Too Old or Two Young to breed

[blklangshandude]

I have been trying to find discussion about the prime age to breed chickens. All that I have found is that if she lays eggs she is ready. If she doesn’t lay eggs anymore than she can’t breed.

Surely it isn’t all that simple. In the past I have hatched my own chickens and have never had a chicken I hatched survived to adulthood. The roosters and hens I used were very young. I have always wondered if that played a role in my lack of success.

Is there any benefit to waiting for the breeding stock to reach a certain age before using their eggs for hatching? Is there a risk for breeding an aged hen or aged rooster?

Since I don’t plan to be breeding very often I have the patience to wait for the “sweet spot” to when they reach the perfect age for mating if such a sweet spot exists.

Does anybody kinda understand what I am asking?

 

[Perris]

You are right, it isn't that simple, but there's a lot more wiggle room than 'sweet spot' implies. Some of us don't let newly matured birds reproduce because we think results are better with more mature birds. Traditionally people preferred a 1-2 yrd old roo with older hens, and a 2-3+ yr old roo with younger hens (but still hens, not pullets). My 5 year olds are still fertile, but hatch rates have been mixed this year (the best had 5/6 from the 5 year olds), but I haven't yet lost any that hatched this year (12, in 3 batches from June) so those that were fertile were robust.

 

[blklangshandude]

You are right, it isn't that simple, but there's a lot more wiggle room than 'sweet spot' implies. Some of us don't let newly matured birds reproduce because we think results are better with more mature birds. Traditionally people preferred a 1-2 yrd old roo with older hens, and a 2-3+ yr old roo with younger hens (but still hens, not pullets). My 5 year olds are still fertile, but hatch rates have been mixed this year (the best had 5/6 from the 5 year olds), but I haven't yet lost any that hatched this year (12, in 3 batches from June) so those that were fertile were robust.

Thank you for that. I got back into chickens again this summer and have some young stock that is 8 weeks old. I was going to breed them next year but wanted to make sure they are capable of producing healthy off spring. I’m patient enough to hold off until 2024. They’ll all be two years old then. That’s a long time to tolerate these roosters. I know they’ll be crowing soon and I don’t have enough hens for everybody. I’m sure that will cause issues.

 

[Perris]

They probably won't all make it, but another advantage of waiting is that you'll be breeding those that are fittest for your environment. I have multiple roos without issues, so you might too. It depends a fair bit on their personalities.

 

[everyday_farmlife]

Hey have you heard of lymphoid leukosis?
It is common where I am, however, waiting until pullets have gone through their second molt drastically reduces the chances of it developing in chicks.
This may not even be an issue in your past of the world though

 

[pinewoodacres]

I’ve been told and also believe based on my own experience that young pullet eggs produce fewer viable chicks and the ones that hatch seem more fragile. This is partially due to the bird just being an unknown as far as health/longevity but also bc the space inside eggs from new layers is smaller. I’ve had more than I care to admit make it to lockdown and then quit due to malpositioning.

Firstly, give it a couple months after they start laying for eggs to increase more to their final size.

Second, if you can wait more toward the year or year and a half mark, you can judge their health status better. Many of my birds come from three (1 cockerel and two pullets) that just randomly up and died. One of the pullets died right around the time her eggs hatched and ALL those offspring are the least healthy birds I’ve ever had, so whatever the issue was with her seems to have affected the health of her babies as well. The others seem okay, but I’ve decided to wait longer before hatching now.

All that said, I believe in working with what you have. Assuming you’re in it for the long haul, you can work on being more selective as your project progresses. I am a year into my project and I have five batches of first and second generation crosses to work with, and most of those were from pullet eggs.

 

[abenardini]

I have been trying to find discussion about the prime age to breed chickens. All that I have found is that if she lays eggs she is ready. If she doesn’t lay eggs anymore than she can’t breed.

Surely it isn’t all that simple. In the past I have hatched my own chickens and have never had a chicken I hatched survived to adulthood. The roosters and hens I used were very young. I have always wondered if that played a role in my lack of success.

Is there any benefit to waiting for the breeding stock to reach a certain age before using their eggs for hatching? Is there a risk for breeding an aged hen or aged rooster?

Since I don’t plan to be breeding very often I have the patience to wait for the “sweet spot” to when they reach the perfect age for mating if such a sweet spot exists.

Does anybody kinda understand what I am asking?

In the past, I've hatched chicks from birds I procured as chicks that grew to the age of 10 months old (hens). The rooster I procured was an adult (about 12 months old when I procured him - he was an absolute sweetheart and I miss him dearly). My hatches all went very well and never had any issues with babies growing into adulthood. I think they'd have still been around if they weren't free ranged back then. I plan on starting to hatch chicks from my lot I have now once they start laying/breeding after 4 solid weeks of laying/breeding successfully.

 

[3KillerBs]

 

[LilRedmamma]

I’ve been told and also believe based on my own experience that young pullet eggs produce fewer viable chicks and the ones that hatch seem more fragile. This is partially due to the bird just being an unknown as far as health/longevity but also bc the space inside eggs from new layers is smaller. I’ve had more than I care to admit make it to lockdown and then quit due to malpositioning.

Firstly, give it a couple months after they start laying for eggs to increase more to their final size.

Second, if you can wait more toward the year or year and a half mark, you can judge their health status better. Many of my birds come from three (1 cockerel and two pullets) that just randomly up and died. One of the pullets died right around the time her eggs hatched and ALL those offspring are the least healthy birds I’ve ever had, so whatever the issue was with her seems to have affected the health of her babies as well. The others seem okay, but I’ve decided to wait longer before hatching now.

All that said, I believe in working with what you have. Assuming you’re in it for the long haul, you can work on being more selective as your project progresses. I am a year into my project and I have five batches of first and second generation crosses to work with, and most of those were from pullet eggs.

Very helpful info since my flock(s) are a variety of ages.