rookie chicken person
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 12:48 pm
Hi All,
So I have started a "Chicken Project" to keep the kids busy, teach them about responsibility, and as an educational project. We have 2 Belgium D'Uccle, Mille Fleur roosters and 2 Lavender Orpington roosters, 2 sussex hens, 2 Rhode Island Red hens. From a hatch last year. We were planning on breeding the Belgium D'Uccles and lavender orpingtons but we are fine with buying chicks or eggs whenever we need to. So first question is 1) I'm not sure about this but I think that it may not be a good idea to mix standard and bantam chickens. I think that the bantam hens did not thrive well and maybe that is why they got sick and died. We put up 3 feeders and waterers in different locations because we noticed that the standard hens were sometimes pecking them when they went to the feeder. Also should we only have one type of chicken eg. lavender orpingtons? 2) What do we do with the roosters? Are there places I can post a note saying that I have roosters? Kijiji? Should I bring them to a processor if no one wants them? Note that I would prefer not processing them myself. 3) Should I purchase more chicks so there is more diversity? I read that brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers should not breed but the breeder said it is ok to breed them because they are from different groups in closed flock. At some point in time I think that I would need to buy chicks from a different flock. Right? and when? in a few years? 4) Does it makes sense to keep only one rooster to "take care of the free ranging flock" or should there be 2? If there are 2 roosters then we would need to double the number of hens. Right? from a 1 to 10 ratio to 2 to 20. I was thinking of this being a "little" project so I'm try trying to keep the numbers down. We have been having a problem with our roosters mating with only the orpington hens and their feathers are missing so I bought 2 saddles for them. Thank you for your help. We live in Caledon, Ontario.
Regards,
Lolo
So I have started a "Chicken Project" to keep the kids busy, teach them about responsibility, and as an educational project. We have 2 Belgium D'Uccle, Mille Fleur roosters and 2 Lavender Orpington roosters, 2 sussex hens, 2 Rhode Island Red hens. From a hatch last year. We were planning on breeding the Belgium D'Uccles and lavender orpingtons but we are fine with buying chicks or eggs whenever we need to. So first question is 1) I'm not sure about this but I think that it may not be a good idea to mix standard and bantam chickens. I think that the bantam hens did not thrive well and maybe that is why they got sick and died. We put up 3 feeders and waterers in different locations because we noticed that the standard hens were sometimes pecking them when they went to the feeder. Also should we only have one type of chicken eg. lavender orpingtons? 2) What do we do with the roosters? Are there places I can post a note saying that I have roosters? Kijiji? Should I bring them to a processor if no one wants them? Note that I would prefer not processing them myself. 3) Should I purchase more chicks so there is more diversity? I read that brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers should not breed but the breeder said it is ok to breed them because they are from different groups in closed flock. At some point in time I think that I would need to buy chicks from a different flock. Right? and when? in a few years? 4) Does it makes sense to keep only one rooster to "take care of the free ranging flock" or should there be 2? If there are 2 roosters then we would need to double the number of hens. Right? from a 1 to 10 ratio to 2 to 20. I was thinking of this being a "little" project so I'm try trying to keep the numbers down. We have been having a problem with our roosters mating with only the orpington hens and their feathers are missing so I bought 2 saddles for them. Thank you for your help. We live in Caledon, Ontario.
Regards,
Lolo