Sanity check breeding & coops/pens

[Alaskan]

As far as breeding groups, as well as growing out chicks..

I am a huge fan of chicken tractors. Easy to build.. I prefer to drag them about with a 4-wheeler.... but it is easy to have lots of extra spots to feed and water in good weather...

Then come bad weather they are all put away.... and all poultry are consolidated/sold/ or eaten.

 

[Feathercrazie]

When you are breeding, you really do not want to raise up offspring from less than stellar birds. You really should only breed the best confirmation birds. So out of your three (I am assuming of each breed) it would be best to pick the top hen. You really need to take measurable data about each hen, each rooster. Then consider the traits you want. Number of eggs being produced, size of eggs - weigh them each day. Weight of each bird, several times during their growth to maturity.

You want to examine each bird carefully for conformity to SOP and general symmetry. Then when you get those top two birds, separate the hen for 3 weeks to clear her system, and add in the top rooster. Eat her eggs until you see good fertilization rate, then collect her eggs for 10 days, and set that clutch.

You can repeat this process as much as you want if you have an incubator, and of course you can hatch mutliple breeds at the same time, I just think that you want eggs less than 2 weeks old to hatch.

Most breeders raise a lot of birds to cull hard. Keeping only a very few birds for breeding. Most of their pullets would also be culled.

Eating fertilized or unfertilized is a moot issue, it takes a pretty keen eye and practice to tell the difference.

With roosters - I have come to the conclusion there is no perfect plan for roosters. It will work until it doesn't. Have a plan B for all roosters, it should be set up and ready to go. The don't call it cock fighting for nothing.

However, I myself, do differentiate on breeds and eating of roosters. I prefer meat birds for most of my chicken meals. I only would use excess layer roosters for soups or casseroles.

I am going to just suggest another idea. If you like it good, if not, no big deal. Instead of breeding 3 different breeds each year, which is going to quickly become a nightmare of where to put who and when... why not breed a single breed each year. Say you add a Austrlope rooster to your flock, as a flock rooster. Just hatch the eggs from the Austrolope girls. Eat the rest of the eggs.

Next year, add a new rooster, different breed, hatch out those, eat the rest. They can all stay together if you can identify the different kinds of eggs. Repeat the third year. By then the austrolope hens numbers will be thinning, and laying less eggs, and then refresh them.

A whole lot less pens will be needed.

MRs K

You do not need to wait three weeks to "clean out" the hen. With a change of roos you only need wait one day. It is last in- first out. After observing the roo mating with the hen you only need to discard the next egg. from then on all the eggs will be from the last roo she mated with. to be sure of fertile eggs he must mate with her at least once every ten days. But she can be fertile up to 30 days after mating.

As far as fertile or infertile eggs for eating doesn't make any difference. Infertile eggs keep longer than fertile. The only reason for a fertile egg is for hatching. Having a roo in with laying hens only disrupts the flock and they produce less eggs.

 

[aart]

You do not need to wait three weeks to "clean out" the hen. With a change of roos you only need wait one day.

Um, Not True.

It is last in- first out.

Picturing sperm all lined up waiting their turns.
What you think there is only one sperm released with each mating?