Tell me all about breeding

[CrestedGirl]

I am new to the chicken breeding world, needing info on how to do it all. Let's say I were to breed 2 different breeds. How many pens would I need to get a starter flock going per breed? If you have any tips on breeding let me know (especially polish) .

I'm a newbie to breeding

.

 

[sjarvis00]

Quote:
Here is one opinion, others will vary..

First you need to understand teh breed and variety you are working with. Some require what is called double mating to achieve the best color results.

Start with a trio of each breed, the absolute best birds you can find, each trio from one breeder try to avoid crossing of lines until you understand them very well.
Breed from the one trio year one, select 4 pullets and two cockrells from the years mating. Place the cockrell back over the hens, and pullets back under the cock bird. Keep teh second cockrell as a back up. Seperate the two lines there under the one family you now have two lines. Do not rotate your breeders very frequently. For me that is males that is typically 3-5 years and hens 3-4 years. In teh event you raise the truly outstanding bird that is better than the parents keep it.
So to get started 1 pen year 1 and 2 pens year 2, you can grow your line yourself from there.

 

[CrestedGirl]

Thank you, so it's like this ~G1Cock~
(G1hen) (G1 hen)
=
~(G2 kock)~ ~(G2 pullets)~
(G1hen) (G1hen) (G1Cock)
=. =
(G3 pullets) (G3Kock). (G3pullets) (G3Kock)

 

[ChickLover98]

Make sure that you keep track of your family lines and which generation each bird is. You can use selective breeding to acheive the best birds, just don't inbreed if you can avoid it.

 

[sjarvis00]

Quote:
very Close.
Take the first two generations. Breeding A as I noted above. This is your starter Trio.
Breeding B. is the best Cockrell and the Starter Hens. Keep this mating in place for 3 years, add pullets from this mating back to this pen 2 times over a 6 year period. (This gives you 8-9 years with teh same breeder birds)
Breeding C is the Cock from teh starter trio and his pullets. Keep this mating in place for 3 years, add pullets from this mating back to this pen 2 times over a 6 year period. This will give you 7-8 years with teh same breeders however you may need to rotate the cock bird out around 5 years of age. I have some breeder males here pushing 7-8 that are still very productive though.

Breeding D and E will be pullets from B and C mated to cockrells from teh other pen. This will give you a Total of 4 pens (lines) within the family so if ever have a need to add "fresh blood" you already have it on teh other side of the yard without introducing new undesired traits that may be un-known from another breeder. By reducing teh frequency of replacement breeders you can maintain a closed line a very very long time.

 

[Oregon Blues]

If you are just starting out, you can get by with one separate pen for each breed and/or color variety that you want to breed.

You have to keep them separated so the chicks will be purebreds. As you get more into it, you will probably want more pens.

My guys are all together for part of the year and during breeding season, each breed is kept separate and they take turns being out in the large enclosure for bug hunting. My separate pens are large enough so that they are comfortable even if they are closed in for long periods of time.

I know several people who keep smaller breeding pens and divide their birds into pairs and trios. You may or may not decide to do that as you get further into the hobby of breeding.

 

[CrestedGirl]

Thank you everyone for helping me out, we are going to be breeding crevecoeurs and LF bearded buff laced polish. Sadly The LF buff polish are hard to find which will make it difficult to find more gene pools. But we are up to it and we are going to do everything we can to help these breeds/varieties out. Should i do a double mating for a laced bird?

 

[Lollipop]

Whatever you do, band all your birds and keep pristine records. A little slip can set you back years..........Pop

 

[FarmerGrant011]

I don't have info, but yesterday I saw my blue polish roo court my black polish pullet!!! I was soooo excited!!

 

[sjarvis00]

Quote:
laced birds are best single mated you should have no issues with that what so ever. the other breed I am not familiar with colro or patterns associated. Your initial goal for breeders shoudl simply be good breeder quality birds from a serious breeder. You can build everything you need from the single trio without issues.
you will want to order a toe punch ($7) and assign a toe punch record to each mating, toe punch then right out of teh hatcher and you will never question where they cam from. keep records as if you re-writing the bible, it will save you in the end as well. Cull hard and be serious but have fun along the way.