Maybe a stupid rooster question.

[jddowdle]

i have 2 separate coops one is a mix flock hatched in April. I have a Easter egged rooster in which was suppose to be a pullet. In the other coop I have silkie hatched in June. I am fond of the silkie breed and when my silkie rooster is old enough I would like to breed it with my rir hen,my barred rock hen, and my Easter egger hen . Is it possible to temporarily take the Easter egger rooster out and put the silkie rooster in to breed? This maybe a stupid question sorry if it this is my first time owning chicks.

 

[Pork Pie]

No question is a stupid one

Your plan would work, but is there any reason to keep the EE cock bird if you have no intention of breeding from it? Regardless, it would be necessary to wait at least 2 weeks after swapping the cock birds before harvesting eggs to be assured that what hatches is the desired cross-breed.

I have never kept silkies, so I’m unsure how long it will take until the hens accept the silkie cock bird and thus permit mating. Those with mixed flocks including silkie cock birds will no doubt provide further information that will help you.

Good luck

 

[Alaskan]

Well...yes.... and no.

If you want to make SURE that all chicks are fathered by the silkie...then you have to take out the EE roo, put in the silkie roo, then wait SIX weeks... before you can gather eggs.

Yep... hens can easily store the male sperm for over a month.

Waiting 6 weeks guarantees that the eggs will be fathered by the silkie.

 

[jddowdle]

I do want to breed the Easter egger rooster with Easter egger hen. My kids are also attached to him I am just interested in a silkie mix. But if I went that route could I put the Easter egger rooster back in once I have the desire mix.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Every time you put in or take out a bird, you change the pecking order or flock dominance. The higher ranking the bird the more effect this can have. People swap them around as you propose and it usually works out, just be prepared for some (usually very short) disruption. Don't let this stop you.

If I remember right the Silkie feathering gene is recessive. I could be wrong about that but don't expect his offspring from the non-Silkie hens to show the Silkie feathering in the first generation. If you breed him back to his daughters about half the offspring should have Silkie feathering.

One of your groups is four months old, the other only two months. This kind of swap works best when all of them are fully mature, males and females. If you try this while they are adolescents it can get really rough. It can anyway but if you try this when they are still adolescents you are highly likely to have issues, if they are all mature it is less likely that there will be that much disruption. I'd wait until next spring to try it.