What is the best way to keep a mixed flock pure for breeding?

[Chicks_N_Horses]

I have a coop for each of my breeds and I let mine all free range together. Each roo from each breed pen will protect his own hens and not let the others bother them. The hens will go back into their own coops and lay their eggs. Works just fine for me.

 

[Katy]

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That's fine unless you want to sell purebred hatching eggs. Doing that there's no way you could 100% guarentee that the eggs you were selling are purebred.

 

[cybercat]

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If your roos were pure yes but you just mention a pure and a mix roo. There is no way you would be able to tell eggs apart. Even as chicks you might not tell because of the pattern of the chicks. The chipmunk pattern is strong and a mix will have it just as much as a pure. The only way you will know is when they feather out and EVEN then it might not show till next hatching.

There are no short cuts to breeding pure folks sorry. If there was it would have been done a long time ago and would still be used. Facts is every breeder with experiance either keeps one flock of one breed or pens there breeds up. Only way to keep pure and make sure they are pure. BTW with hatchery stock they might not breed pure as most hatchery birds are mixed. It will take a few generations to make sure you have a good pure line. If you do not belive me Walkswith dog just dumped her partridge Rocks third gen for they came out all wrong. She was breeding pure and cull all to start over once again with new chickens.

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

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If you were going to go to all the trouble to build seperate rooster pens, why wouldnt you just make them a little bigger, so the hens could stay in there?

 

[warmfuzzies]

Well, it would be ONE seperate rooster pen, so that the hens could still free range during the day. Keep all the roos in a pen, and then pen up the, say, RIR roo with the RIR hens one day a week, or so.

If it doesnt work I will just keep selling mixed chicks. No one is looking for shortcuts, to me having 5 pens sounds like a shortcut because it would be easiest, but not neccisarily better. Better being the healthiest chickens possible.

I will not be shipping eggs, I am only planning on selling chicks. I am not overly concerned with standards, no one around here cares anyway. I am just wanting to be able to sell pure chicks instead of mixed chicks, because they are getting hard to sell. My hens won't stop sitting.

And yes, with the breeds I have, they would be VERY easy to tell which chicks were from which breed, so I would not need to keep the eggs seperated.

This is not something I am trying to do full time. I would just like to do it a few times a year.

And I know a new pen and wire would not be extremely expensive, we just dont have room for such a set up.

All of my chickens were raised free ranging since they were 3-4 weeks old, and I hate to pen them up in little pens, they go crazy.

 

[warmfuzzies]

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If you were going to put the hens in a seperate pen for 4 weeks to make sure they diddnt haved mixed eggs, then the roosters would not have to be in solitary confinement.

They would run with the flock. Thats what I'm saying- either the hens would be penned for the neccesary time, or the roosters would be penned all the time and released one at a time to be with the respective breed of hens.

And it would be something I would do a few times a year, to sell and to have pure instead of mixed eggs under my broodies.

If it wouldnt work, Its not a big deal.

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

your roos will fight each other and sometimes it is hard to tell a mixed chick from a pure chick. We seperate our egg in the hatcher so we know which chick is which and toe punch them as we pull them out. Some of our crosses look just like the pures.

 

[patandchickens]

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Well, that is true, if you are in a situation where you can get multiple roosters to get along adequately well with each other, like if they get along pretty well anyhow and are free ranging. Wouldn't work for most people using a run. But you're right, if you CAN have a buncha roosters all loose together, then they needn't be isolated.

Pat

 

[muddstopper]

My personal thoughts are that the only way to guarantee pure breed is to keep each breed sperate. I dont like permante coops as they tend to get messy and smelly. I keep three breeds in seperate moveable coops that are moved around in pasture every couple of days. This ensures the hens are bred by the right rooster and keeps the flys and smells at a minimum. It also gives almost the same benefits as free range, not to mention keeps my grass fertilized. It also cuts way down on feed cost.

 

[The Gotfeather]

I'm with mudstopper, I don't like permanent coops either.

Ideally I would have mobile coops with each breeding group separate and my regular layers in a separate coop. Those that I could trust to return to whence they came and not cause to much ruckus could free range, UNLESS I wanted to breeed pure from them. then they would be quarantined 6 weeks before selling pure eggs.

However at present I am in damage control, too many roos, not enough pens and hens.

Just find that balance that works for you Warmfuzzies.