Small flock spiral/clan mating logistics?

[NatJ]

I'll likely buy hatchery birds, and this sounds like the best way to go! I know all birds are individuals, but getting several of each breed of interest would give me a lot of chicken dinners and a good idea of what I'm really looking for. And it would satisfy my desire to have a yard full of different chickens just once at least.

I have found that even the "same" breed can be different if you buy them from a different source, so once you find the right one you should buy more from the same hatchery.

As for liking a variety of chickens--there are a few colors that can be interbred with good results. The most obvious are the blue colors (solid blue, or blue-laced-something.) You can have black, blue, and splash birds in the pens, but they are all the same breed. Or black laced red, blue laced red, splash laced red.

If the only one they have to please is you, then you could choose to work with something like Easter Eggers (any color of feathers, no defined physical standard--but you could breed to a specific physical standard that fits your own goals, and let them stay multi-colored.)

Or Turkens (naked necks). A specific standard exists, but hatchery birds often have a variety of feather colors while being semi-consistent on other traits.

Swedish Flower Hens and Icelandic chickens are two kinds that are known for coming in a variety of colors. Unfortunately, I don't think they would be good for your purposes, because they tend to be small, which isn't so convenient for meat.

Or you could pick one breed, and then buy an occasional pullet here and there that lays eggs of a different color to have some variety in your flock. With different colored eggs, you could easily tell which eggs to hatch and which to just eat. White egg layers are often small but lay well, and some are quite pretty, so they would be an obvious choice for eye-candy.

Um, I didn't mean this to get quite so long, but once I start thinking of ideas it's hard to stop

 

[Sally PB]

What breed do you have in this setup?

Jan in the Pines: I have a BO cockerel and three BA pullets.

The cockerel was one of three (BO straight run, all cockerels; grrrr!) The other two had to be culled at about 4 months as they became very aggressive to both the pullets and to me. This guy seems to be turning out well. As I said, we'll see.

 

[NatJ]

Our weather is dry, but it gets pretty chilly at 7000 ft elevation in the winter, so I lean toward pea combs.

I like pea combs, too.

Two other pea comb breeds: Buckeye (looks almost like a Rhode Island Red but with pea comb), and hatchery-quality Standard Cornish. Not the hybrid "Cornish Cross" meat birds that grow so fast, and not the show-quality birds with an extremely wide shape. The hatchery version looks about like any other dual-purpose chicken, with a pea comb and pretty colors.

I've tried the Dark Cornish sold by McMurray Hatchery, and all three colors sold by Ideal Poultry (Dark, White Laced Red, and Buff.) I had one of each, and liked them all, but I think every one of them wanted to go broody at least once--so that may be too broody for you. The Darks started laying sooner, and laid at a higher rate than the other colors.

 

[Amer]

I've toyed with the idea of Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers together, and aim for a slightly heftier bird. Our weather is dry, but it gets pretty chilly at 7000 ft elevation in the winter, so I lean toward pea combs. Sounds like I'd have a project before I had a project!

If you like pea combs, I would recommend Buckeyes. A heftier, personable dual-purpose bird. Of course, the hatchery ones aren't as big. You can read the thread about them, it's featured.

 

[Amer]

I answered this once, at the time I was trying to make up my mind (and changing it almost daily for weeks). But sometimes things just settle and you know what you want. I'm going to raise Buckeyes. They check all the boxes on my list; very cold hardy and moderately heat hardy, large birds that are genuinely good for both meat and eggs, friendly, and tough. And if I get them from the breeder I've been in contact with--broody enough to perpetuate themselves without being a PITA about it.

I settled on Buckeyes a while back, and then just let it set in my mind for a while. Looked at other breeds, continued to study, but I just keep going back to these, so it must be love.

Awesome choice!

 

[ChickenLeg]

I answered this once, at the time I was trying to make up my mind (and changing it almost daily for weeks). But sometimes things just settle and you know what you want. I'm going to raise Buckeyes. They check all the boxes on my list; very cold hardy and moderately heat hardy, large birds that are genuinely good for both meat and eggs, friendly, and tough. And if I get them from the breeder I've been in contact with--broody enough to perpetuate themselves without being a PITA about it.

I settled on Buckeyes a while back, and then just let it set in my mind for a while. Looked at other breeds, continued to study, but I just keep going back to these, so it must be love.

Did you ever get your buckeyes and flock started?

 

[Hermits Garden]

Did you ever get your buckeyes and flock started?

Not yet. I had another surgery this spring, and we were still finishing our house (trim, doors, flooring, cabinets, etc). I won't say it's the hub's fault we're just NOW building the coop, but he did dilly about with the concept of foundation piers--we've got really sloping ground, and he wanted a super strong starting point.

We did get it started, and are currently waiting for better weather to finish framing/siding/roofing. We're definitely not as young as we used to be!

As to the spiral / clan breeding, a new development has put a kink in those plans. The people who bought the lot right behind us are not in favor of roosters, and our deed restrictions say no poultry. We can, as a group, change the restrictions, but it has to be unanimous, and none of the other three neighbors has even built yet.

So...for me it'll be hens. No breeding. But at least I'll finally have chickens.

 

[ChickenLeg]

Not yet. I had another surgery this spring, and we were still finishing our house (trim, doors, flooring, cabinets, etc). I won't say it's the hub's fault we're just NOW building the coop, but he did dilly about with the concept of foundation piers--we've got really sloping ground, and he wanted a super strong starting point.

We did get it started, and are currently waiting for better weather to finish framing/siding/roofing. We're definitely not as young as we used to be!

As to the spiral / clan breeding, a new development has put a kink in those plans. The people who bought the lot right behind us are not in favor of roosters, and our deed restrictions say no poultry. We can, as a group, change the restrictions, but it has to be unanimous, and none of the other three neighbors has even built yet.

So...for me it'll be hens. No breeding. But at least I'll finally have chickens.

Im glad yall are making progress, but hate to hear about the restrictions! Maybe yall can work something out! How close are the other houses to where you plan to set your coops? I find building new coops and pens to be a slow process, we've been renovating our newly purchased home (built in 69 but new to us!) and were almost finished enough to start renovation sheds and adding new roofs, still need to finish some wood on back of the house and get gutters but after that I hopefully will start on more and better coops!

 

[Hermits Garden]

Both of those have a lot to do with the individual chickens.... And yes, if a hen mates once a week, she should typically produce fertile eggs. Or if you put each rooster in with his hens for an hour each morning, then put them all back in the bachelor pen, they would also remember their heirarchy.

This is good news. Thank you. I intended to raise all of them together until they hit puberty, and then put the roosters in a bachelor pad til I decided which trios (or quartets) I wanted to group.

 

[Hermits Garden]

If you want to select for roosters that do not mate their hens bald: you could divide the hens among two or three pens and put one male in each one. Watch and see how he does for a week or so, then swap for a different male in each hen-pen and watch him. (Obviously, you would need to do this long enough before you want to collect eggs for hatching, so don't get any chicks sired by the wrong males.)

Thank you. I'd want to wait til the following spring to hatch eggs, regardless. I'll be getting the starter flock spring of 2021, hatching the first offspring spring of 2022.