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wingstone said:
can I get some opinions, and say it how it is,  no sugar coating

I need to get my rooster to hen ratio under control so we are processing a few this afternoon and every weekend for awhile..

I have 2 young OE only one is worthy of keeping the other is mean,,, ( sorry Blarney)    but I also have plenty of EE roosters that I am fond of,,,should I go down to 1 of each.

I have 2 maran hens and 1 maran rooster, he is not mean to people but he does not tolerate other roosters to well and he is a little rough on the hens,  I am thinking to shish kabob him,  I do not breed maran'a these eggs came as a swap hatch...

I have 2 different dominique rooster's , one does not have the standard comb, he has more of a single comb like a barred rock, thinking he should go..

I also have 3 white bresse roosters, one has an off color leg kind of a yellowish color, they are suppose to be blue, and the other 2 are blue,, should I get rid of the misfit....


maybe I should just remove from the pen those that I know I will keep and let hubby decide, since his way of deciding is whoever he can catch first


mean roosters are easy to make the decision,  but the nice boys are hard to decide, maybe that is why they are so gorgeous, it is a survival technique 

forgot to add, I also like my silkie rooster, I have 3 of them,  I do not breed for silkie's, but I like the crosses I get from them,,,think of a big white rooster that has the body size and roundness of an orpington but the skin and feathers of the silkie,  this is a typical combo that I get there...  think maybe it is time for them to go though, I do not need any more crosses and they are about 3 years old
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If you are breeding the bresse then keep the ones closest to sop. Everyone else is up to you. Personally, I like silkies & silkie crosses so I would keep at least 1 of those boys but I'm biased. I keep the nice, big, friendly boys who protect the hens & all others go. I also like variety, so I make sure my boys are as different from each other as possible.
 
That's the hard part for me, a hen is a hen, but the boys I get rather close to,,,,makes it hard to decide, but as my flock is aging I got to consider keeping some young one's

and also my lay out is set up for one big flock , but this is to my liking,,I enjoy sitting and watching all the different one's together....when I want to breed anything specific , I have to seperate into pen's which are on the other side of the farm.... I may eventually go to individual pen's for different breeds, but that will not be anytime soon.

anyone that has ever been to the farm, will understand that last comment...
 
wingstone said:
That's the hard part for me,   a hen is a hen, but the boys I get rather close to,,,,makes it hard to decide, but as my flock is aging I got to consider keeping some young one's

and also my lay out is set up for one big flock , but this is to my liking,,I enjoy sitting and watching all the different one's together....when I want to breed anything specific , I have to seperate into pen's which are on the other side of the farm.... I may eventually go to individual pen's for different breeds, but that will not be anytime soon.

anyone that has ever been to the farm, will understand that last comment...
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That's me too. I used to have all these different pens & breeding cages set up but it turned into too much hassle. I only separate my calls & polish now. Once I get my silkies built back up they will get a tractor to themselves like the polish & calls.
 
These little boogers grow up so fast. They have all started perching on the sides and occasionally falling off and shrieking for help. I have my dog crate ready, but I think they are still a bit small. They seem to like to perch, but I don't think they are trying to escape. This a a common scene after a little over a week after purchase:

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And this blurry pic is our parrot (whom we placed) on the side of the brooder box. He's such a wimp, totally terrified of those little fast moving critters that make noise. The reason it is blurry is because he was trying to run away. Haha!
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Blarneyeggs said:
Are you certain? Cause I still don't see pics....
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I seriously tried like 10 times to load them lol. The only Internet we have here is on our phones and at best we get 3G with 2 bars lol. Works for little stuff but to upload a picture, pain in the butt lol. Only works when it wants to. I promise, tomorrow morning we'll be in Altoona and I'll have 4G service. After church, I'll load them lol. (Took 3 tries to load this lol)
 
LadyBehir said:
Newest hat. Going to figure out a brooder (and where to put it - we have 5 cats in the house) this weekend.
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This is just the cutest stinkin thing ever. I need some new brooder ideas.... One of the biggest issues I've had with brooders is not being able to catch up chicks. I need one no wider than 2 1/2 or 3 feet maximum.
wingstone said:
can I get some opinions, and say it how it is, no sugar coating I need to get my rooster to hen ratio under control so we are processing a few this afternoon and every weekend for awhile.. I have 2 young OE only one is worthy of keeping the other is mean,,, ( sorry Blarney) but I also have plenty of EE roosters that I am fond of,,,should I go down to 1 of each. I have 2 maran hens and 1 maran rooster, he is not mean to people but he does not tolerate other roosters to well and he is a little rough on the hens, I am thinking to shish kabob him, I do not breed maran'a these eggs came as a swap hatch... I have 2 different dominique rooster's , one does not have the standard comb, he has more of a single comb like a barred rock, thinking he should go.. I also have 3 white bresse roosters, one has an off color leg kind of a yellowish color, they are suppose to be blue, and the other 2 are blue,, should I get rid of the misfit.... maybe I should just remove from the pen those that I know I will keep and let hubby decide, since his way of deciding is whoever he can catch first mean roosters are easy to make the decision, but the nice boys are hard to decide, maybe that is why they are so gorgeous, it is a survival technique forgot to add, I also like my silkie rooster, I have 3 of them, I do not breed for silkie's, but I like the crosses I get from them,,,think of a big white rooster that has the body size and roundness of an orpington but the skin and feathers of the silkie, this is a typical combo that I get there... think maybe it is time for them to go though, I do not need any more crosses and they are about 3 years old
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Ok, no sugar coating? I would not keep the Marans cockerel, the Dominique with the poor comb or the Bresse with yellow legs. As for the OE and EE cockerels, the mean OE needs to go. Today. I would only keep the other if I planned on using him for breeding. Sounds like you really like the EEs, so maybe keep 2 of them? If you have enough hens for them to cover after keeping your better Bresse, Dominique and Silkies.
 
Auroradream26 said:
Blarneyeggs said:
Are you certain? Cause I still don't see pics....
Click to expand...

I seriously tried like 10 times to load them lol. The only Internet we have here is on our phones and at best we get 3G with 2 bars lol. Works for little stuff but to upload a picture, pain in the butt lol. Only works when it wants to. I promise, tomorrow morning we'll be in Altoona and I'll have 4G service. After church, I'll load them lol. (Took 3 tries to load this lol)
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Awwwww. Now I feel bad. I can wait. Although I have been very curious as to how you were digging with the ground still frozen, AND I'm really interested in seeing your nest boxes as I think you said they will open into the storage side?...or was that someone else?
 
To be 30 again lol. I hit 40 and have started to count back down lol. I am enjoying the weather today, above freezing!!!!!!!!!
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I think I seen some rocks. Haven't seen anything besides snow for so long I forgot what rocks and the Earth looks like.
 
wingstone said:
can I get some opinions, and say it how it is, no sugar coating

I need to get my rooster to hen ratio under control so we are processing a few this afternoon and every weekend for awhile..

I have 2 young OE only one is worthy of keeping the other is mean,,, ( sorry Blarney) but I also have plenty of EE roosters that I am fond of,,,should I go down to 1 of each.

I have 2 maran hens and 1 maran rooster, he is not mean to people but he does not tolerate other roosters to well and he is a little rough on the hens, I am thinking to shish kabob him, I do not breed maran'a these eggs came as a swap hatch...

I have 2 different dominique rooster's , one does not have the standard comb, he has more of a single comb like a barred rock, thinking he should go..

I also have 3 white bresse roosters, one has an off color leg kind of a yellowish color, they are suppose to be blue, and the other 2 are blue,, should I get rid of the misfit....


maybe I should just remove from the pen those that I know I will keep and let hubby decide, since his way of deciding is whoever he can catch first


mean roosters are easy to make the decision, but the nice boys are hard to decide, maybe that is why they are so gorgeous, it is a survival technique

forgot to add, I also like my silkie rooster, I have 3 of them, I do not breed for silkie's, but I like the crosses I get from them,,,think of a big white rooster that has the body size and roundness of an orpington but the skin and feathers of the silkie, this is a typical combo that I get there... think maybe it is time for them to go though, I do not need any more crosses and they are about 3 years old
Click to expand...

Wing... I don't breed for sale, so I am not up on SOPs for the breeds you make pens out of, but if there are a couple of breeds you want to be able to experiment and keep 'pure' stock of then you have to choose the best to SOP rooster for that pen, and maybe a spare (if he isn't related). Sounds like you already know which are the best examples of your pure breeds.

The mean OE goes in the first round...
Keep the best sized and closest to SOP rooster of both the Doms and bresse, maybe the second best bresse depending on how many hens you have to match him with this year....
Sounds like the silkies need to go, they are aging and won't be as effective at fertilizing anyway, so no reason to risk low hatch rates when you do set for mixes
Keep the two best sized and friendliest EEs for your layer flock, you will want to keep at least 2 for the layer pen (+OE makes 3) because if you do separate for breeding season you need to keep the rooster protection level intact for the laying flock out in the yard.
If you aren't keeping a rooster separate all the time and he is aggressive to other roosters he should go to the freezer. No matter how people friendly or good with hens if he is causing conflicts in the coop then the whole flock is nervous. I had an EE which I really, really liked, but he was constantly in conflict with a couple of other roos... when he was culled it was immediately noticeable in the flock that they were quieter and more settled. Wish I would have done it 2 months sooner... lesson learned for me.

If you feel you are short on roosters later in the summer you should be able to get a few pure bred roos of your breed of choice for cheap, since once folks find out their pullet actually crows they start looking for homes... should start seeing them cheap about June. You may pick up a couple of nice breeder roos then for your projects.
 

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