Starting To Breed Hens

[vaasudevan0915]

Hi I am a relatively new chicken farmer. I have 3 roosters and generally keep my flock of 18 hens of different breeds together. How would one go about starting to breed for example a barred rock hen with a barred rock rooster? Can I keep roosters of different breeds together (thinking about getting a BR rooster for breeding)? Do i just seperate the breeding pair and wait for eggs? Any Help appreciated

 

[PD-Riverman]

Hi I am a relatively new chicken farmer. I have 3 roosters and generally keep my flock of 18 hens of different breeds together. How would one go about starting to breed for example a barred rock hen with a barred rock rooster? Can I keep roosters of different breeds together (thinking about getting a BR rooster for breeding)? Do i just seperate the breeding pair and wait for eggs? Any Help appreciated

If you want to stay true to breed----you will have to separate the breeds into separated pens----then allow about 3+ weeks for the hen to get clear of any other rooster that might have bred her. If you want to hatch eggs----having more than one hen would for sure speed things up. Keep in mind if you wanting the hen to hatch the eggs---getting a hen broody when "you" want does not work.

Roosters that are raised from a chick "can" sometimes stay together. Moving in a new adult rooster in with the adult roosters---- will probably be some major fighting----some roosters fight to the death.