Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[nsscchd]

Hello all and thank you all for your willingness to share your knowledge and personal experiences. Now, I have a question. I would like to begin developing a line of Heritage breed birds bred to the SOP with an emphasis on real world production. I know this is what everybody here is doing but I wanted to state my clear goal. I have not decided upon a breed yet but it will likely be of the American or English class.

My question is; how many birds should one keep as a breeder flock in order to effectively manipulate genetics and make good continual progress in a timely fashion. I understand that it will always be a constant state of change and betterment no matter how long I would choose to keep birds.

A few details about my situation. Space is no issue whatsoever, I live on a large farm and ranch and my house itself sits on a very large farmyard. I also have the skills and resources to construct any housing necessary. That being said, this is a hobby and therefore I would not spend huge chunks of time at the expense of my other ranching activities. I know that it takes time to keep performance records, set up breeding pens and evaluation and culling. I don't want to keep so many that the simple tasks of feeding, watering, and maintenance bog me down so much I can't spend time on the finer points. Now admittedly I have very little in the way of a social life so my definition of "not a lot of time" may be more generous than the average person.

Another thing I enjoy is growing and milling my own feed. This provides a measure of cost control along with constant quality control over what I feed the birds. I have been doing this for three years now for all classes of chickens from day old chicks, to laying hens and on to cornish x meat birds so I feel as though I can effectively manage this aspect.

Finally, I feel another benefit I enjoy is a strong market for cull birds in my area. There is a good market for pullets at point of lay along with a good market for farm fresh eggs. I would not say the market is as strong for a heritage breed meat bird but myself and extended family go through about 7-8 dozen birds a year so I could put those culls to good use.

So what has been everybody's experience in this area? I have no intention of going out tomorrow and purchasing numerous breeder birds, if one could even find such a large quantity in one place. I want to start slow and learn what I'm doing along the way I'm just curious at what a logical end point might be as far as flock size.

Thank you very much.

 

[Talithahorse]

Wow, It sounds like you have a good set up for getting started. I am not very far into my journey and my time is my limiting factor with an outside job (teacher), children, and other general Mom duties. I started out with a small mixed laying flock to play around with different breeds to find the right one for me and my situation. It took me three years to find good stock (I have Dorkings) and my birds are just starting to lay. This was good for me because I started with the eggs, then researched heritage breeds and got my hands on as many different varieties to see which ones I liked. I worked with Barred Rocks, Orphingtons, Brahmas, Wyndottes, etc. I was pretty unsuccessful in getting a hold of Buckeyes (which I think would be great and they are a bit further along than the Dorkings). Some I like as laying hens, others were good to eat but didn't like their personality, etc. In the end I finally have a small flock of Dorkings. Of course it is so small that I am not yet able to be self sufficient as far as our family eating. (we eat maybe 12-16 birds a year). As a result I am also raising a few Partridge rock's for the freezer until I am successful in doubling my flock of Dorkings. For me the hardest has been good hatch rates. I am using more Broody silkie hens and they do better than I do with the incubator. (Maybe I will get a new incubator for my birthday

.) As others will probably tell you, take your time. Learn all the ins and outs. Read lots. There is a ton of information on this website and GREAT people who will help you along your journey but all this experience takes time. Good Luck and Welcome!

 

[Fentress]

It is my understanding, that to have a focused, breed for improvement, self sufficient program, you will need to line breed 3 separate families. That is a minimum of 6 cocks on your property. I don't do this for a variety reasons, but there are plenty of people here who do. If you don't mind keeping your chickens in pens, you should be able to copy what others have done regarding necessary infrastructure. Good luck. Increasing the productivity of heritage DP breeds for home/neighborhood consumption is an admirable goal.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Well my concrete reinforcing wire and extra vertical slats inside that at 2.5 intervals... finally the bear skipped my coop in its raids...... After repairing the first break-in torn off hardware screening from coop front only to have it tear in other side of front the next night the bear left it alone or could not get in or else decided four layers was too much effort. Left its dump pile on the neighbors by their winter heat wood/log piles.

Think I will invest in a SOLAR motion sensor light (no electric over there) to put on coop front once pointed at groundI reinforce the with another layer of hardware cloth AND another layer of concrete reinforcing wire and get the finishing frames around it all on outside. Hopefully it will decide it isn't worth the effort and won't like the light on and off scenario .... Sure miss the Cock I had. He would definitely make a loud ruckus of objections before the bear had gotten in. Can't wait until my juvenile cockerels penned in the back of the coop are bigger to do the job!! At least to crow and alert me. Until then I won't sleep well and will shine the flashlight across the front every hour or two and sleep with my window open wide.

All this time the neighbors have all had problems and non here.... had to be the Cockerel scaring it off. At least it has only gone for the feed and no chicken losses. But can't have it opening spots for chickens to get out where other predators WILL get them or get in to them!!!!!

 

[bnjrob]

Well my concrete reinforcing wire and extra vertical slats inside that at 2.5 intervals... finally the bear skipped my coop in its raids...... After repairing the first break-in torn off hardware screening from coop front only to have it tear in other side of front the next night the bear left it alone or could not get in or else decided four layers was too much effort. Left its dump pile on the neighbors by their winter heat wood/log piles.

Think I will invest in a SOLAR motion sensor light (no electric over there) to put on coop front once pointed at groundI reinforce the with another layer of hardware cloth AND another layer of concrete reinforcing wire and get the finishing frames around it all on outside. Hopefully it will decide it isn't worth the effort and won't like the light on and off scenario .... Sure miss the Cock I had. He would definitely make a loud ruckus of objections before the bear had gotten in. Can't wait until my juvenile cockerels penned in the back of the coop are bigger to do the job!! At least to crow and alert me. Until then I won't sleep well and will shine the flashlight across the front every hour or two and sleep with my window open wide.

All this time the neighbors have all had problems and non here.... had to be the Cockerel scaring it off. At least it has only gone for the feed and no chicken losses. But can't have it opening spots for chickens to get out where other predators WILL get them or get in to them!!!!!

Crap! We just got a couple of donkeys to roam the pasture to help deter the coyotes. Don't know what I'd do if I had a bear coming after the chickens.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Crap!  We just got a couple of donkeys to roam the pasture to help deter the coyotes.  Don't know what I'd do if I had a bear coming after the chickens. 

So far it has only eaten the layer mash and took the 50# bag of cracked corn into the yard. Didn't do much damage to the sack except make it thread bear. Those nylon bags the Amish use are stronger than paper sacks. Hasn't done anything to chickens ..... but open them a new door out!!

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Oh yeah,... it bypassed the coop last night so going to do another layer of concrete reinforcement wire with hardware cloth wiring on both sides to keep out the little critters.

 

[Ifish]

Oh yeah,... it bypassed the coop last night so going to do another layer of concrete reinforcement wire with hardware cloth wiring on both sides to keep out the little critters.

Some electric poultry netting is cheap and will teach the bear a thing or two.

Concrete wire mats are made from cheap, soft steel. A bear can probably trample it pretty easily if it wanted to.

 

[finnfur]

Some electric poultry netting is cheap and will teach the bear a thing or two.

Concrete wire mats are made from cheap, soft steel. A bear can probably trample it pretty easily if it wanted to.

The Enet works for Black Bear here.I have pictures of them standing by it . I am sure they have gotten Zapped and it only takes one lesson.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

Thank goodness it has decided it was too much work for too little reward the last two nights.

This week has been tough with... Mother in Laws death/etc,..... bear breaking in,.... 32 chicks beginning to feather out in house brooder box waiting to go outside..... and then yesterday ....

Last night was preoccupied waiting for a call that my missing diabetic brother in Tennessee was found. He is now in the Hospital and will get to go home when his sugar, blood pressure, dehydration is back under control and disorientation is gone.

Sleep will come easier now!