Maintaining new blood in your flock

[Desert Brooder]

I am just starting. We are still building our pen/house/coop it is 12ft × 16ft. I live in the Arizona desert so it is hot in the summer. The chickens will not beable to free range because of coyotes and Bobcats and hawks and,.... I think I am going to order chicks and would like to get 5 of each. Easter Eggers, Australorp, Buff 0rpington, Salmon Faverolle, Blue laced red Wyandotte. When the chicks grow up I would like to let them breed and maintain my flock by having new chicks to replace my aging hens. My question is, when do you replace your rooster to get new blood, and is it ok to have mixed breed chickens? Can I have 2 roosters in that small of a space or should I have just one?

 

[Odelia]

What do you mean by "is it ok to have mixed breed chickens?" What is your worry about them being mixed? They will be mutts and look like mutts, but they will still lay eggs. They will no longer be the breeds you started with, but if you are ok with that then go for it. Otherwise choose a breed and breed it. Or go with two and rotate out your roosters when you want to keep hatching eggs. Pick breeds that lay different color eggs and when you have the rooster for one breed in with the ladies only collect that color of eggs for the incubator. You would only have a few weeks of the year you have to find a bachelor pad for the rooster you don't want mating with your ladies and can maintain two breeds for your needs with one coop.

 

[Desert Brooder]

I dont really care if they are mixed. I guess I am more concerned about when I need to replace my rooster so that my hens don't become inbread. And if I have 2 roosters in a confined space will they fight? Also I would like to let the hens brood the chicks

 

[Odelia]

You have pick some vey mild mannered breeds so there shouldn't be any problems have two roosters. Salmon Faverolles, Black Australops, and Buff Orpingtons are some of the mildest mannered birds around. I would raise your roosters together and that will minimize problems. When you go to replace your rooster I would get hatching eggs and put them under one of your broody hens. They will be raise within the flock reducing friction.

 

[Desert Brooder]

Thanks putting a new egg under a hen was my thought also.

 

[Klutch]

Start off with 2 cockerels, replace them with 2 cockerels. Being raised together, they'll figure out the pecking order without too much fuss.

 

[chickkrzi]

I think they (as well as I) are looking for information about when to bring in a new rooster to add new blood line to there stock?

 

[Klutch]

I think they (as well as I) are looking for information about when to bring in a new rooster to add new blood line to there stock?

They haven't gotten any chickens yet, this is a good way to start off. So the rooster don't have to battle and to have years of genetic diversity

 

[Ridgerunner]

When selecting which chickens to keep as breeders, be pretty ruthless. Don’t keep any that don’t meet your standards. If any of them have any defects those are the first to go. Don’t feel sorry for a cripple and keep it.

Every chicken breed out there was created by inbreeding. There are certain techniques breeders use to keep up genetic diversity like spiral breeding. I won’t go into details. Hatcheries often use pen breeding. By keeping 20 roosters with 200 hens and saving breeders at random, they maintain genetic diversity for practically forever. You are not talking about doing either of those.

A standard practice followed for thousands of years by small farmers worldwide is to bring in a new rooster every four or five generations. That’s not necessarily every four or five years. You can usually keep a rooster for at least three years before he gets older and slows down in fertilizing eggs.

To me, that area looks small for 25 chickens, even all hens. One reasonably young rooster with vitality should be able keep 25 hens fertile in that situation but I’d feel a lot better with fewer hens and only one rooster in that space.

The two roosters will determine which one is the boss. Sometimes that is not a big deal, especially if they are raised together, either as siblings or father-son. But the loser of the fight needs room to run away and get away from the winner. I’m not sure your area gives him enough room to do that. I have a fenced 12 x 32 run and I’m not sure mine gives them enough room for that, but with my additional 30 x 65 electric netting area it works out.

 

[Desert Brooder]

Thank you for your reply that is the answer I was looking for. I don't plan on having 25 birds as a norm. That is how many I have to order as a min. so I am planning on getting straight runs on most of them and eating the roosters except for my fav which I will keep. Your knowledge is appreciated