how to breed a certain rooster to a certain hen.

[johndeerematt]

So I want to breed up some chicks again this spring. Last year, I had some mutts that turned out pretty bad! (Silver polish + Rhode Island red does NOT create a pretty creature!) Anyway, do I have the hen and introduce the rooster to her and let him breed her once a day and then grab the egg, or how do you think I could do this?

 

[enola]

The easiest way is to pen them together. Or you could put her ina pen and he could visit her once a week.

 

[MeepBeep]

First off she can hold sperm for weeks, she doesn't need to be bred every day... If you have more than one rooster she will need to be isolated for several weeks before egg collection to assure she used up all the stored sperm... Then you can proceed to let her only let her mate with only the rooster of choice at least once a week, more won't hurt as long as he isn't mating the heck out of her constantly...

For breeding I find it best to remove all the breeding hens from the general population and segregate them in breeding pens... Then just introduce the rooster of choice every few days to their coop... This way I'm not guessing at who's egg is whos and I know they only had access to one roo... I will be doing this, this spring with some Sumatras come spring, I will put the 4 hens in individual pens and the roo will be rotated to a new hen's every day...

 

[johndeerematt]

Sounds like a good idea! I'll give it a whirl