I keep two of every color on average. It's always good to have a backup.
very good practice my friend . better to be safe than sorry .
chooks man
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I keep two of every color on average. It's always good to have a backup.
I let them all run loose and keep the hens and pullets penned. a bachelor pen is on my list of projects.
sorry guys I haven t posted for a while ,we are in lockdown in Sydney week4 .have not see the .for all this duration .can not go to the farm .
I can not go to the new farm up north either . so all my breeding and building have stopped for a time been .shame we are throwing some gorgeous dark eggs .
what we can do ,just wait to see what happen ,if the lockdown will ease or will go more harder .
it is very hard for me not to see my chooks for that long .what we can do .
chooks man
sorry to hear that.
I don't know low in australia but people who have farms here are allowed to take care of animals even in lockdown.
for now I am letting everyone out because it is so hot that I want them to be able to move to the coolest places as they change around the yard. The century old apple trees are the best places to be in this blistering heat as I maintain irrigation to them come heck or high drought, I won't neglect those old trees. There are shrubs around for them to lay under as well and they like rotating where they go along with hanging out under the tarps protecting the hay. Once it cools down from record heat waves pounding us, I will likely reconsider the pens. The biggest reason I pen the hens over the roosters is predators and nesting box training. the hens are super valuable to me and a select group of cocks are valuable to me, the extra cockerels are food for my family and a buffer to the hens. You are so right about hens and pullets being better foragers.me I do it other way around .I keep all my roosters penned { still free ranging because all my pens are large with a lot trees and grass } and I keep all my hens free in one large group ,they are free to range in one acre pen .
hens eat more grass and they are better forager than roosters . they are the one need to be free .
chooks man
Roosters- my rooster (Firestorm) who I used to breed my pullets above, ran into the forest after being chased by my Crested Cream Leg Bar rooster and never ever returned..... My "back up" rooster injured his leg, and never recovered, so we ate him.
I bought eggs from two local back yard breeders this spring. Out of those eggs, I ended up with one cockerel from each breeder (no pullets). Both of them have what I think you guys refer to as parasitic white (none of my Marans flock have ever had any). You can see one or two white feathers on their wing tips. So if I use them, I will be introducing this into my Marans. So do I just eat these guys? The younger of these two roosters came from the darker egg. At least a #6. The other came from a #5. Sorry the photos aren't the best.
What do you think?