Free Ranging Breeding Groups

[PittyLova]

So I have a question for those of you who breed different breeds and free-range. How are you set up? We've gotten a few different breeds we're planning on breeding next year and our main mixed flock. I am building a new shed style coop that will be separated inside into breeding, grow out, and main pens with their own attached run areas. But what about free ranging? Do you just rotate who gets to go out on certain days? Do you just let the hens out and keep the roosters inside? Making multiple free ranging pens really isn't an option as the area is shared by other livestock.

I really want them to all get to go out in the field and be chickens for their sake as well as mine. But obviously need to keep breeding eggs pure.

 

[Mrs. K]

The only way to keep them separate for breeding is to keep them separate, so alternate days, is one of the easiest. The birds tend to go back to their correct coop, especially as that is all that is open.

Mrs. K

 

[aart]

Do you just rotate who gets to go out on certain days?

Yes....including your main mixed flock, no more than one cock and his girls out at a time.
Haven't done it myself, but have read multiple stories of this working well.
How many groups/breeds do you have?

Would love to see your coop build, if you care to start a thread on that.

 

[Shadrach]

I've found that if you house related breeds together they tend to stay that way and not mix with the other breeds.
Some details of my arrangement can be seen in my coop page article.
A few people here keep different breeds this way.

 

[Folly's place]

I separate the desired groups for at least two weeks before saving any eggs, and three weeks would be better.
When I had only two groups, one bantam and one standard, they separated themselves, as the bantams were raised by a bantam broody, and the standards by a big broody or incubator.
Families stick together!
I now have three groups, two being bantams, and separation is necessary! It's a bigger hassle, but that's how it is.
My coop/run can be split into five sections, making this all possible.
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

How badly do you want those eggs to be pure? Would you be OK if the "might" be pure? The only way to truly control that is to make sure the wrong roosters and hens can't get together.

I haven't tried what you are talking about doing and I can't tell by the color of the chicks which rooster (and often hen) was the parent. I think how you manage them might help influence how successful this method might be. I've noticed that the larger the number of hens with a rooster the more likely some hens are to separate from the flock and go roaming on their own, which could make them a target of opportunity for a different rooster. I've seen this in a flock with as few as six hens, two of them would wonder off on their own.

If they in widely separate coops or sleep in separate coops at night they are less likely to be a target of opportunity than if the all sleep or lay in the same area. The way I understand it you would have one building divided into different coops for each breed. Can you tell which hens laid which eggs by color? I've seen hens switch where they lay eggs. I'd not be shocked to find a hen that switches roosters and moves to his flock.

I remember a Dutch study many years back that looked at this. I don't remember the details of how they were housed or managed but their conclusion was the hens were not loyal to their rooster and the roosters were not loyal to their hens. There was a fair amount of hanky panky going on.

I've tried to explain why I think the only way to be sure is to keep the hens and roosters separated.

 

[Shadrach]

Ridgerunner makes a fair point, flock size is likely to make a difference.
I would assume that breed might also have some influence.
I did get some 'wandering hens' many years ago. These tended to be the junior hens and not the roosters favorites. A more attentive rooster makes for an attractive proposition for some junior hens.
I've found that a ratio of one rooster to three hens works well; the hens don't tend to wander and the rooster doesn't actively seek more hens.
I've had five separate groups all free ranging with virtually no interaction between groups at one point with ratios around these numbers.
However, as the groups breed and multiply things can get more complex. If a group has say father and son roosters six or seven hens in that group generally get the attention necessary to keep them in the group. It's not just about mating, it's also about the other duties that a rooster carries out in a full free range setting.