is it really bad to let different breeds mate?

[Goober1201]

All my older girls sept for mamma... were born in April. When do you think the will start to lay? RIR, Buff, Brahma? lol All born April 7th threw the 10th.

 

[Vicky2479]

My guess would be any time from September on, you may get an eager beaver that starts earlier, the production breeds tend to start abit earlier than others, my production hens started at about 5 months but my SWLx were hatched beginning of feb and didn't start to lay till about 2 weeks ago. Good luck and have fun with your flock, I hope you get some really cute chicks.

 

[aoxa]

My mixes are some of the most stunning in looks out of my entire flock!

 

[humphrey farms]

Chickens don't know, or care. They'll mix and breed without a care in the world.

However, humans do. Breeds SHOULD inform the potential keeper of more than just a size, shape and color. A breed should inform a potential keeper of disposition, physical size, laying ability, egg size and color, meat production, broodiness and the like. When birds are either mixed or simply not bred up to type, all bets are off in terms of predicting those things. This is why there are hundreds of posts, almost daily, with people asking, "what breed is this chick?". People DO want to know.

But again, chickens don't care much about any of this. So, the decision to mix or not is entirely up to you. Chickens don't need to be separated by breed unless you intend to hatch eggs. Separating breeds 30 days prior to hatching accomplishes this. Once breeding/hatching is over, then co-mingling is again just fine.

how often do chickens get "Bred"? Like a cat has a heat every 28 days.. a dog goes 6-8 months between being able to get bred for pups.. your statement about seperating breeds 30 days before hatching is a little confusing or I just a little slow.

 

[aoxa]

how often do chickens get "Bred"?  Like a cat has a heat every 28 days.. a dog  goes 6-8 months between being able to get bred for pups.. your statement about seperating breeds 30 days before hatching is a little confusing or I just a little slow.

Eggs can stay fertilized for up to 30 days after one mating. That is why you separate them for 30 days to clear their systems of the previous rooster before mating with a rooster of the same breed.

 

[humphrey farms]

Eggs can stay fertilized for up to 30 days after one mating. That is why you separate them for 30 days to clear their systems of the previous rooster before mating with a rooster of the same breed.

So hens can be bred every 30 days??? Sooooooooooo..if a rooster free ranges w/flock of hens any and all can get their eggs fertilized every 30 days??

 

[aoxa]

So hens can be bred every 30 days???  Sooooooooooo..if a rooster free ranges w/flock of hens any and all can get their eggs fertilized every 30 days??

It's better to let them mate more than once every 30 days to ensure conception. Some can be mated and not even be fertile. It really is a toss up. He said separate for 30 days so that there wouldn't be a chance of that rooster being the father of any of the chicks after 30 days.

 

[humphrey farms]

It's better to let them mate more than once every 30 days to ensure conception. Some can be mated and not even be fertile. It really is a toss up. He said separate for 30 days so that there wouldn't be a chance of that rooster being the father of any of the chicks after 30 days.

I understand now!! Thanks.

 

[aoxa]

I understand now!! Thanks.

No problem

 

[TenOC]

You may or may not know that there is a very special breed of chicken that very few "breeders" raise. It is call Barnyard. This breed has probably the largest number of chickens in the world. I love them.