Rooster Flocks!

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So how/where do you segregate pairs/trios/etc that you want to mate?

I like letting my girls brood with the flock, too. Usually it is pretty uneventful, and it is easier that way because I have a lot of bantams and thus constantly have broodies. I have five that are raising or just finishing weaning and three more have decided to go broody within the last week or so but luckily I have eggs hatching next week so I have babies for them.

Ugh, I had 5 broody's all raising chicks at the same time. With 3 of them being black Silkies it did get a little confusing to some of the chicks! :p

So far, I let only my selected breed rooster mingle with the flock and collect only eggs from the girls of that breed... making sure not to have hens with the same color eggs as my breeders. SFH are cream and FBCM are dark brown, with everyone else being somewhere in the middle. If any hens are too close to my breeder egg colors.. so far I have rehomed them. Other than that, I will definitely be using a tractor if I wanna hatch more than 1 breed at a time, which I think time wise and generationally may be necessary for my future purposes. Although hatching different colored eggs can create another challenge... I try not to overthink hatching and with a very dumbed down process still have decent results. I don't keep breeders with faults in my flock so I don't have to worry about hatching from them. If any stag got into my girl flock that isn't a selected breed, I make sure not to hatch any until well past the time of fertilization. I far prefer incubator hatching to broody cuz I don't like my girls sitting so long and losing condition. But LOVE adopting them babies. 2 girls are already broody again after raising 1 & 2 clutches already this year. But I'm up to my eyes in chicks for the season... maybe adopt more and smaller broods next year so I can spread out my mental chick capacity! ;) :oops: Emotionally by this time of the season every year I am totally burnt out from waking up at 5:30 (naturally) but not sleeping until 11 ish. It wears on my attitude (especially towards teen chickens harassing chicks and stealing food), I am noticing... So many things chicken are a learning process and figuring out what works for you as a person. :)

My first duckling arrived yesterday! But we wanna hand raise them for friendliness since broody raised seem so much more cautious towards us. Broody raised is great but definitely not without its' own challenges and still requires plenty of work on my part. But my future goal would be all broody raised and I can't believe after seeing how many successful broody's I've had this year that it's a real possibility! :celebrate Raised chickens for 6 ish years now but this last year has been my first adventure into breeding, which has been both frustrating... and BEYOND rewarding! :D

I think when I do separate breeders I may still have 5 ish hens. Being DP, gives me only 3-4 eggs per bird during my comfy hold time before setting/hatching. And ugh, even my breeders go broody... so may have that challenge of not enough eggs to collect as I go forward. But knowing this, I might plan my hatching around it. Still lots more to learn on my part! :cool:
 
To keep my numbers down I have only been giving them 3 babies each. I mainly try to hatch guineas since those sell really well and for more money compared to backyard mixes. I have a few areas I can use to seperate out hens I want to breed and give them conjugal visits with a chosen male, but so far have not been able to do that because of all the broodies. I have quite a few hens that can raise chicks side by side, but this last batch had some newbies that turned out to be ferocious so I had to use my extra areas to separate them for a week or so with their chicks.

I like that with the incubator I don't have to worry about "musical nests", eggs getting kicked out, or a chick getting crushed by an egg pile, but in every other way I prefer a broody. If I was going to hatch another goose or turkey I would probably not broody raise it though, as I enjoy how puppy-like they are when you "hand raise" them.

In any case, I think if I can get to the point where all of my males are separated out into a rooster flock, my life and the girls' will be a lot easier. I can already imagine my dream setup in my head... along with the feed bill lol
 
I got 12 new chicks in march, hoping for all hens. Out of the 5 buff brahma bantams 1 is already crowing and 3 others have already got bright red wattles. I want to separate out the roosters, but am still holding out that not 4 of 5 bantams are roos. Can I leave one lone bantam in a flock with out anyothers? I've heard so many times that they do best is groups of bantams
 
I got 12 new chicks in march, hoping for all hens. Out of the 5 buff brahma bantams 1 is already crowing and 3 others have already got bright red wattles. I want to separate out the roosters, but am still holding out that not 4 of 5 bantams are roos. Can I leave one lone bantam in a flock with out anyothers? I've heard so many times that they do best is groups of bantams

What I would do is have a rooster flock and another flock with 1 hen and 1 roo (if you only have 1 hen). Choose the rooster that is the most docile, so he hopefully won't over-mate with the hen.
 
I got 12 new chicks in march, hoping for all hens. Out of the 5 buff brahma bantams 1 is already crowing and 3 others have already got bright red wattles. I want to separate out the roosters, but am still holding out that not 4 of 5 bantams are roos. Can I leave one lone bantam in a flock with out anyothers? I've heard so many times that they do best is groups of bantams

It all depends on the dynamics of your flock. I have bantams in with the big guys. Yes I would even try only one, if I wanted to.

No matter what people claim, doesn't make it true for everybody. People say Silkies can't free range. I say hog wash! :old Mine are on range all day long and when teaching babies, are some of THE BEST foragers. Standard pecking order issues take place and I'm OK with that as long as know one is being bullied. Remember, dynamite comes in small packages... and I've got a few hens with neck feathers missing from going rounds with the silkies. Don't mess with a broody mama. :D

The boys in my experience don't try to start mating until close to 12 weeks. Some MAY be slightly younger and some will be older. All are individuals.

Bright red waddles don't usually lie. :( I would start making my plans. :fl
 
For those of you who keep your roos/cockrells totally separate : how far do they need to be from the hens so the hens don't drive the roos crazy? I have about an acre with a double wide trailer. Would it be ok to have the pullets/hens in the back yard and the Roos in the front?
I am not interested in breeding or eating. I just want to have beautiful, happy chickens around .
 
As long as the roosters can't really hear or see the hens it's fine. You don't really even need to keep the roosters from hearing the hens, just make sure they can't see them directly.
 
So I think that more people need to know about rooster flocks. I think a rooster flock is a good way to keep those "extra" roosters.....

All you need to do is make sure there aren't any bullies, and if there is you might want a bigger pen for them.

Here's a pic of my flock of 5 roosters
View attachment 557008
Wow! Your roos are gorgeous! I love the little one in the middle, lol!
 
It takes a long time for certain features to appear in some breeds (wanting to choose the best for breeding) that I find myself keeping a pretty steady supply in my "Roo Zoo". I currently have 10 boys together on about 1/3 acre (4-5 months old) that chase and tid-bit and scuffle (maybe having so many makes "targets" too plentiful to keep pursuing? ), but generally speaking, they don't really hurt each other. There's definitely a pecking order. I keep my younger cockerels in a smaller pen - still pretty big 30'x30' - and by the time they're ready for big boy land, I have either processed, re homed, or decided to place a boy with his ladies from the "Roo Zoo". It's a system that seems to work for me and, as many of you have said, cockerels are pretty fun to have around! :)
 

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