Keeping a mean rooster for breeding - logistics

[aart]

Quote: Go for it, once you brood outside you'll never go back.
If you plan on breeding more in the future, and it sounds like you do, it would be well worth the effort and expenditure to get something set up.

I'd never use a heat lamp in the coop...too scary dangerous.
I only use a heat lamp for the first day or two inside, and only during the day, for observation/assessment of brand new chicks health status.

But if you can get an electrical source safe out to the coop, the heating pad thing is pretty darn safe.
Tho there can be a population limit with a single heating pads, multiples can be set up end to end.
How I did it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate

This is a very, very long thread, filled with gratuitous chatter.... but lots of ideas, discussion, successes/fails, and pics:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

BTW..wanted to mention....Hopefully your mean cock won't pass on his aggression to the female offspring.

 

[donrae]

I'd also go ahead and set eggs now. You're in Georgia, your winter temps will be fine for fall hatched chicks.

Brood outside from the start, they'll be well acclimated to the temp and feather out faster. I've taken a break from setting eggs the last month or so, but am ramping up again and plan to hatch out for the next few months. Brooder is in the (unheated) garage, then to a grow-out pen with a heat lamp at night if needed, then wish them well and into the main coop.

 

[JoshFig]

You guys from the north are talking me into hatching now. I could do a mid-Sept hatch and start outside. Only question I have is how much the chicks will have their winter feathers by december. I guess a heat pad would probably be enough down here - usually doesn't get below freezing until late Dec.

I like the idea - keeps the stink and mess out of the house as well.

 

[donrae]

Never ever brood chicks in the house. That's just

.

The're fully feathered by 6 weeks or so as a rule.

I don't know about your Marans, where they came from. I happened onto some nice breeder quality hens and have been happily surprised at how the chicks do. They hatch vigorious, and feather out faster than my other breeds. Yours might do the same? But even regular hatchery birds hatched in Sept will be fine outside in the winter. Just protect from the wind and wet, of course.

 

[donrae]

Oh, and we're not enablers or anything, of course

 

[aart]

You guys from the north are talking me into hatching now. I could do a mid-Sept hatch and start outside. Only question I have is how much the chicks will have their winter feathers by december. I guess a heat pad would probably be enough down here - usually doesn't get below freezing until late Dec.

I like the idea - keeps the stink and mess out of the house as well.

They can be off the heat pad by 4-5 weeks...then you can set up a huddle box:
Cardboard box with a bottom a little bigger than what they need to cuddle next to each other without piling and tall enough for them to stand in.
Cut an opening on one side a couple inches from bottom and big enough for 2-3 of them to go thru at once.
Fill the bottom with some pine shavings an inch or so deep.
This will give them a cozy place to sleep/rest, block any drafts and help hold their body heat in.

 

[JoshFig]

They can be off the heat pad by 4-5 weeks...then you can set up a huddle box:
Cardboard box with a bottom a little bigger than what they need to cuddle next to each other without piling and tall enough for them to stand in.
Cut an opening on one side a couple inches from bottom and big enough for 2-3 of them to go thru at once.
Fill the bottom with some pine shavings an inch or so deep.
This will give them a cozy place to sleep/rest, block any drafts and help hold their body heat in.

How cold can they (3 month old pullets) handle w/o external source of heat?

We get nights below 20 - not many - but a few.

 

[GC-Raptor]

1st rule:  Don't breed a mean rooster - I know (don't worry - all the cockerels will be food - I don't think you have to worry about the aggressive trait w/ hens).

I have a semi-aggressive 5 month old Black Copper Maran that I want to breed over my maran hens for the dark eggs - probably in the December timeframe.  My chickens free range - so I don't want him attacking the kids, our guests or my wife.  I know there are plenty of roosters out there - but it is a hassle to go out and find a new one that is the breed I want - so if I can make the one I have work, i'd rather do it.  

Question:  Is it feasible to put him in a quarantine pen (in sight of the girls) for 4 months and put him with the girls for a week or so when i want them to breed - then expire him?  Not sure on breeding in that manner when he is not 'their' rooster integrated w/ the flock.  Also - would he be rough with the girls since he has been separated for so long (thinking teenage hormones).  Any suggestions on whether that is feasible?  

Don't Put him down till you are sure the eggs are fertile. It can take a young rooster weeks to get his aim straight. I would leave him with the flock to get plenty of practice. Look up rooster sex anatomy. GC

 

[aart]

Quote: I would think 3 month old birds would be fully feathered to be fine at that temp, especially if they are acclimated to the winter weather as it comes on.
Dry with no strong drafts.

 

[bobbi-j]

I would think 3 month old birds would be fully feathered to be fine at that temp, especially if they are acclimated to the winter weather as it comes on.
Dry with no strong drafts.

Agreed - they will be fine at 3 months old. They're fully feathered, and pretty much full-sized. (I'm in MN, by the way, and brood my chicks outside from Day 1. This year I got them March 30. There were a few nights it got down into the low and mid 20's and we had no trouble. I used a brooder box and heat lamp.)