The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[BethanyS]

I'd love to find a roo from a reliable breeder instead of hatchery stock.Lol when I decide what I want

 

[BethanyS]

wouldn't even have to have pure breeds I just want healthy birds who preformed well on mostly forage.

 

[LindaB220]

ok so I can't catch up on this thread.Maybe this has already been discussed

I'm looking into different breeds to mix for a sustainable flock.I want mix in breeds that will lay well compared to food they can forage most of the year without feeding much.Living in TN they need to be cold ans heat hearty.

We have over an acre fenced in enough to keep dogs out but the chicken COULD go visit the neighbor lol ( old bull fence) and a large back yard fenced more securely where the chickens spend most of their time.We plan on growing squash and other things to feed for winter and have lots of clover and wild stuff like chick weed.Also going to collect leaves this fall and pile around the property for bugs.I currently have a road island red hatchery roo who is a fantastic forager and tie hens also 2barred rocks and 3young Black Australorp.Considering mixing in game birds for lighter bodies assuming they would need less protein to produce eggs.Any suggestions?

I like the idea of sex links with your RIR and BR pullets. Also the Australorp will give you some good size eating. I'm raising White Plymouth Rocks. I went for the best I could afford for a one time buy. Now I'll never have to get anymore. I wanted them big so that's what I got. Good luck to you.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I've also heard that Sumatras are supposed to be good foragers and I think they have a smaller size for feed conversion. @SallyinIndiana may have something to say about them. @stonykill raises them and has great praise for them.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I've also heard that Sumatras are supposed to be good foragers and I think they have a smaller size for feed conversion. @SallyinIndiana may have something to say about them. @stonykill raises them and has great praise for them.

The hen I raised from an egg from Stonykill eats very little chicken food but forages great. Also for her size she produces a good size egg. My lf blue sumatras I got from a breeder on the other side of IN. They lay large eggs and forage quite well too. YET if you are wanting just eggs the sumatra breed is not the best as they go broody. I haven seen a sumatra egg in quite a while as they are all raising chicks right now or molting after raising chicks. And taking 8 week old chicks away from the broody sumatras only made them lay long enough to start sitting again. Of course I did not want fall chicks so those chicks were rehomed before becoming 2 weeks old. Now those sumatras are molting right on schedule.
Both the LF and the tiny sumatra I have are great broody hens.

 

[BethanyS]

Our main need is eggs .at some point eating non productive hens and extra birds they hatchout but i dont need a huge body for stew Some broody could be a good thing for raising new flock members

 

[Leahs Mom]

And I'm guessing that the sumatras can take care of themselves way better than a silkie

 

[JoshU]

Any of you interested in buckeyes, check out the buckeye thread and say hi. We can help you with any questions you may have and help you find a breeder too. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/803253/the-buckeye-thread/2910#post_14182352

 

[lazy gardener]

Bethany, since you didn't ask, I'll bore you with the details of my flock plan: My goal is to manage a self replacing flock which will perform well, including free ranging (both in foraging, camoflage, and predator evasion), and dealing with very cold winters. I need to manage this with only one roo, as the noise level is a lot to deal with in any neighborhood, including ourselves as we don't have a lot of acreage. Eventual flock should have pea, rose, or similar combs. I'll not have white birds or feathered feet. I could do this entire plan with JUST Dominiques, but like the diversity of other birds in the mix. This is the first official year of my breeding program, though I hatched some nice BSL (EE x PBR) and kept one EE roo for my starter program. I added: RCBL, Dominique, and one Pioneer and SLW. Also have RIR and EE from previous year. So, next years chicks should yield some nice blue and green eggs, BSL from the Doms and Wyandotte. I hope to be able to sell some of the extra chicks. I've done some reading, and it's possible, if one knows what they are doing to produce an auto-sexing bird by specific crossing back of the sexlinks. So, if I continue along this line of thought, and don't go flying in a lot of different directions, I'd like to end up with an auto-sexing blue/green egg layer from EE x Dom breeding. It should express with a Walnut comb. I do realize that to be truly successful with this plan, it would be necessary to start with superior breeding stock (which I don't have) and lots of breeding pens, thus, lots of roos. That would be a good way for me to make enemies both in my family, and in the neighborhood! Either way, I'll have fun, and produce birds which will produce well for me.

For anyone looking to add some beefiness to their back yard layer mix, I strongly suggest that you look at Pioneers. I'm so glad I held her back from freezer camp. She's a nice girl... a bit heavy on the feed, but she does forage well. She was the first of this year's pullets to start laying, and she lays a nice big dark brown egg. She's not at all aggressive. If I had to guess which of my gals might go broody next spring, I'd place my bet on her. She does like to sit in that nest box!

I believe that some folks use Cornish (Not C x R) to beef up their flocks. But I don't think they'd bring in the good egg laying that the Pioneer carries.

 

[BethanyS]

I love your details Lazy Gardener!I think auto sex birds would be great.It would make it easyer to focus on hens and fattening up roos.I don't know if I understand genetics enough to pull that off.what's an RCBL?