develop compared to the other chicks I hatched out a month ago, who all come from hatchery parents.

I’ll keep this thread updated for whoever may be interested

Very interesting read and idea!

 

[AntiqueB]

Beautiful roosters. How are the chicks doing?

 

[Auntiejessi3]

 

[Jtodd99]

Beautiful roosters. How are the chicks doing?

Doing great, just hatched out batch number 3. The oldest are almost 11 weeks. The best foragers in the flock at the moment, they explore more of the land than their parents, and don’t rely on chick starter.

 

[Jtodd99]

Very interesting read and idea!

Thank you I’m learning a lot already, I think I should introduce a heavy egg layer, who’s also quite flighty and has nice foraging abilities. The brown leghorn is what I’m looking at because I don’t want to breed out the white plumage from the whites. The hawks always pick off the lighter colored hens first

 

[AntiqueB]

Those are good looking birds, too. How long will you wait before you let the hens hatch the chicks?