Need To Know Breeding Basics

[toejam]

Hello, can anyone tell me what I need to know about breeding chickens? Anything. Thanks Justin

 

[Daidohead]

I know 2 things about breeding chickens. #1- basic breeding is to put a hen and a roo together and let nature take it's course. #2- Anything more complicated than #1 takes hundreds of hours of study and observation to know what you are doing. Personally, I stick to #1. There are a few in BYC that really know chicken genetics and breeding. If you have specfic questions they generally will do their best to answer. You can also use the BYC search feature to find lots of info in previous threads.

 

[toejam]

Thank you so much!!!
anyone else??

 

[Rock N' Faverolles]

I would like to offer advice, but I don't know how to respond to such a broad question. Can you ask more specific questions?

David

 

[toejam]

Okay... What do you feed them. How long do they stay together. How often do you collect eggs? questions like that.

 

[rancher hicks]

Hi Justin,

There are probably as many opinions on breeding as there are breeds. That said, it depends on what your purpose is. If for instance you are breeding Delawares, which I am, I'm not as concerned w/ show quality as I am in purity. So I have my roo and hens together continually. I also have marans. For those I select only the darkest eggs to hatch.
As for leaving the roo and hen together, I understand that it takes two weeks for her to get the old roo out of her system. So you can go from there.

I suggest doing some research. I know we'd all like someone else to do it for us but I haven't found an easier way. The public library is an excellent place to start. I took out every book I could get and then some of them twice. "Back Yard Poultry" magazine is also an excellent magazine as is "Practical Poultry" from the UK. Subscibing to BYP is cheaper than buying individual issues and since some issues carry over to the next month. The $ 15-20 a year is worth it. PP is very expensive at 7.50 an issue but worth it for the information and perhaps can be shared w/ a friend or friends to cut cost.

For those not familiar w/ PP here's a run down of this months issue. "Hybrid Vs. Pure Breed" , "Alternative Sebrights", and the reason I bought it, Poultry Keeper's A-Z. Covers all kind of chicken related issues for the letter E. Each month is a different letter.
The part I liked is "embryonic positions" covers the different positions of chicks in the egg and why they fail to hatch. "Epistasis" covers genetics. Specifically the term dicscribing the inhibiting action of one gene over another.
What I learned is that the white leghorn always breeds white but it carries the genes for barring and colour. Interesting huh?

So Justin, I'll stop here. It really isn't possible to tell everything there is to breeding on this post and even if I could you'd miss the exciting things you'll learn along the way while doing your research.

All the best to you

Rancher

 

[FlashPointFarm]

Rancher had lots of good info for you. Read, lots, before you get your breeding stock. Buy the best stock you can afford.

There is already lots of info posted on this site also. You can search your specific questions.

Good luck, and happy reading!

 

[Rock N' Faverolles]

Quote:
Okay, I'll try my best to answer you.

I always fed my breeders just purina layena and then gave each pen a handful of scratch grains. Make sure they have access to grit. For breeding large fowl, I try to mate them up in November and keep them together until I achieve the preset number of chicks I wanted to hatch out from that pen. For bantams I put the breeding groups together in February and try to start hatching in March. People pen their breeders differently. Some breed in pairs, trios, quads, or flock matings. I try to have 4 hens and one cock bird together. Sometimes I'll do pairs if I am trying to breed for a specific trait that only these two birds have. I collect eggs once a day and mark on the egg with pencil as to what pen they came from. When they hatch I toe punch and a few days later wingband them. This is a permanent way to tell what chicks came from what pen. If you are trying to breed to the APA or ABA standard I would suggest at minimum three breeding pens of each breed. If the males are too rough on the hens' backs then put him with the hens for a day and then take him out for a day. Keep doing this. This is usually only really important if you show birds out of your breeding pens. Generally I try not to. Also if you decide to switch males in your pens, don't keep the eggs from the new mating for two weeks as they can still be fertile from the previous male. Generally when picking breeding pens, try to pick females that are most alike and then put a male that also has similar good traits as well as good traits the hens don't have. This will strengthen the good traits and add in new traits not previously present. I can't think of anything else at the moment. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

David

 

[toejam]

thank you

 

[aladatrot]

Most informative thread for me as well. Thank you all.

Cheers
M