The Buckeye Thread

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
I think it depends on the hen (feather quality, flat wide back vs sloping back, etc) and the rooster (good balance, slips off easily which pulls feathers, sharp nails, gentle vs aggressive, etc) and how frequently they breed. It seems there are always some hens that have thinned feathers, and some that rarely do. And some roosters always shred the back plumage on the hens, while others rarely do. Years ago an experienced breeder was looking at my flock of really poorly-feathered hen backs and said, "You need to breed that out of them! Your management is good enough that you shouldn't have so much treading damage. In the meantime, protect your hens. That looks painful." I felt horrible, but it was good advise, and my flock is better for it now.

The disadvantage of the 3X3X3 tractor is that the hen can't get away from the rooster at any time, so if the rooster breeds frequently the single hen will likely have pulled feathers, or worse. Ideally the hen should have a tall perch to jump to, or some other way to get away from the rooster when she's had enough. If that's not available, then I would consider a good quality apron essential.

Since hens don't need to breed every day to keep the eggs fertilized, the roosters don't need to live with the hens. If they are put together for a few hours twice weekly you'd likely still have the same fertility as having them housed together. If they're housed in adjoining tractors or pens most of the time they should still breed well, since they won't be strangers each time they are put together.

If you only breed a few good quality hens, but also have some hens around that lay a different color egg, then you can keep each quality hen in a separate pen, housed together with your other-breed hens for company. That way you always know which eggs came from the quality hen (because it's a different color), she has company if the rooster isn't constantly with her, and if the rooster is kept in the pen she's not the only hen, so she isn't overbred. (Obviously, each pen has to be big enough to hold the increased number of birds comfortably, and the other breed should not bully the quality hen.) It may not work for everyone, but I've found it a great solution that allows me to keep multigenerational records on my birds, improve my flock quality significantly, but still incorporate the normal social structure of the flock and prevent overbreeding and cage stress in my breeding pens. It's very humane, and the eggs from the "other breed" are sold as fertile eggs for eating, which people love and pay extra for. It's a win:win situation for all concerned.

 

[poltroon]

I would love to see some pictures of some of the small tractors people use. I am pretty clear that this is what I want to do next, to make it easy to separate out (a) extra roosters and (b) to make it easy to move a rooster in and out of the hens to prevent damage to them. I am having some trouble coming up with an economical design that keeps them secure at night and is easy to work with (for example, that you can get the birds out of easily). We have a lot of land to work with, so if they can be moved easily, they can almost always be on something interesting to snack on.

 

[JoshU]

I would love to see some pictures of some of the small tractors people use. I am pretty clear that this is what I want to do next, to make it easy to separate out (a) extra roosters and (b) to make it easy to move a rooster in and out of the hens to prevent damage to them. I am having some trouble coming up with an economical design that keeps them secure at night and is easy to work with (for example, that you can get the birds out of easily). We have a lot of land to work with, so if they can be moved easily, they can almost always be on something interesting to snack on.

Here is one I built a few years ago. It's 8x3x2. I built it as a grow out pen but use it for breeding too. Its just pine and plywood. The box has a mesh floor so it just drops through. I can flip this up into my truck bed. Probably weighs less than 80#. Heavy enough for being predator proof but light enough to drag anywhere.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I think it depends on the hen (feather quality, flat wide back vs sloping back, etc) and the rooster (good balance, slips off easily which pulls feathers, sharp nails, gentle vs aggressive, etc) and how frequently they breed. It seems there are always some hens that have thinned feathers, and some that rarely do. And some roosters always shred the back plumage on the hens, while others rarely do. Years ago an experienced breeder was looking at my flock of really poorly-feathered hen backs and said, "You need to breed that out of them! Your management is good enough that you shouldn't have so much treading damage. In the meantime, protect your hens. That looks painful." I felt horrible, but it was good advise, and my flock is better for it now.

The disadvantage of the 3X3X3 tractor is that the hen can't get away from the rooster at any time, so if the rooster breeds frequently the single hen will likely have pulled feathers, or worse. Ideally the hen should have a tall perch to jump to, or some other way to get away from the rooster when she's had enough. If that's not available, then I would consider a good quality apron essential.

Since hens don't need to breed every day to keep the eggs fertilized, the roosters don't need to live with the hens. If they are put together for a few hours twice weekly you'd likely still have the same fertility as having them housed together. If they're housed in adjoining tractors or pens most of the time they should still breed well, since they won't be strangers each time they are put together.

If you only breed a few good quality hens, but also have some hens around that lay a different color egg, then you can keep each quality hen in a separate pen, housed together with your other-breed hens for company. That way you always know which eggs came from the quality hen (because it's a different color), she has company if the rooster isn't constantly with her, and if the rooster is kept in the pen she's not the only hen, so she isn't overbred. (Obviously, each pen has to be big enough to hold the increased number of birds comfortably, and the other breed should not bully the quality hen.) It may not work for everyone, but I've found it a great solution that allows me to keep multigenerational records on my birds, improve my flock quality significantly, but still incorporate the normal social structure of the flock and prevent overbreeding and cage stress in my breeding pens. It's very humane, and the eggs from the "other breed" are sold as fertile eggs for eating, which people love and pay extra for. It's a win:win situation for all concerned.

As I have seen/read/experienced, roosters housed with their hens tend to have their favorites and those are the ones who end up with bare backs. From what I see in my own flock, that is quite believable. I see the roosters on those hens with bare backs a lot during what I call breeding season. In the same pen has been some hens that have a good coverage of feathers. I had one Buckeye rooster to 9 hens last year and still about 6 of them were bare backed by summer. I am making hen saddles to help reduce the damage like I have seen in the past. They do help, but they don't always stay on.

I wish I had space during breeding season to keep my cocks separate from the hens, but since I don't have that many pens, and if I were to swap the boys around like you suggest by putting them out with the mixed flock, I would have bloody roosters all season, if not a few dead ones from fighting. Since I have a few breeds here, some methods just are not practical.

 

[Minniechickmama]

This has been a good design for me, except I now have the top on the open side covered using clear roofing material so they get the light but the snow and rain doesn't get the whole pen wet. This is a really good one for flat ground especially. It is a little heavy, but I needed it that way so it doesn't blow away. This is 6'X8' and I built it, painting included in 2 days by myself, so it isn't that hard. These are nice for grow out pens, for incorporating young or new birds to the flock, also for meat birds if you move it often enough.

 

[buckeyechicken]

This is the inside of one of my tractors it is 4' x 7' x 5 ' tall build two set them side by side and put a partition between them on front and back you have an open pen in the middle.
The nest boxes are on the back for easy gathering of eggs I have now added auto watering to both tractors, these tractors have multiple purpose use, Breed pens, grow out pens, isolation pens, or what ever you wish to use them for. They are easy to wrap with plastic to keep the weather out

 

[poltroon]

Some nice tractor ideas here, thanks. The ones I have all have a fully secured inner box. These are getting me thinking in some new directions.

 

[Shalom Farm]

This has been a good design for me, except I now have the top on the open side covered using clear roofing material so they get the light but the snow and rain doesn't get the whole pen wet. This is a really good one for flat ground especially. It is a little heavy, but I needed it that way so it doesn't blow away. This is 6'X8' and I built it, painting included in 2 days by myself, so it isn't that hard. These are nice for grow out pens, for incorporating young or new birds to the flock, also for meat birds if you move it often enough.

I really like the design of this one. Since I'm in FL I need air and shade. I can pin something like this against the barn or in a stall for the cold weather. I think I need to build 1 more tractor to try this out. All of the tractor designs posted so far give me some great ideas.

 

[poltroon]

buckeyechicken, what is that white material you're using for siding?

Something I've learned the hard way from my first tractors is that the roof has to be at least a little slanty, or water and ice collects on it. But the good news is that I have lots of small bits of roofing and other materials that I can scavenge for some tractors.

 

[buckeyechicken]

It is a plastic core with metal on both sides it is salvaged material I get from work it comes in 4 x 9 sheets and range from 1/8 thick to 3/8 thick It reflects heat well but ice and snow stick to it and can be pushed off easy. in my area (North East Arkansas)