The Heritage Rhode Island Red Site

[RedRidge]

 

I would jump all over that, but I don't think I have done quite enough research yet......Wish I were ready, I really do want to go with the Mohawk line. It would be worth the drive!!

What do you have to research...lol

That's a good point chixmix... I've seen Steven's birds and they are top notch.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: That's a good point chixmix... I've seen Steven's birds and they are top notch.
If it is a feasible drive for you, I would get them. If it turns out you don't like them, I'm sure someone else on here would buy them from you for what you pay for them. Beats getting chicks and paying for express shipping only to find out that they are mainly roos.

 

[chixmix]

What do you have to research...lol

I just really want to make sure I do things right, I'm sure you would be on here in order to answer any questions that may arise though. Could you pm me the pics and how much you want for them?

 

[michaelf]

If it is a feasible drive for you, I would get them.  If it turns out you don't like them, I'm sure someone else on here would buy them from you for what you pay for them.   Beats getting chicks and paying for express shipping only to find out that they are mainly roos.

I will second that! He has some really good birds . I have seen them personally also. He is a great guy. I drove 3.5 hours to pick some up from him and back after a full days work. It was well worth it!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
There is truth in what you say. There are a lot of things that seem like little things until it is too late. For example a rooster over mating a hen that you wanted to show. Clearly not horrible but easily preventable by rotating the rooster away from the hen.

 

[cmom]

So I'm curious... when breeding season is over each year and all the hens are put back with the flock, what size pens do most of you use to house your breeding cocks until the following year? These are pretty good size boys so I was curious what other folks do?

I put one boy in each pen. I have 10 pens so I have 10 boys. A couple of months prior to putting the eggs in the incubator I sort out the pens and put who I want with who in each pen.

Quote: I keep all of the male chicks I've hatched when I figure out who is who in a bachelor pen. They all get along pretty well until after they start crowing. when the testosterone starts flowing and there are girls around that is when the fighting begins. I have kept multiple roosters in my big pens where there are plenty of girls and a lot of room for them to run, but for the most part I only keep one male in each pen. I have 10 pens right now so I have 10 boys.

 

[RedRidge]

 
So I'm curious... when breeding season is over each year and all the hens are put back with the flock, what size pens do most of you use to house your breeding cocks until the following year?  These are pretty good size boys so I was curious what other folks do?

I put one boy in each pen. I have 10 pens so I have 10 boys. A couple of months prior to putting the eggs in the incubator I sort out the pens and put who I want with who in each pen.

 

 
So I'm curious... when breeding season is over each year and all the hens are put back with the flock, what size pens do most of you use to house your breeding cocks until the following year?  These are pretty good size boys so I was curious what other folks do?

Along these lines how do you keep the fighting / re-ordering of the pecking order to a minimum? 

I keep all of the male chicks I've hatched when I figure out who is who in a bachelor pen. They all get along pretty well until after they start crowing. when the testosterone starts flowing and there are girls around that is when the fighting begins. I have kept multiple roosters in my big pens where there are plenty of girls and a lot of room for them to run, but for the most part I only keep one male in each pen. I have 10 pens right now so I have 10 boys.

Ok... I'll rephrase the question, I must not have been clear. My cockerels all get along fine until I separate them into breeding pens and give then their own hens. My question was... I have no trouble putting all my hens back into the flock from the breeding pens when breeding season is over, but I obviously don't put them back into the the flock. Has anyone else been successful doing this... I have never tried. Mine get their own pen. But as my flock expands I don't have a pen for every rooster and am trying to decide if i should build more pens just for roos during non-breeding season and if so what size?

 

[cmom]

Quote: I keep all of the male chicks I've hatched when I figure out who is who in a bachelor pen. They all get along pretty well until after they start crowing. when the testosterone starts flowing and there are girls around that is when the fighting begins. I have kept multiple roosters in my big pens where there are plenty of girls and a lot of room for them to run, but for the most part I only keep one male in each pen. I have 10 pens right now so I have 10 boys.
Ok... I'll rephrase the question, I must not have been clear. My cockerels all get along fine until I separate them into breeding pens and give then their own hens. My question was... I have no trouble putting all my hens back into the flock from the breeding pens when breeding season is over, but I obviously don't put them back into the the flock. Has anyone else been successful doing this... I have never tried. Mine get their own pen. But as my flock expands I don't have a pen for every rooster and am trying to decide if i should build more pens just for roos during non-breeding season and if so what size?
Maybe get rid of some and keep the best for breeding. When the testosterone starts flowing they are going to fight. I tried to put the extra boys all together in one pen and they started serious fighting so now I have 10 pens and put 1 boy in each pen with some girls. Once I took them out for breeding I couldn't put them back together even without girls because they were seriously fighting. I usually rearrange the pens somewhat to put certain boys with certain girls during the breeding season.

 

[RedRidge]

Again... talking roos who are over a year old who have already been with hens. .. What size individual keeping pens?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Again... talking roos who are over a year old who have already been with hens. .. What size individual keeping pens?

For my breeding, I am now rotating the breeding roo out and back into the laying flock at night and putting with the hens 3 days a week. I only have 2 hens for breeding though. That seems to be working very well as the rooster does not leave the layer flock for more than 24 hours and the pecking order is not reset. I only have 1 breeding trio set up right now. So it is easy enough to rotate the roo in and out. Not sure I would want to be pulling 10 roos out of pens every night.