Keeping genetics straight in free range flocks?

[Florida Bullfrog]

For anyone that free ranges various breeds in a common farm yard environment and have some desire to keep at least some pure bred examples of various breeds, do you find that its doable?

Here’s my situation. I have the following breeds:

13 “Florida Cracker” games (see my thread on Jungle Fowl in the SE for an explanation of the term, the short answer is they’re likely either Spanish games, American game bantams, or hatchery jungle fowl), 11 hens and 2 roosters. 9 hens free range with 1 rooster. The other rooster is penned with 2 hens and those three are separate from other chickens.

6 white leghorn hens, free ranging.

6 silver laced Wyandotte hens, free ranging.

6 Old English game bantams, 5 hens and 1 rooster, all penned together but separate from the other breeds.

As the OEGBs and a set of FCGs are penned on their own, they can only reproduce with themselves. And where the only free ranging rooster is a FCG, those free range hens will produce either pure bred FCG, FCG x leghorn crosses, or FCG x Wyandotte crosses. The offspring are easy to tell apart as are the eggs. So far I’ve only made pure bred FCGs, pure OEGBs, and leghorn crosses and they’re all easy to distinguish as chicks.

Here’s my concern: I’d like to make and free range a flock of OEGBs. About 10 birds or so. Yet the OEGBs and FCG eggs are identical looking. Although I think I can easily separate chicks out at the point of hatching due to the varied coloration of the OEGBs, I’m concerned about the inevitable crosses between the FCG roosters and OEGB hens. I am concerned that their offspring won’t be easily distinguishable and that the next generation afterwards definitely won’t be as the crosses get bred back to FCG roosters again.

I don’t mind having mixed breeds. I just don’t want the mixed breeds to pollute the genetics of my pure bred chickens, namely my FCGs.

I know that if I mix breeds in the barnyard, it’s inevitable they’re going cross breed. I suppose I’m asking if there are ways to increase the odds that one will end up with at least one desired pure breed flock among a group of many breeds?

For example, should I aggressively cull cross breeds between the OEGBs and FCGs before they reach maturity? Or is the OEGB genetics so diverse that they will likely always produce offspring that look different and can be distinguished easily from the wild colored FCGs?

Or should I resign myself to the notion that my flock will all be mutts in 10 years and I should only trust in the penned birds to give me pure bred stock?

 

[gtaus]

Or should I resign myself to the notion that my flock will all be mutts in 10 years and I should only trust in the penned birds to give me pure bred stock?

I think you answered your own question. Nothing wrong with a mixed flock, but if you want pure bred lines, I think you should have separate pens like you do.

I know a guy who breds birds, and he takes everything very seriously and culls any birds with the slightest variance from standards. I am happy with getting my chicks from a hatchery and don't worry much about standards. We have different goals with our birds, but it's all good to both of us.

 

[Amer]

I think you answered your own question. Nothing wrong with a mixed flock, but if you want pure bred lines, I think you should have separate pens like you do.

I know a guy who breds birds, and he takes everything very seriously and culls any birds with the slightest variance from standards. I am happy with getting my chicks from a hatchery and don't worry much about standards. We have different goals with our birds, but it's all good to both of us.

X2
I have a mixed, free-ranged flock, but the issue of pure breds solves itself. Since the breeding season for me is mid winter, my birds stay inside more often than not anyways because of the weather.
I have established pens in the coop in which I keep my bantam Buckeyes and d'Anvers that I want to use for breeding, meanwhile, the rest of the flock runs free.
Then during the summer they are loose again, free to mingle as the wish.
Right now they are in transition. Because they are in quarantine after a show, it was convenient to move them into the pens anyways.
I have already separated the breeds and penned some of the males and females together. Right now we are giving them a six week period of only natural day light before using a lot of natural light to jumpstart laying.
Yes, you don't have the issues of climate that will naturally cause your birds to be indoors more often in winter, but the principle is the same.
Winter= breeding season (depending on your location, may be show season as well)
Spring=hatching and transition
Summer=growing season as well as where your adults are free to go. Be sure to separate ages until six months to prevent disease.
Fall=show and transition
Obviously your transition dates may be different from mine. Earlier in spring and later in fall.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I saw this thread come up on my feed and I thought I can update it and talk about what’s working for me a couple of years later. I’ve found a system that works for me.

I have a large combined free range flock made up of several breeds of hens, five coops with runs, some large ground-based cages, and a large off-the-ground brooder.

I have three mature brood cocks as follows:

1. Florida Cracker brood cock.
2. American game bantam brood cock.
3. American game bantam brood cock.

I have three cockerels:

1. American game bantam stag.
2. Unnamed micro game bantam stag.
3. Unnamed large experimental large gamefowl stag.

The brood cocks tolerate young stags but not each other. Older stags are hit and miss. The brood cocks will tolerate an older stag until they don’t.

Here’s how I break things down:

The free range flock gets the stags and one brood cock, usually the Cracker brood cock. Currently I have the Cracker brood cock in a coop with some Cracker hens and 2 American gamefowl hens. The large experimental gamefowl stag is free range.

The remaining American game bantam brood cocks are in coops being line bred to chosen American game bantam hens. The micro stag is in a coop with his micro hens. One coop is being utilized by a Cracker hen to brood some Cracker bitties. The cages are currently empty.

I’ve found that free range is a good way to raise stags, pullets, and grown hens of all sorts. Free ranging separates the weak from the strong and developes the physiques of the survivors. It also offsets the cost of feed for keeping so many birds where the free rangers mostly feed themselves. The coops are just for keeping brood cocks from killing each other and for breeding pure specimens. The cooped birds have generally been raised free range and have proven themselves to be good survivors.

So free range is basically my proving grounds and overflow storage while my coops are where I do breeding. I let the free range hens sit and brood naturally but I cull if I mixes are happening I don’t want or can’t discern the makeup of. I collect hatching eggs only from the coops, but will collect free range if only one brood cock is out and I can match the brood cock to the right eggs. All of my different breeds lay unique eggs except for the AGBs and Crackers, therefore AGB hens are pulled off of free range when they’re of laying age if I plan on collecting free range hatching eggs. In the past I’ve allowed multiple Cracker stags to breed within the free range flock but now I’m switching over to only keeping the one Cracker brood cock so all Cracker eggs are being fertilized by him when he’s out or when penned to select hens.