How do you know who had hoo-ha with whom?

[CabritaChicks]

So… I officially have enough chickens now that “who laid what” has become a legitimate scientific mystery in the future.

I plan to breed them eventually, but at the moment I’m working with mostly blue layers, a few green possibility, some creams thrown into the mix and two roosters (blue egg layer and a olive egger). Which is wonderful—until you realize you have absolutely no idea which hen laid which egg… or which rooster contributed which half of the genetics… or which pairing is going to hatch into something you actually wanted.

At this point there are simply too many variables. Too many possible outcomes. And if I only wanted to hatch 3... the plot thickens.

Chicken genetics, meet chaos. And yes — I’m already laughing at myself. Gypsy I know, and Roo- obvious (mini cream and x-large white I will not let breed- I dont think)... but after that, it will blur in blues.

So how do you control/mark them so you know which ones to hatch?
Tips and tricks anyone?

 

[2ndTink]

To know for sure who laid what and crossed with whom, you need to set up breeding pens for pairs. Or, you can cage the hens and use artificial insemination.

If you just have a group of hens you want to hatch from, pen those hens with the rooster you want to breed them with. Wait 2 or 3 weeks, then collect the eggs to hatch.

 

[CabritaChicks]

To know for sure who laid what and crossed with whom, you need to set up breeding pens for pairs. Or, you can cage the hens and use artificial insemination.

If you just have a group of hens you want to hatch from, pen those hens with the rooster you want to breed them with. Wait 2 or 3 weeks, then collect the eggs to hatch.

Thank you for the response.
That is what I would do with passerines or psitacines- but I wanted to avoid that with chickens (don't ask me why- space I guess). I just hoped I had only one rooster- but that didnt exactly play out right. Surprise!

How big would a breeding pen be fore just a hen and a rooster?
Thanks!

 

[2ndTink]

This can depend based on the breeds (size, activity level etc). I think a 4ft x 4ft would work, especially if you could let them out to stretch their legs. Other folks here might have better ideas on that.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Thank you for the response.
That is what I would do with passerines or psitacines- but I wanted to avoid that with chickens (don't ask me why- space I guess). I just hoped I had only one rooster- but that didnt exactly play out right. Surprise!

How big would a breeding pen be fore just a hen and a rooster?
Thanks!

And then there's the doo-dah about not really knowing the parentage of up to a month's worth of eggs after being penned, because hens can store sperm for quite a while after copulation before hitting whatever "OK, I guess he can be the daddy" button they have in their chicken-y brains to actually allow their eggs to be fertilized by it.

I'm taking an avian ecology class this semester, which of course deals with wild birds, but I really, REALLY want to find out how this works.

 

[BDutch]

How big would a breeding pen be fore just a hen and a rooster?
Thanks!

Someone i knew had lots of experience with breeding pens. For several decades he tried to / did achieve the best price-winning standards for his heritage breeds (SOP ). He only had bantams and small rather breeds.

He had a row of cages, all about 1x1 meter (3.3x 3.3’) with an attached run of 1x6 meter. Every early spring he separated 1 rooster and 2 hens in such setups. A prefab with an attached run might work too. Depending on the size of your chickens and the prefab.

 

[2ndTink]

And then there's the doo-dah about not really knowing the parentage of up to a month's worth of eggs after being penned, because hens can store sperm for quite a while after copulation before hitting whatever "OK, I guess he can be the daddy" button they have in their chicken-y brains to actually allow their eggs to be fertilized by it.

You are not wrong I've hatched correct chicks after just 3 or 4 days of a rooster being in with a hen, and I've hatched surprises with a rooster being with a hen for 3 weeks and it was still the previous rooster's kid...