Musing on the Fall Culling

[Sally PB]

Oh, man, I feel ya on this issue! I thought I had a plan for the future of my flock, but it went a bit sideways.

Following...

 

[3KillerBs]

Oh, man, I feel ya on this issue! I thought I had a plan for the future of my flock, but it went a bit sideways.

Following...

My initial plan was to have a bunch of fun mixed breeds in black, white, black-and-white, and blue.

But I just fell for these Australorps.

 

[RiverOtter]

Thanks for your thoughts.

That's one amazing hen. I thought that Chipotle was doing well at 5-6 eggs a week in her second year.

She was an amazing hen, sadly I have only ONE descendent of hers, who I really need to find the right rooster for and hatch out a bunch. I did have a bunch, but a very cunning fox and a fisher cat that managed to get into the barn and kill sleeping birds wiped out literally over 50 chickens in an astonishingly short amount of time before I was able to shoot the fox and my GSD caught the fisher in the act. The whole thing was crazy traumatic.

The hen was the mother of the hen in my avatar and looked just like her. Fun fact, the blue came into my flock from a long-ago California White who started the line and must have been hiding the color under Dominant White. So maybe breed Chipotle to a blue rooster and see what happens, you might get a great surprise

 

[3KillerBs]

Some photos taken in the coop just before sunset.

Silver, the Lavender Orpington is gorgeous, but has to go because she'll mess up my blue genetics. The young blue next to her is a good one, I think.

Assorted shades of blue here, along with some really bad bare backs on the Orpington x SLW crosses.

The gypsy-faced girl in the lower right is the only one I'm not sure if she's blue or black. Very dark, but not glossy-black like her sister between the medium blue and the FCM.

Another medium-toned blue with her black sisters (and the 12-week CW pullet for contrast).

The black girl giving the camera the eye is one of my new-layers.

 

[3KillerBs]

I've been mentally sorting hens this evening.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get rid of all the 2yo ladies and the majority of the non-Australorps, especially the ones whose eggs I can't readily tell apart from said Australorps. It's looking like at least 14 mature layers are going to go, not counting pullets.

I will try selling them first. There's nothing wrong with any of them, really, except for one paler-colored Blue Australorp. She's very pretty, but darker blue is the SOP rather than really pale blue.

I think it's quite likely that someone would even want my biting broody -- Mocha the Mottled Java. She was my #1 choice for raising babies because I thought she'd be highly protective but I never got any of them to graft to the new nest in the Maternity Ward.

 

[RiverOtter]

If you put them no more than 4 to a cage and bring them to your nearest sale barn, they are sure to sell, especially if you take a little care, like making sure they are easy to see and have some bedding. Lots of people would rather buy pretty layers than fuss with chicks and feed young birds for months

 

[3KillerBs]

--if you want to breed for longevity, then you should keep each bird just as long as it continues to perform well. That way you'll end up hatching the most chicks from the ones that perform well for the most years. (Whether you care about longevity is up to you. I'm only commenting about what to do IF you care.)

I haven't really considered how much I do or don't care about longevity.

 

[Alagirl]

well, longevity can be a plus point when not keeping the birds to the bitter end.
A hen that slowed in production might still be a super producer for somebody else, and parting sooner gives the new owner a better yield.

But it's tricky, I bet.

 

[3KillerBs]

She was an amazing hen, sadly I have only ONE descendent of hers, who I really need to find the right rooster for and hatch out a bunch. I did have a bunch, but a very cunning fox and a fisher cat that managed to get into the barn and kill sleeping birds wiped out literally over 50 chickens in an astonishingly short amount of time before I was able to shoot the fox and my GSD caught the fisher in the act. The whole thing was crazy traumatic.

The hen was the mother of the hen in my avatar and looked just like her. Fun fact, the blue came into my flock from a long-ago California White who started the line and must have been hiding the color under Dominant White. So maybe breed Chipotle to a blue rooster and see what happens, you might get a great surprise

That was tragic.

I have a daughter of Chipotle reserved to see how she turns out. She's absolutely black -- probably fathered by Rameses (my avatar), since she doesn't have any foot feathers.

 

[RubelliteRose]

Your birds are beautiful I love the blue girl in the first photo! I will admit that I have no personal experience with blues, but in the picture, the girl in the third photo looks blue to me. She doesn't have much contrast in her feathers, but the camera does pick some up.