Seperate cages?

[Jenna14Chicken]

Ok so I recently went to my grandma's friends farm and they had seperate cages for each bird for breeding. They had one rooster and one hen in a 4×4 cage thing for breeding purposes. It was a very clean awesome set up and I'm thinking of doing a set up like that when I move out, but wouldn't the hen get over breed? Please help, I really loved this set up but I don't want anything bad to happen, and it seems like to little of space for two birds, there was no outside part for them, It was kinda like this but for adult birds.

Thanks for any help

 

[Pork Pie]

I believe that a slightly "better" practice would be to keep each rooster separate, and only present the hens to the rooster of choice when one wishes to breed. The hens can therefore remain as a flock, together. Each rooster, assuming space and finances allow, could have their own coop / run. Keeping chickens in cages, similar to those in the picture is not something that I would personally advocate. An alternative is to have coops and runs for each breed, but ensuring that the space and rooster to hen ratio is acceptable so as not to cause over-breeding.

 

[Jenna14Chicken]

Ok, thank you. I planed on having a outside run on mine and alot bigger than that but wondered if it would be alright to have one rooster with a few hens like 2-5 or something like that?

I wasn't going to have any roosters and just raise for eggs but i wanted to hatch too. So my plan is to have a few hens with a roo and the rest just for eggs.

 

[Flock Master64]

I would want two big coops, big enough for 20 to 25 birds and one coop for example would be full of barred rocks and the other full of ISA Browns. I would sell all the chickens in my two big coops until that breed was gone, after that one breed is gone I would start a selling a new bread. I would also have a smaller personal coop big enough for 10 to 15 birds that would be full of my own and wouldn't sell

 

[Jenna14Chicken]

Kinda what I'm thinking

 

[Pork Pie]

Ok, thank you. I planed on having a outside run on mine and alot bigger than that but wondered if it would be alright to have one rooster with a few hens like 2-5 or something like that?

I wasn't going to have any roosters and just raise for eggs but i wanted to hatch too. So my plan is to have a few hens with a roo and the rest just for eggs.

I'd suggest 2-5 hens maybe too few. The rule of thumb is 10 hens to 1 rooster, but I know that some breeders keep 7 hens to one rooster. Personally, I'd go for that ratio and keep an eye out for signs of over-mating.

 

[Flock Master64]

How about my plan? Is 2 roosters to many for aproxamitly 10 hens?

 

[Pork Pie]

How about my plan? Is 2 roosters to many for aproxamitly 10 hens?

IMO, yes

 

[Flock Master64]

How about 15?

 

[Pork Pie]

Maybe, if you keep an eye on them for signs of overbreeding, but one cock bird could cover 15 hens. Breeding chickens for profit is not as easy as it may first appear, from what i have read. It takes a long time to get to know a specific breed and its Standard of Perfection (SOP), and to create a reputation as a breeder. Top birds from reputable breeders are expensive and developing one's own blood lines etc takes time. To operate in the way you describe, you would have to pay out considerable sums of money to get SOP birds, and you'd be very unlikely to break even, financially, for a considerable time (as well as the effort require to show your birds and build your reputation).

I hope that members that are established breeders can provide input, as this is simply what I have read from other members.

Good luck