Selecting Mutts To Create the Perfect Flock

[Ruthster55]

Here is Silly Rooster struttin' his stuff. I bought him in a mercado which is a large local market where people sell fruits and vegetables as well as chickens, rabbits, and cuy (guinea pigs). He was cheap, and I thought he was fluffy and cute. Always wondered what mix of breeds he was. I asked on a local site or two, and everybody said he's a mutt's mutt.... The crest has given nice results in Silly Rooster's progeny.
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[Geckolady]

As far as your rooster being only $10, I used to live near a city, and every summer there would be ads from people begging for someone to take their roosters. Some were fancy type roosters, too. So a low price might not mean muttiness. It might just mean trouble with the county/city/neighbors.

 

[Ruthster55]

I credit having a secure chicken run with having a run of broody hens.

Where I live, there are no ordinances against keeping roosters. This sounds crazy, but I have even seen roosters in the city (not many, though). Roosters are common in towns.

Yes, it's possible for someone to have too many roosters, and highly likely for someone to bring extra roosters to the mercado thinking that most people will just buy them to eat. I'm glad we didn't eat Silly Rooster immediately!!

The prices I have seen for Brahma or Serama roosters from breeders 12 hours away are a lot more than the equivalent of 10 dollars. Those aren't even the roosters those breeders will keep. The Brahmas I have seen (just in pictures) are of such quality that I believe the breeders keep the best, sell the second-best for a fairly high price, and eat quite a few of the actual culls. The expense of the second-best reflects the cost to raise the culls, too, which are only worth a little bit as food.
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[Ruthster55]

Here's the Silly guy looking blurry but pretty on green grass!
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[Ruthster55]

On June 9th, three chicks hatched.
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On June 30th, the first chick to hatch was the gray pullet in the picture.
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[Ruthster55]

In early July, we had a small tan Naked Neck with a no-hatch. She was on eggs, but nothing hatched. She was the only Naked Neck in the flock, and she was very small.

Although she had been in the flock for a long time, after the no-hatch, she was rehomed in a backpack to a friend's house. This was probably the first cull that I have made in a long time.

This cull removed the Naked Neck trait from the flock, and began to remove the tan or wheaten color as well. The only good thing about Little Miss Ugly was that she's a toppy, which is cute. However, I have lots of other toppies that are much more attractive.

Here's Little Miss Ugly in her backpack on her way to a new home with someone who likes Naked Necks!
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[Ruthster55]

This is what the eggs looked like during early July. These are all eggs from the original ten or so hens in the flock. I don't believe any of these are from Silly Rooster's daughters. The new pullets weren't at point of lay yet.

I'll continue this thread tomorrow. There will be a major announcement and pictures regarding what happened on Saturday July 18th!
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[Ruthster55]

Saturday, July 18th was a bright and sunny day. I heard several chicks peeping from one of the old nest boxes where a hen had been broody. I let them stay in the nest box for a little while to make sure all the eggs hatched. Then, at one point, the mama hen left the nest and wanted her little ones to follow her. That wasn't easily possible, because the nest box is around 5 feet off the ground. I transferred the hen and chicks to a cage that was set up for the purpose. Because they were active and often went under the hen to get warm, I had trouble counting all of the chicks. It turns out that there were 20 in total!!

Meet Broody Hen Nº 7 and her 20 babies!!
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The first-hatched pullet wasn't quite at point of lay yet, but she was enjoying the sunshine!
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[Ruthster55]

During August, I was busy taking care of Broody Nº 7 and all those babies! Fortunately, the weather cooperated, and they grew and they really enjoyed getting on top of Mama!

Eventually, they became crowded enough that I sold two quads (a cockerel + 3 hopefully pullets) to friends in early September.

We did have 2 broody hens (Nº 8 and Nº 9) during August, but each had a no-hatch that was probably related to 'possum problems.
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[Ruthster55]

On September 3rd, this hen hatched seven chicks. She laid only her first egg in the coop nest boxes. I wanted to collect several of her pullet eggs before letting her go broody, but she wanted to do otherwise. The father of these chicks is Silly Rooster.

She laid a clutch up in the old nest boxes. She disappeared for several days and was brooding her eggs almost under the straw.
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