a Speckled Sussex (same as current roo) and a rooster for each of the five breeds I will be breeding. I am not sure how to do this and not have all the birds go crazy. Right now I have Punkit, a year old SS roo that is taking care of the remains of my first flock, which is now 5 girls and the roo. They are a year and we are having a rolling molt. It started w/ Punkit and he is done, once again interested in teh girls and crowing. He has been the sole roo for 6 months and I have not had a fertile egg during that period. All the eggs have small white dots, no circles or bull's eyes - so I include 2 Speckled Sussex males in my last chick order. They have the same "bring it on" attitude that Punkit had, and he is a good roo. My question is when to cull Punkit? With the proposed housing arrangements below, I am thinking it will be easiest to do it when I move the babies out of the garage and blend in the hens, letting the developing roos learn their rolls with in their flock rather than do it in a few weeks, and then again in the spring.
I will have 3 coops w/ covered runs, 4X12'. The elevated sleeping coop is 4x6' with 16" of perches, so I expect to house 12 or so bird in each. I will house the Naked Necks and Delawares together, as the NN are really mellow birds, but not overly submissive. The interbreeding of these breeds should provide males for good meat birds, and hens that are good layers. That is a total of 12.
I will house the Speckled Sussex hen that is a sweetie and I thought I would house the Speckled SS with the Blue Andalusian, that could be an interesting grouping, but I believe the BA tend to stay with themselves. With the extra roos, it looks like 13 birds there.
And the last house will be EEs (6) and Silkies (4), and the 4 older hens, of which 2 are EE, and a Marans and NHR. I have the nest boxes mounted with outside access for me in all the coops. I am thinking to make the Silkies their own apt off the side of the coop the same size of the 15"x45" next box unit. It would have 2 entrances, a small pop door and separate ramp with hardware cloth to provide extra footing, and 8" arches to allow the silkies to go in/out the coop, and keeping the LF out of their apt and their nest. The Silkies are already cuddling up with the EE's in the run (the babies have been brooding in the runs w/ a heat light). That is a group of 14.
I am thinking that should work when it is time to move the coops and runs outside, any opinions on this plane?
Thanks
I will have 3 coops w/ covered runs, 4X12'. The elevated sleeping coop is 4x6' with 16" of perches, so I expect to house 12 or so bird in each. I will house the Naked Necks and Delawares together, as the NN are really mellow birds, but not overly submissive. The interbreeding of these breeds should provide males for good meat birds, and hens that are good layers. That is a total of 12.
I will house the Speckled Sussex hen that is a sweetie and I thought I would house the Speckled SS with the Blue Andalusian, that could be an interesting grouping, but I believe the BA tend to stay with themselves. With the extra roos, it looks like 13 birds there.
And the last house will be EEs (6) and Silkies (4), and the 4 older hens, of which 2 are EE, and a Marans and NHR. I have the nest boxes mounted with outside access for me in all the coops. I am thinking to make the Silkies their own apt off the side of the coop the same size of the 15"x45" next box unit. It would have 2 entrances, a small pop door and separate ramp with hardware cloth to provide extra footing, and 8" arches to allow the silkies to go in/out the coop, and keeping the LF out of their apt and their nest. The Silkies are already cuddling up with the EE's in the run (the babies have been brooding in the runs w/ a heat light). That is a group of 14.
I am thinking that should work when it is time to move the coops and runs outside, any opinions on this plane?
Thanks
