I admire all y'all's plans for specific breeding, this feature or that, this breed or that.... I'm nowhere near that league! My plans are to breed lots of chickens for the freezer. That's about it!
Oh, I will admit I'm kind of interested in the rose or pea combs, as they're less susceptible to frostbite - And I love the adorable fluffy cheeks and full neck feathers of those descended from my lone EE hen I had a year or so ago. Now that I mention it, I do see a lot of fluffy cheeks and pea combs wandering around my chicken run ...... she was a prolific little bird!
It has also caught my attention that it's harder to clean the skin of black feathered chickens, whereas those with other colors clean up easier. (Or at least they appear so.) Some of the black ones also have those large, beautiful, soft, dreamy black eyes of my Australorp hens. AND the black ones, I hear, are less likely to be picked off by hawks since they resemble crows, and hawks HATE crows. hmmmm.... it's rather a dilemma, I realize. I like how they're a bit safer from predators, but I don't like plucking black chickens.
There's one annoying genetic feature that's been popping up lately - the "clubbed down" chicks. I have several of different degrees this year. I understand it's from a cross of a RIR hen and BPR rooster, both breeds I started with several years ago. They're all pullets - they're thriving and healthy, they will supposedly lay as well as their mothers - but the clubbed down defect can be passed down to their chicks. Not sure I want that becoming prevalent in the flock. So I may just freeze those girls instead of keeping them as layers.
What can I say.... I'm a rookie, not a breeder --- and I like to eat chicken.
Oh, I will admit I'm kind of interested in the rose or pea combs, as they're less susceptible to frostbite - And I love the adorable fluffy cheeks and full neck feathers of those descended from my lone EE hen I had a year or so ago. Now that I mention it, I do see a lot of fluffy cheeks and pea combs wandering around my chicken run ...... she was a prolific little bird!
It has also caught my attention that it's harder to clean the skin of black feathered chickens, whereas those with other colors clean up easier. (Or at least they appear so.) Some of the black ones also have those large, beautiful, soft, dreamy black eyes of my Australorp hens. AND the black ones, I hear, are less likely to be picked off by hawks since they resemble crows, and hawks HATE crows. hmmmm.... it's rather a dilemma, I realize. I like how they're a bit safer from predators, but I don't like plucking black chickens.
There's one annoying genetic feature that's been popping up lately - the "clubbed down" chicks. I have several of different degrees this year. I understand it's from a cross of a RIR hen and BPR rooster, both breeds I started with several years ago. They're all pullets - they're thriving and healthy, they will supposedly lay as well as their mothers - but the clubbed down defect can be passed down to their chicks. Not sure I want that becoming prevalent in the flock. So I may just freeze those girls instead of keeping them as layers.
What can I say.... I'm a rookie, not a breeder --- and I like to eat chicken.
this spring from February through May. Very successfully, I might add! Though next year, I've learned that I'll need to either: Spread it out to 6 weeks between hatches, OR add another small coop and pen to what I have already. Each "tribe" is growing up back-to-back prior to processing, and I hadn't planned on needing to keep each tribe separate until the girls' integration date and the boys' butcher date.
