Ideas for Keeping Pure Breeding Lines While Still Free Ranging + Question About Bird Adaptability

[GTR]

I apologize that this is long. I just don't know what I don't know...

I’m in the early stages of setting up breeding pens and want to plan ahead before I get too far in.


The goal is to keep different lines of birds pure, but I don’t want to give up free-ranging. My birds have access to about 15 acres, but they mostly stay on 4 or so.


The problem is roosters and the cost of fencing. Once you’ve got more than one line, keeping them separate without spending a bunch of money or making it a full-time job gets tricky.


One idea I’m thinking about is this:
• Each rooster stays with his hens in a coop and run at night
• In the morning, the pure-line hens go out to a rooster-free pasture
• Later in the day, the roosters go into a different free-range area with some mixed or non-breeding hens, and the pure-line hens stay out of that space


That keeps the breeding clean but still lets all the birds get time outside. Has anyone tried something like this? Or found something that works better?


How do you keep different breeding lines pure but still let your birds forage? Do you rotate access, fence off zones, or only let one group out at a time? I’m looking for something that works without needing a ton of fencing or labor every day.


Now, the second thing I’ve been thinking about. I gave someone a few 3-month-old pullets that were raised free-range from sunup to sundown. They were great birds, but when they went to a backyard coop setup, they didn’t handle it well. They were stressed and restless, and just didn’t adjust. I ended up bringing them back here.


So now I’m wondering. Is it easier to raise a bird in more confined conditions that can learn to free-range later, or raise a free-range bird and hope it can adjust to confinement if needed? I want my birds to be good foragers but also adaptable in case they get sold or gifted to someone with a smaller setup. Anyone have experience with this?


Right now I’ve got two roosters covering about 25 mixed hens that can roam wherever they want. I also have a second coop and run built for 20 birds (holds 28-~7week old birds now) with about 4000 square feet fenced off for foraging. Then I’ve got a smaller coop/run that’ll hold 8 adult birds (holds 19- 4to5 week old birds now), and that space has just over 2000 square feet fenced for foraging. These last 2 setups are temporary and easily moveable if needed.

Eventually I would like to have probably 3 breeds that I want to keep pure and probably 6 breeding pens to keep it diverse.



So the question is, should I just confine a breeding rooster with his best 4 to 8 hens and not worry about letting them free-range? Or is there a better way to give them range without messing up the breeding lines?


Appreciate any advice, photos, or lessons learned. I haven’t locked anything in yet so I’m wide open to ideas.

 

[redinator]

I apologize that this is long. I just don't know what I don't know...

I’m in the early stages of setting up breeding pens and want to plan ahead before I get too far in.


The goal is to keep different lines of birds pure, but I don’t want to give up free-ranging. My birds have access to about 15 acres, but they mostly stay on 4 or so.


The problem is roosters and the cost of fencing. Once you’ve got more than one line, keeping them separate without spending a bunch of money or making it a full-time job gets tricky.


One idea I’m thinking about is this:
• Each rooster stays with his hens in a coop and run at night
• In the morning, the pure-line hens go out to a rooster-free pasture
• Later in the day, the roosters go into a different free-range area with some mixed or non-breeding hens, and the pure-line hens stay out of that space


That keeps the breeding clean but still lets all the birds get time outside. Has anyone tried something like this? Or found something that works better?


How do you keep different breeding lines pure but still let your birds forage? Do you rotate access, fence off zones, or only let one group out at a time? I’m looking for something that works without needing a ton of fencing or labor every day.


Now, the second thing I’ve been thinking about. I gave someone a few 3-month-old pullets that were raised free-range from sunup to sundown. They were great birds, but when they went to a backyard coop setup, they didn’t handle it well. They were stressed and restless, and just didn’t adjust. I ended up bringing them back here.


So now I’m wondering. Is it easier to raise a bird in more confined conditions that can learn to free-range later, or raise a free-range bird and hope it can adjust to confinement if needed? I want my birds to be good foragers but also adaptable in case they get sold or gifted to someone with a smaller setup. Anyone have experience with this?


Right now I’ve got two roosters covering about 25 mixed hens that can roam wherever they want. I also have a second coop and run built for 20 birds (holds 28-~7week old birds now) with about 4000 square feet fenced off for foraging. Then I’ve got a smaller coop/run that’ll hold 8 adult birds (holds 19- 4to5 week old birds now), and that space has just over 2000 square feet fenced for foraging. These last 2 setups are temporary and easily moveable if needed.

Eventually I would like to have probably 3 breeds that I want to keep pure and probably 6 breeding pens to keep it diverse.



So the question is, should I just confine a breeding rooster with his best 4 to 8 hens and not worry about letting them free-range? Or is there a better way to give them range without messing up the breeding lines?


Appreciate any advice, photos, or lessons learned. I haven’t locked anything in yet so I’m wide open to ideas.

Following . . . I'm trying to do something similar on a much smaller scale. I'm still in the planning stages myself.

 

[Perris]

The goal is to keep different lines of birds pure

why? what benefit do you expect from the huge cost in time, effort and equipment you'll need, and the sacrifices you and your flock will have to endure, to achieve it?

 

[GTR]

why? what benefit do you expect from the huge cost in time, effort and equipment you'll need, and the sacrifices you and your flock will have to endure, to achieve it?

Great question.

What I would like to do is preserve a rare landrace breed that can be strengthened and passed on to the next generation with purpose. At the same time, I want to keep working with my favorite breed while still enjoying the looks, personality, and dynamics of a mixed flock. That flock also serves the local community by providing donated eggs. There are other benefits as well.


I am not really expecting anything in return. I just thought someone with more experience might have already worked through some of the challenges I am trying to plan around. That is really what I was hoping to find here.


Perris, have you done something like this and found it costly in terms of equipment, time, money, or the health of your flock?

 

[Perris]

have you done something like this

I have had the same experience as you with rehoming hens to a more confined environment, where it did not work out for either party, so the birds came back as yours did. I have rehomed a cockerel to similar conditions successfully. I will be trying again shortly, with a small adult family unit (roo and 3 hens), to conditions closer to those they live in here, so hopefully successfully; fingers crossed.

I have not 'done something like this' insofar as confining them to breeding pens however. My flock is based on multiple rare breeds, but rather than try to preserve a specific look (and frankly, that's all breed societies and their definitions are usually interested in) I seek to keep their genes going in a more natural Darwinian way, with traits that are selected by nature rather than by a person.

So I have been bringing together different rare breeds with qualities I think are valuable and that I happen to have been able to source in high quality specimens, and then letting them choose their own partners. The fitness of their various genes for the environment they live in here, now, determines what goes forward to the future. I think that's healthier than a focus on preserving what was suitable at some arbitrary time in the past (i.e. whenever that rare breed got defined).

And the result is that it costs me very little in terms of my time or money, there are no equipment costs, and the flock's health is excellent - better than any individual rare breed's has been actually.

 

[fluffycrow]

What I would like to do is preserve a rare landrace breed that can be strengthened and passed on to the next generation with purpose.

May I ask what that landrace is? It is my understanding that the term landrace has been misunderstood by most well meaning keepers and enthusiasts.

A breed and a landrace are two very different things, starting from their creation. As you probably know, landrace is a self sustaining population that adapted through natural selection to fit into their local environment, and exploit something within it. As such, a human had no part in the culling process, other than randomly selecting a bird to process and eat.

In modern day chicken keeping, we have taken many of those landraces out of their natural habitat, confined them in a coop and run, and followed an extensive culling programme similar to those that can be observed in heritage breeds. I’m guilty of thinking that’s what’s best for the landraces as well. But in reality, it’s a huge dishonour to them.

About five years ago I brought to the property a group of Greek landraces. These birds get to free range in the same land as their ancestors, deal with the same predators, and eat similar (ish) food. Even though my original plan was much along the lines of what I believe yours is (human intervention in the breeding process and culling), I came to the conclusion that this chicken tending approach would go against all that makes up a landrace.

I do not know what other breeds you have, or the reasons for keeping them pure, but I urge you to reconsider your thoughts on purity when it comes to landraces. For it to be called a landrace, it needs to be able to preserve itself.