Studding out Roos

[oneofseven]

I have some nice Delaware hens and would like to breed them. I live in the city and cannot have a rooster. What would be a good solution to breed them?

 

[al6517]

It is always best to bring the rooster to the hens and after a few day's return the rooster. The problem is the rooster should be inspected for any and all signs of illness, the list is long and you will have to know what your doing not just think you know. This way you won't have to quantine them which would really throw off the whole idea. Make sure the roo is from someone you know and trust and have been to their property and have seen their conditions. You cannot take the hens to the rooster as the stress would be too much for them. Now most hobby/pet chicken people would deplore this practice and give you a long winded speach as to why it shouldn't be done. But like I said if you know birds very well and can inspect the bird it should be just fine. I have taken and swapped roosters for breeding to help infuse new blood to my lines before, and although I have alot of birds and a large breeding operation this practice has helped me. I have never had any issues with illnesses being transfered but Like I said we knew these birds and knew what to look for.

 

[oneofseven]

Quote:
Thank you. Do you know of a good book that would be good for learning this?

 

[chickensbythesea]

Check out the injuries and illness forum here, and learn every symptom you can. You don't have to remember what kind of sick it's attached to, just that if you see it, it means they're ill.

Most times someone gets sick, the folks on here are more informative and descriptive than books, in my opinion. A lot of books only cover one or two things, and are focused more on treatment than diagnosis.

 

[oneofseven]

Good advise. I will remember that.

 

[oneofseven]

Is there usually a stud fee or a trade?

 

[al6517]

I agree that most book's would be very limited in the info you could obsorb, An inspection should only take a few moments and handling the roo properly is critical to a good inspection. here are a few things I always check for when inspecting a bird for any reason.


Hold the bird with one hand under him and the other free to work with.

Hold the birds head close very close and smell the head, ears, nostrils and breath. You are smelling for an off odor that may signal an infection of any sort, looking into the eyes for clarity and sign's of discharge. Listen to it's breathing for sign's of labored or a gurggling raspy sound, sign's of CRD.

Inspect the vent. Pull the feathers away and check for lice and mites, inspect for a healthy vent it should be moist and plasid and med pink in color. Milk it for an idea of the quality of his sample this is very critical.

Look under the wings close to it's body for any other sign's of pest's and any off coloerd feathers that will hide there as a sign of his true feather color.

Locate the crop feel it and move it around sqeezing it to make sure it moves freely and isn't impacted.

Inspect the feet and leg's. look at the bottoms for sign's of bumble foot or previous bumble foot, Inspect the spurs and see if they are long enough to twist off for protecting your hen's. Inspect the leg scales, if they are lifting off the leg slightly and are dry and can flake off, then there may be scaly leg mites present.


Doing things like this will during a 2 minute inspection will greatly increase your chances having a good experience.

AL

 

[al6517]

Quote:
This is something you have to discuss with the roosters breeder and can range from a small fee to any choice of the chicks he may choose, the fee thing can be just about anything you two can agree on and suit both of you.

 

[oneofseven]

This is great info.