keeping breeds separate...

[chicksnducks]

Now that I have about 30ish chickens, (started with 8 in April...LOL), I need to know how do you keep the breeds pure. I have a silkie roo and have two bator batches that may include roos. when I decide which other roo to keep, how do you control which roo services which chickens?

 

[okiechick57]

Your going to have to build separate pens for each breed.....no mixing.only way to keep them pure.........your like me I have 25 right now.......and getting more

 

[Corey NC]

You have too seperate them into different coops/runs. A roo will mate with any hen no matter the breed.

 

[chicksnducks]

so do I keep the Roo separate from all of the hens or do I keep little families of breeds...like Silkie roo and wives....RIR and wives.....and then what about separate hen houses too???

 

[AtRendeAcres]

This is what we are doing!

Ceiling goes to 8' so we are spliting into levels!!!

1 wall will be split in 3 levels for bantams
2 walls will be split into 2 levels for large fowl, brooder level & isolation area (just in case)

we are going to come out 3-3.5 feet so we can reach everything!
Storage will be in middle!

 

[BantyChickMom]

I have mine separated by breed/color.
It does take a lot of space to do this but well worth it if you plan on pure breeding.
I decided to do this so I don't have to separate and wait to hatch...............when i get the hatching itch, i'm ready to go right then.

my setup now allows me to have 2 - 6 X 8 sections or 1 -
12 X 8 section, either size is fine for 4 or 5 bantams.
All my pens are side by side or back to back in one big
12 X 48 structure.

My future plans will allow me to have all 8 X 12 sections, then I can hatch and have more #'s of the ones I want.

The only disadvantage to this setup is it does require a coop for each pen.

Right now i don't have a coop for each pen, but I do put plastc all around the whole 12 X 48 structure to protect them against the elements.

Here is a pic:

 

[pipermark]

Many breeders let the birds run together during the non-hatch time. Starting January, they move the roosters and hens into special breeding pens, they pull all eggs until February. These are usually small pens with nests. If you are really trying to perfect a breed, you will find, that over time, you will get to the point you will only be wanting to breed one or two of your roosters to a select small group of hens. I know a person who gets a tremendous amount of money for his birds, and he has over 30 breeding pens. The reason is he will select one rooster and one hen per pen, his breeding program is that specific.

When I start off , I usually have one pen per variety, because unless you have purchased some very exceptional birds , you will have to hatch quantity to begin with to get birds that are close to the APA standards (kinda of like rolling dice). Once you get a bunch of close ones , then you start breeding strengths to weaknesses, trying not to promote recessive unwanted traits, its a lot of fun.

Oh sorry, you would let the eggs remain in nest or pull them second week of February for incubators - you would start hatching ( have babies ) in March.

This is a general scheduled and needs to be modified for climate.

Keep this in mind , and I have seen evidence to this, top breeders say that the stronger, larger birds will be born March-May, after that your quality drops off.

The person I mentioned above stops hatching in April.

 

[chicksnducks]

I hatched in Nov and Dec.

I didn't know there was a schedule to follow...I am not quite sure where i am going with the chickens...like special breeds except that I just love them all.....thanks for the pics...It has given me some ideas...I have about 5 acres so I do have room to expand...LOL...
but basically I can let them free range until I am wanting to hatch again.....how long do they need to be separate to be sure who the daddy roo is?