Possible breeding program

[LaurenRitz]

Very handsome color and leakage on this guy. I hope his behavior turns out equally nice

We'll see. I was determined to find 10 boys to be harvested. So far I have separated out 5, 1 for forced mating and 3 for attacking me. I had this one marked for culling, but the problematic behavior evened out as he matured.

I'd love to see what he looks like as an adult. He almost looks like a bald eagle.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I think I have identified 1 more that needs to go, but he's only 8 weeks old. He's started attacking my ankles. Probably February before he's big enough to be harvested.

I am trying to teach the birds to free range. I am making them wait until 2, and then I scatter mixed grain in the grass so they have to go hunting for it.

I feed them their main meal in the evening. Several are coming with full crops and 1 completely ignores the food. That is the JG x RIR pullet who went broody last month.

There is usually food left over when I clean up at night, except for days when they can't forage. Even the 8 week olds have started foraging.

This is encouraging.

 

[LaurenRitz]

One of the older girls (a Buckeye) seems to be taunting the young boys. I've seen her get in three fights in the last two days.

She'll shove them away from whatever they're eating, or position herself right in front of them, then spin and attack when they try to mount. Looks like two roosters fighting. She'll fight them until they run, then walk away as if nothing happened.

Curiously, this seems to increase their interest. The older cockerels seem intent on sneaking up on her.

 

[LaurenRitz]

So I ended up culling a total of 6. That leaves 5 adult boys and one is misbehaving but I'm not sure which yet. I think it's one of 2 (possibly both) because the girls are avoiding them.

I'll isolate those two and see if the dynamics even out. The younger boys are still running from the hens so no way to tell on them yet, and the youngest set is still with their mother.

The older hens are hanging out with the oldest of the boys. He hasn't moved in with them but he is right there when I open their door in the morning. He's 6 months old, six weeks older than the next youngest. I'll put him in with the older girls tonight.

I have identified two hens whose eggs I don't want hatched, and one hen died last week. I am down to 8 hens (6 for this project) and 5 juvenile pullets. The June and July hatches turned out to have 2 pullets each rather than 1. Yay!

I think the rooster behavior piece is coming along nicely, time to start choosing based on foraging.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Current cockerels:

26 weeks, currently the favorite of the adult hens. I put him in their coop last night, we'll see if he sticks. Behavior seems perfect at this point. ((JG x RIR) x RIR) x (JG x RIR))

20 weeks, ((JG x RIR) x RIR) x Ranger (the black and gold) and the other is ((JG x RIR) x RIR) x (Biel x BA))
Perfect behavior to this point for both, but they're also at the bottom of the rooster hierarchy.

20 weeks, ((JG x RIR) x RIR) x Marans
I haven't seen any bad behavior, but the hens are avoiding him. (WHERE did those white feet come from?!)

20 weeks, ((JG x RIR) x RIR) x Ranger
I saw one incident--the pullet ran and he didn't chase. But the girls are all avoiding him so I suspect he's the cause of the disturbance in the flock.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Yep, he's in isolation for the duration. Adult hens all around and he chooses to go after a 10 week old. This is one of my zero tolerance behaviors. Probably February before the next butcher date.

I brought her to safety and it was about 3 hours before she poked her beak out.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Interesting note. These chicks are JG/RIR/Ranger. Not the black, but the others. That one is a JG/RIR/BA. Currently 3 days old.

I noticed that they aren't shoveling the food out onto the floor as most other chicks have done. Very clean (if voracious) eaters. Their mothers also don't scratch a lot.

There is some food on the floor, but it appears to be primarily the BA cross that's doing it. So even though they're eating more, less food appears to be wasted.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I am trying to make some decisions about next steps. Currently my two primary roos are JG/RIR and Biel/JG/RIR/BA. I have three boys in isolation and slated for harvesting. I have two boys (JG/RIR x Buckeye) and others coming up with the same father, mothers Marans and Ranger.

I have three new groups coming in June that will likely be mixed pullets and cockerels.

As it is, the BA line will likely die out. I have some of her eggs set aside that I hope will hatch girls, as she's my only reliable broody. The groups coming are supposed to be broody, though.

But I have a boy, my primary roo, whose comb got badly frostbitten. At first I thought it was just the tips, but now it looks like he might lose most of his comb. I have GOT to get the peacomb genes into the mix. I haven't focused on that, since I just got the Buckeyes last year, but it's time.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I was worrying that my flock wasn't getting enough food. Everyone made it through the winter, but now several have started to molt and they mob me like they're starving whenever I go outside.

So I walked outside, just wandering until the mob lost interest, and dropped a little food when I was close enough for any particular chicken to see. They ate a few bites and wandered away. So obviously they weren't actually hungry.

I seem to have the same problem I had last summer. The older hens come to dinner with full crops, while the young ones sit in their coops and wait for me.

 

[LaurenRitz]

The Ranger hens are having laying problems and one isn't walking easily. About time to harvest them.