Flock Management BarredBuff Style

[BarredBuff]

Philosophy: No slackers!

Back two monthes ago I got chicken tags and tagged all of my Chickens and Ducks. And over the last two monthes I have kept excellent records on their hardiness, egglaying, and size. And tommorow is the cull day.

Only one hen wont make it. She wasnt hardy, didnt lay, and wasnt big enough to breed. Out of the 17 hens she is the only one never been caught on the nest nor with a moist cloaca, hers was very very dry.

This all fits in with being more Self Sufficient. Making them earn their way in.

She will be slow cooked chicken for Sunday's supper.

 

[BarredBuff]

Any input on it?

 

[gritsar]

Barred, I respect you and understand the need for some to not have any slackers. I am most definitely a firm believer in the individuals right to do and care for their animals as they see fit, short of abusing them.

Nonetheless you asked for input and I will give you mine, for what it's worth.

This is Lilith:

Lilith has been a PITA since she was a chick. She rarely lays an egg. She has suffered from questionable health ever since she ate a piece of broken glass as a young pullet.

Yet I wouldn't trade Lilith for all the egg laying machines in the world. Sometimes a chickens worth can't be measured in eggs.

Just MHO.

 

[BarredBuff]

Ohhh, individuals?
She is a pretty hen by the way and Im really envious of your broodies

.

 

[Olive Hill]

You haven't really given much to give feedback/input on.

Define hardiness. What are the actual physical and measurable parameters on which you based your judgements for each area you chose to analyze?

What is your final goal? That'll make a big difference in how applicable/appropriate those parameters actually were.

IMO, you seem to be jumping into the deep end, but forgetting to put your floaties on first. Two months is a blip in a chicken's life. There is no way you were able to adequately determine all the things you said you did in that time frame, even without any actual definitions given.

It's good to have standards, it's good to breed for the improvement of your flock -- whatever that may mean to you personally -- and you have to start somewhere, but I'm not sure where you started was necessarily a good place.

 

[BarredBuff]

Quote:
She doesnt lay in the winter while her 16 sisters do. She is small something I dont like in chickens. She sets around cold, (not hardy). She doesnt look very healthy like the others but isnt sick. My final goal is to have SS chickens that forage good (something she doesnt do good), lay great and are large hardy birds. She doesnt fit in with that.

I also have 5 inches of snow and its cold but her 16 sisters are laying. Thats why she must go. She is slacking and eating up feed and Im not getting a return.

AND two monthes is 1/12 of her life here. She is not showing me she is fit for homesteading life. She wont eat the sprouts or anything not to mention she is mean.

 

[Beekissed]

All those traits would definitely earmark her for my cull list!

Its not enough that a chicken just do moderately well in your climate, under your husbandry methods or during stress times like winter. To build a good, self-sustaining flock they must thrive under these conditions.

If all the other chickens her age have been laying consistently under your care, if she sits around huddled in the cold when all the others are moving freely and foraging anyway, if she is not growing at the same rate they are on the same feed rations, if her personality doesn't suit the flock....I can't imagine why anyone would keep her.

Why perpetuate poor genetics by "giving them a chance". He didn't state he just obtained these chickens two months ago, he just tagged them and started keeping records two months ago. I'm sure he has been observing them every day since he got them, just as we do ours. It's relatively easy to pick out a poor doer out of a flock of thriving, bright chickens....the poor specimen will be huddled by itself, won't be out ranging for food, won't be found on the nest. Being smaller than the rest of the flock, she is probably even more easy to observe.

Enjoy your Sunday meal, Barred!

 

[BarredBuff]

Quote:
Thank You Bee!!

 

[gritsar]

So maybe next time just ask for encouragement for your plan rather than honest-to-goodness input, which may or may not be encouragement?

 

[redhen]

Barred, you asked for opinions..
What i would do is.. put the hen in a cage/pen for a week or so... that way you'll be able to see 100%..that she isnt laying eggs.
Cause you really dont know for 100% SURE if shes laying or not...
I think that'd be the fair thing to do, since you are culling her for not laying...
Does that make sense?