Hermits Garden
Vintage American Featherless Biped
- Oct 8, 2018
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I've read that spiral or clan mating is the way to avoid bringing in new birds with a goal of improving one breed.
I've also read that you can't keep one rooster with only three birds without him wearing them out.
And I've ALSO read that you shouldn't keep roosters in a bachelor pen where they can see the hens, or put them in and out, because it messes with their established hiarchy.
I only have room for four pens/runs, and no more. They're all in parallel, with one long divided coop, and runs extending out from each. Each pen in the coop is 25 sq ft, and each run per coop is 80 sq ft.
My goal is only to have a sustainable, closed flock of one breed. If I kept three trios divided into three clans and used the fourth pen/run for growing out and culling, is this enough room? Is the rooster to hen ratio wrong? My intended breed is not broody, so I'll control hatching.
But if this plan is unfeasible, I'd just as soon throw them all together and hope for the best. I know I'll have set backs every time I bring in new blood, and that's what I'm trying to avoid. But I don't want bald hens, either.
Please advise?
I've also read that you can't keep one rooster with only three birds without him wearing them out.
And I've ALSO read that you shouldn't keep roosters in a bachelor pen where they can see the hens, or put them in and out, because it messes with their established hiarchy.
I only have room for four pens/runs, and no more. They're all in parallel, with one long divided coop, and runs extending out from each. Each pen in the coop is 25 sq ft, and each run per coop is 80 sq ft.
My goal is only to have a sustainable, closed flock of one breed. If I kept three trios divided into three clans and used the fourth pen/run for growing out and culling, is this enough room? Is the rooster to hen ratio wrong? My intended breed is not broody, so I'll control hatching.
But if this plan is unfeasible, I'd just as soon throw them all together and hope for the best. I know I'll have set backs every time I bring in new blood, and that's what I'm trying to avoid. But I don't want bald hens, either.
Please advise?
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