Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

[Appalachickens]

View attachment 4311574

So here’s what happens when life gets busy. You blink and you realize the composition of your flock has changed. I barely have any black hens. This time last year black hens were dominating. Conspicuously missing are two black hens that were the best free-range mothers last year. Hopefully they’re off setting somewhere.

Do you think there is something that makes all-black hens more vulnerable?

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Do you think there is something that makes all-black hens more vulnerable?

Up to this point they’ve been thriving. And perhaps they still are. Seems like last year’s brown hens raised a lot of lighter chicks, and I’m hoping those black hens are setting.

Also, Carolina bantams are mostly black.

I just looked through some pics I took yesterday and in this pic there are 3 black hens.

 

[Appalachickens]

Up to this point they’ve been thriving. And perhaps they still are. Seems like last year’s brown hens raised a lot of lighter chicks, and I’m hoping those black hens are setting.

Also, Carolina bantams are mostly black.

I just looked through some pics I took yesterday and in this pic there are 3 black hens. View attachment 4311661

I read somewhere the idea that it’s good to have some black hens in the flock because they look like crows to hawks.

 

[Molpet]

I read somewhere the idea that it’s good to have some black hens in the flock because they look like crows to hawks.

Last 3 hens a hawk got were black. A eagle tried to get another but the turkeys went after it

 

[Backroadlogic]

My black ones definitely stick out compared to the brown. I think they get noticed and because they are Game chickens mine are trying to fight predators. I generally only loose hens when they have chicks.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I read somewhere the idea that it’s good to have some black hens in the flock because they look like crows to hawks.

I don’t subscribe to that theory. Few if any animals have better daytime eyesight than raptors. I suspect they can tell the difference between a crow and a chicken just fine.

I theorize that people who’ve had black chickens fare better have simply had tougher breeds that happen to be black, like heritage Australorps, or their local predators have been turned off by individual personal preference. For example, you can have two northern goshawks, and one is repulsed or spooked by black chickens for a myriad of reasons, and the other doesn’t care about the black at all, with each preference due to personality variances between the individuals.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I've never lost a red or white bird to a hawk either. I think it's a combination. When the black birds are very young they do look like crows, but that stage only lasts a few weeks. Beyond that, I suspect it's environment.

 

[Hablo]

We've lost masses of black chickens and chicks to the hawks here in the four years I've lived here.

 

[Appalachickens]

I don’t subscribe to that theory. Few if any animals have better daytime eyesight than raptors. I suspect they can tell the difference between a crow and a chicken just fine.

I theorize that people who’ve had black chickens fare better have simply had tougher breeds that happen to be black, like heritage Australorps, or their local predators have been turned off by individual personal preference. For example, you can have two northern goshawks, and one is repulsed or spooked by black chickens for a myriad of reasons, and the other doesn’t care about the black at all, with each preference due to personality variances between the individuals.

I only have one black hen (a black sex-link). She's survived so far, but most of them have, including the white one.

 

[Appalachickens]

I started building a lean-to on the back of the coop so that once the chickens are sleeping out and about, they'll have the option of shelter when they need it. They were intensely curious about what I was doing, and kept me company while I worked.