My SHTF flock

[Karoo permaculture]

I have gradually made the move away from show birds, more towards farmyard mutts.

Predominantly because keeping multiple separate flocks have become too time consuming with everything else going on. But the major reason was the move to the farm and me not wanting to build multiple coops again.

Feed prices have shot through the roof, egg and chicken prices are just crazy.

So I made the decision to start breeding a worst case scenario flock. The aim is that they will be able to sustain themselves on minimal supplemental feed(contentious topic I know), while giving some eggs and a little meat when needed.

Having had my fare share of different heritage breeds Im rather certain that a specific breed will not meet all my needs, except for something like OEG, American game. The problem is that both of these are near impossible to get here in normal size, a lot of OEGB available.

I have some plans on how I can possibly achieve this, will list them below

 

[Cammo77]

Have you read the Free Range Survival Chickens book by Florida Bullfrog?

 

[Karoo permaculture]

Have you read the Free Range Survival Chickens book by Florida Bullfrog?

Unfortunately not yet, I have been following his thread and following him on youtube for quite some time. I certainly helped me in making this shift towards my goal(which is not that far apart from his own)

 

[Karoo permaculture]

So lets start what I have done in the past year.

But maybe with something that happened before that. My wife loved the bantam chicken so we got 2 backyard mixed hens, to say they have been awesome is putting it lightly, raising chicks 2 times a season and then laying medium sized eggs every day during the rest of the season. This all while foraging for the majority of their food. The one got a baby, looks exactly like her, just a bit smaller(from a backyard bantam roo, may his soul RIP). This is important for context going forward.

Here they are raising some chicks at the moment(unfortunately not their own) like it is a piece of cake

They are small, but stocky, nice full breasts and can fly very well.

Perfect for what I want, would just like them a tad bigger.

 

[Karoo permaculture]

So back to what happened in the past year.
Failing to obtain OEGs I got hold of an Aseel, I let him loose on the hens that I have, Some Buff Sussex, some Potch Koekoek, some RIR and the 3 bantams above.

Of all the offspring only 3 caught my eye. 2 of them are like little raptors, runs like crazy, forage well, but they lack a lot, especially on their built. They are living with a friend in case I want to use them at a later stage, the rest got sold.

I kept one hen. She lays very well, and already raised a batch of chicks.

She, together with her mom, grandma and aunt above will be the basis of my one strain

 

[Karoo permaculture]

Because the Aseel didnt really give me much of what I was looking for(I guessed it before I got him but had to try something), he also moved to a friend, might use him again at a later stage, although I very much doubt it, but he was too precious to cull.

I got a New Hampshire rooster, he by accident broke an egg and the hens loved it, Im guessing he loved that feeling and try as I may I couldnt get him to stop. So he is no longer with us, this left me with a big conundrum as I now had no rooster(except for my wife's bantam cochin which im not interested in adding into my project)

A friend came to my rescue and gave me this Barred rooster(claiming it is pure bred Potch koekoek) but the barring is "off" and the legs are the wrong colour. This doesnt bother me, im just giving some context. This rooster is amazing, a real flock master. The perfect rooster in every way.

I have him with 3 dark cornish hens, the hope is to get some well formed chicks with proper breasts, but a bit smaller then the cornish hens. This will be my 2nd strain. Two of the hens are currently sitting.

 

[Cammo77]

Unfortunately not yet, I have been following his thread and following him on youtube for quite some time. I certainly helped me in making this shift towards my goal(which is not that far apart from his own)

I just finished it and it has opened my eyes up. Thoroughly recommend it

 

[Karoo permaculture]

After almost 2 years of searching I finally found an OEG rooster that I will hopefully go and pick up this weekend.

I will be putting him on the 4 hens above, hopefully cementing the traits the hens already have, just adding some size to them.

Hopefully im lucky and this offspring will give me what im looking for, if not I will be breeding the offspring either with their parents or with the offspring of strain 2.

Not sure if this will work but it is worth a try. This thread will mostly be for myself to keep track of what is happening when and how, but please feel free to follow along it it tickles you.

 

[Karoo permaculture]

I just finished it and it has opened my eyes up. Thoroughly recommend it

will get the kindle version for sure.

 

[Cammo77]

After almost 2 years of searching I finally found an OEG rooster that I will hopefully go and pick up this weekend.

I will be putting him on the 4 hens above, hopefully cementing the traits the hens already have, just adding some size to them.

Hopefully im lucky and this offspring will give me what im looking for, if not I will be breeding the offspring either with their parents or or with the offspring with strain 2.

Not sure if this will work but it is worth a try. This thread will mostly be for myself to keep track of what is happening when and how, but please feel free to follow along it it tickles you.

I'll be following along here as it's something I'm definitely interested in. We have just bought a 5 acre block and will hopefully have the house built and moved there by mid next year. Once I get set up there I can start breeding some chooks. I plan on keeping everything we have now but also breeding some Barnevelders. Once I see how the neighbours react to roosters I'm hoping to start a separate flock that will be developing either a full free range flock or semi free range but with better instincts and foraging. I won't know till I get there though. My idea at the moment is to use Mediterranean breed hens (Leghorn, Minorca, Andalusian) with an Old English Game rooster. I have 2 acres I reckon they could utilise but I don't want to annot the neighbours with noisy roosters.