How long to get "purebred" chicks?

[Laney]

Sounds like it would work to me. How do you plan to mark your eggs? Do your hens all lay eggs that look dis-similar?

Laney

 

[aggieterpkatie]

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I plan on being surprised when the chicks hatch.

I'm not sure how I'd mark them. This sounds like too much trouble. Seems I should either hatch muts or just order chicks.

 

[evonne]

why not put the rooster into each girls run???
why move her into a crate at all??
and then i'm not sure how it would work if you put that chicken back into the larger copp.. yes she's fertile from that roo, but what if anotehr roo breeds her within a few days?? i don't know how that would work.. i only have one roo anyway...
just things to think about...

*edited to add*
when i get to the point that i'm specifically breeding for the variety, i plan on having a small house w/ a run for each set or trio of birds that i want specifically to breed... if you plan on changing it up and doing this often maybe that would work for you too... then no worries about moving anyone??

 

[aggieterpkatie]

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What I mean is to only build 1 extra run besides the main coop. All the girls I want to breed would go into the run for a few weeks until they're no longer fertile. Then, I'd place a hen and roo in the crate for a day or two so they can mate, and the hen would go back into the "bachelorette pad" run.

I don't know if I can build a separate run for each breed.

 

[evonne]

aahh i get it... that makes sense....are you planning on keeping the girls in that run after fertilization just to make sure no other roos get to her?? like i siad, i have only 1 roo and i'm interested to know how this works for you so i'll know what i need to do when i expand my flock....
sshhh don't tell hubby i said that expand word in the same sentance as flock...

 

[PortageGirl]

Doesn't seem to me that there'd be room for the whole mating/living/eating thing in a dog crate.

My way to keep eggs pure is to isolate the roos I DON'T want to breed with my purebred hens. So, if I had Barred Rock hens and several roos, I'd pull the Roos of other breed out of the flock.

Isolate THEM for the 3 weeks for clearing extra sperm from all the hens for at least 3 weeks. Then, put the purebred pair in another pen together. (I have a moderately large pen for breeding and brooding inside the coop) Once I have enough eggs to hatch, release the roo, or the pair if I were to use an incubator.

Does that make sense? This way, the spare roos get a bit stressed, but the hens are ALL happy enough, and the purebred pair (or trio/quad?) are only stressed for 8 to 10 days. A friend says I should just leave them all the original way the whole time, but by putting the trio or quad in a seperate pen, I can be pretty sure the right hens get bred the extra bit... I mean, maybe the roo is too busy to get to the right hens otherwise! either way should really work!

 

[Akane]

I don't think locking a hen and roo together in a dog crate sounds like a good idea. I'm wondering if it even sounds humane to do that with many standard breeds. Some roos will tear up the hens if they don't have enough of them to mate with. Some roos or hens might kill the other if suddenly thrown into a small space like that. I see much potential for injury and unhappy chickens. I'm thinking if you want different hens fertilized by different roos you will need at least 2 pens plus free ranging or another pen attached to the coop. 1 pen for your roos, 1 for mating, and then turn the hens back together in the coop. Everytime you seperate a hen though you risk having issues introducing them and doing it a lot will completely mess up flock dynamics potentially resulting in fights or bullied hens.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

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That make sense. Unfortunately, I have more than one breed of hen so that wouldn't really work for me.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

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The crate is big enough for a Great Dane. I don't really think it would be inhumane.

Besides, I've seen some pretty teeny little egglus/chicken coops advertised for 2 or 4 hens and I wouldn't even keep 1 in there.


I'm still leaning toward just incubating the mutt eggs.

 

[PortageGirl]

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That make sense. Unfortunately, I have more than one breed of hen so that wouldn't really work for me.

right, I do too, but if you are concentrating on one breed at a time, you can bring the 'target' roo out as needed, there's just a few week gap between them, but, is that really a bad thing?