Breeding plans for 2019

[Ontario Chick]

Just spent 1/2 hour combing thru my PTO "filing system" , for some reason when I handed over the hatching duties to Milpond Hatchery, I stopped keeping any kind of decent records, lucky the PTO is around to remind me.
So here goes nothing
Mactavish the big boy is going to be 4 years old this year, wonder if he has any pep left in him, may be time to retire him I think.
"Jewel" the almost "Black Wyandotte", I will put together with my remaining 4 Blue hens, see if they like him better then Mactavish,
and "JR" Columbian male over last years Columbian pullets.
Still after that elusive really good Columbian male, I am starting to sound like a broken record.
Since I have a Full house so to speak, I think I will just wait if anybody goes broody and set maybe 20 eggs all together, just enough to get maybe 4-6 pullets for next year.

[Killerbunny]

Well H-D appears to be fertile, the first few eggs have the bullseye. May send some to Millpond until the girls go broody.

[baronrenfrew]

what I should breed - nothing - what I will do - ahhh something will tempt me....

[Ontario Chick]

I am sort of curious how mine will go, because leaving things to Mother Nature is iffy proposition under best of circumstances :)
Come on people, it can't be just me and Bert doing basically nothing.........

[Kbr42]

So, I just set 20 eggs this morning. Mixed bag, Crested cream legbar, Marans, Orpingtons, Speckled Sussex, Double laced Barnevelder, Araucans, Ameraucana. I have no idea, expect for the Marans, which eggs are which....so name the breed after Easter. .

The 3 silkies eggs I put under the 3 broody silkies are developing nicely. I have one broody silkie in the house Mothering a cream legbar and a silkie chick from my hatch last week.....I'm basically just hanging out....lol

[ross]

Me too ., I do nothing . The chickens & pigeons do it all & Darwin does the rest .

[Killerbunny]

May send some of the early turkey eggs to Millpond, otherwise nada until the girls go broody.

[kenya]

I'm in no hurry this year, I don't want chicks in the house anymore and would prefer a broody to look after them. I've always found they were far healthier when brought up by a hen. I haven't even separated them into breeding groups yet. I have to thin out the flock and keep only my breeders. Lots of work to do.

[Happy]

I am dodging broodies already and have successfully persuaded several off the nest and back to scratching and pecking I'm hoping for zero chicks this year! The hotel is full and I have nowhere to put a hen and chicks. I've sold several dozen fertilized eggs from my colourful mix of Old English and have orders for chicks should a broody get her way. I've had two people ask specifically for chicks because they bought chicks off me before and say they are the most tame and people friendly chickens they've ever had . Its partly the breed but having a mother hen who brings her babies to the front door and knocks to get inside with them probably has something to do with that.

[KimChick]

I'm waiting for the beginning of May. I'll be looking for some eggs for hatching at the Lombardy BST. Plus maybe set some of my own from my BSL's and their rooster, Burt (mixed Barred Rock/Cochin, etc.)
That way, the chicks should hatch around the same time we get our day old meat chicks and turkeys. They will all use the two brooding boxes. One box has a divider. So, we will have a whole lot of chicks, and there won't be any in the house.