[Beekissed]

Anyone doing any specific breeding this spring to improve flock genetics and performance?  If so, what breeds and how many eggs do you hope to incubate towards this goal? 

[Beekissed]

I'm attempting to develop my own line of Plymouth White Rocks this year using an old line passed down through many generations and developed by each consecutive breeder bred over another such line and also over a hatchery sourced line.  One heirloom line is called the Blosl line, named for the last breeder who developed it and the other heirloom line is called the XW or JWhip line, named for the fellow currently developing it.  My male is out of the Blosl line and the females out of the XW and the other female out of hatchery genes. 

I like the hatchery genetics I have used for this, as they have been extremely good layers, heavy on meat, hardy to the max, with good foraging and survival skills, good winter laying, excellent feathering and good mothering.  I'm not impressed with the feathering or laying of the XW female at all, nor her hardiness, though she's an excellent forager, wily out on range and goes broody enough to be of use.  I'll not be using her offspring for breeding this year. 

So far, the offspring of the hatchery cross win the prize and get to breed this year.  I'll be breeding these 50% females back to their sire to produce 75% heirloom/25% hatchery birds in hopes of broadening their backs but keeping the good laying genes.  If I get a 75% male that resembles his sire in size and conformation but has the feathering of the hatchery genes, he will be my keeper and the start of my own new line.

I can then breed him back to his dam and his aunt and later on even breed him to his daughters, but cannot breed him to his sisters. 

Here is a pic of the Blosl male, the heirloom side of the cross...he's a bit bigger now than he was in these pics.





And here's a few pics of the hens I bred him over.....the first pic has the hatchery hen I bred him to in the back left of this pic....



And here's a pic of the heirloom hen, the XW....



And I bred him over this hatchery stock Black Aussie just for funzies and got a young pullet I really love the looks of and will be breeding her back to her sire just to see what pops out.  I'll use her and her offspring for my utility flock while I develop this line of Whites. 



And her daughter out of this White Rock sire....a barred female...here at 3 mo. of age:



I'll update as the breeders I've chosen fill out and mature into layers, with pics of each.  Will be incubating in an Eco20 and also in a natural nest with a heating pad this spring to double down on hatching.  If I get a broody long about then, I'll load her up as well. 

[joyfull]

some lovely looking hens. Good luck with your breeding project.

[Beekissed]

Thank you!!! 

[Beekissed]

I've decided to try a little experiment in my breeding project this year.  After I collect 10 eggs from each of the two hens I'm using for breeding the WRs, I'm going to leave these hens penned, rotate the rooster through their pens again, then take him out.  Then I'll let them lay, letting the eggs mount up in the nest, to see if I can stimulate them to brood their own chicks.

If they do, I'll try and slip the chicks I hatch of theirs in the incubator under the hens when they hatch their own brood, so they can raise them all for me.  I know there will be an age difference between the two sets but I'm hoping the hens will accept them anyway.  I've put 3-4 day old chicks under a foster hen but never any older than that.

I love a good experiment! 

I'm going to breed only 2 of the WR offspring of this past year, Little Mama and Beulah May, and one mutt, Miss Millie, but the WRs are the focus. 

Here's a pic or two of Little Mama at 5 mo. of age, this pic taken a couple of days ago:





And pics of Beulah May, the larger of the two:





And Miss Millie, who is filling out more since the last pic posted here, as are the others:

[GrannieAnnie]

I don't do any breeding anymore BK, but they are beautiful birds!

I never got into the genetics of it all though, just bred a few different pure breeds, and had a small breeding flock of Barred Plymouth rocks, running with 2 pure Rhode Island Red cockerals to get the Shaver blacks, which are good egg layers.

Like these!

[Beekissed]

It's good to hear from someone who has/is breeding their own birds.  That's a good combination for laying, for sure.  They call those black sex links or black stars over here and I've had a few in the past.  Those are some good looking birds! 

I'm hoping to improve upon these birds to bring them closer to the Standard of Perfection, according to the American Poultry Assoc., but also~and more important to me~I want to increase laying productivity, hardiness, natural broodiness without going too far in that direction, and good foraging/survival on range.  I want a flock that not only looks like their breed should look but also performs like it should perform to be more sustainable in reproducing its own kind and bringing it back to the original homestead type bird.  Good survival skills and being able to glean most of its feed on the land, while still being able to lay well on that type of feed.  I'll be choosing/culling for those characteristics as I go along.

I chose the WRs because this breed just captured my heart...they have a regal way about them... and because they are such hard working, genteel birds that lay well and pack on a lot of meat on very little feed compared to other breeds.  They go through the winter like it's nothing, their feathering is the softest of any breed I've ever had~and I've had plenty~and they lay an extra large, uniform egg on a consistent basis.  There are really no downsides to this breed that I have found.  Calm, easy to keep, big ol' gals that never give me an ounce of problems down through the years...and they lay well into senior years.  At the end you have a huge, heavy carcass of dense, fine meat for the table.   

[GrannieAnnie]

It will be interesting to hear how you get on BK!

We chose those 2 breeds, because the chap that owned the main flocks of half a million birds, was downsizing and we got the 20 hens and 2 cockerals at a good price, and the fact that they are auto sexing.  I think the reason he was downsizing was to improve the line as in the first year, I had to cull nearly 75% of the chicks as they were males!

It was hard, but at least I could do it easily on the first day rather than have to feed them all for weeks!   

[Beekissed]

Yep..culling is a fact of life with chickens.  So many forget that or refuse to see it, but happen it will one way or another.  Far better for it to be controlled and managed than the bird having to suffer a drawn out death. 

Half a million!!!!!!  That's a lot of birds to try and improve on.   

[Beekissed]

Breeding season is around the corner and the pullets are all at POL, right at 6 mo. of age or slightly before.  That's a wonderful thing, as that is one of the traits for which I'm breeding...early/average sexual maturity.  The last group of pullets I had from another line didn't lay until 8 mo. of age, so this is a better strain or line of genes for sure. 

The rooster has been penned up this week to get him ready for intensive breeding sessions...he is fed some meat meal in his regular feed ration.  The meat meal was made here from ground up bones, meat, fat, gristle, and organs left over from making chicken stock, from the birds butchered here. 

The hens are also getting some of this chicken meat meal each day as well, as part of their nutritional supplement to increase nutrition before breeding, laying, hatching.  Both sets of birds go nuts for that meat meal! 

Next week the breeding pens will be worked on for greater ease of use and small runs added so the birds can get out in the sunshine, fresh air and rain.  They won't be confined very long at all but these free range birds are not used to confinement of any kind, so I'm hoping to make the experience less horrible for them. 

[joyfull]

sadly over here we cannot give any food to our hens that has been inside our kitchens. What is your reason for feeding the meat meal, do they not get enough nutrition from their layers meal? I know our hens will eat meat - mine usually catch mice or frogs along with worms etc.
I also preferred to breed with hens over a year old rather than younger pullets, what is your reason for wanting to breed from younger birds - just curious that's all as I no longer breed my own birds.

[Mrs Bee]

It will be interesting to hear how you get on BK!

We chose those 2 breeds, because the chap that owned the main flocks of half a million birds, was downsizing and we got the 20 hens and 2 cockerals at a good price, and the fact that they are auto sexing.  I think the reason he was downsizing was to improve the line as in the first year, I had to cull nearly 75% of the chicks as they were males!

It was hard, but at least I could do it easily on the first day rather than have to feed them all for weeks!   

Wow, that is a lot. The farmer's wife where we go on holiday, has to let her chicks grow out of the cute fluffy stage before she culls the cockerels. She said she just can't do it when they are fluffy.


 

[Beekissed]

sadly over here we cannot give any food to our hens that has been inside our kitchens. What is your reason for feeding the meat meal, do they not get enough nutrition from their layers meal? I know our hens will eat meat - mine usually catch mice or frogs along with worms etc.
I also preferred to breed with hens over a year old rather than younger pullets, what is your reason for wanting to breed from younger birds - just curious that's all as I no longer breed my own birds.

Just something recommended by old breeder guys...supposed to boost protein and hormones to have more meat to eat at that time and foraging for meat right now is pretty slim...later on in the year they'd have snakes, frogs, mice and insects but it's too cool right now for good forage.  They suggested raw hamburger but there's no way I'm feeding any of my animals hamburger from the store....much more dangerous to consume~especially raw~than anything that comes out of my kitchen or off my farm. 

I'm breeding from young pullets because that's all I've got for breeding stock right now and it's imperative that I get more chicks on the ground this year so that I can hatch out a back up male from this line.  I free range here and, though I've never lost an adult rooster to any predators all these many years, having just one breeding male is always an iffy prospect.  If I want to continue to use this line and develop it I need to hatch from it this year. 

No, hatching from pullets isn't ideal and it may not even work, but I'm going to give it a shot.  It's no more strain on them than if I were breeding them for this later on, as they are getting bred at all times after sexual maturity anyway. 

[joyfull]

oh our weather is now starting to rise (although we do still have to light the wood burner every night just to take the chill off), I forgot your temperature goes a lot lower than ours. Wouldn't fancy shop bought raw hamburgers myself either lol

[Beekissed]

My pullets are finally laying a good sized egg for hatching and it's all green lights for breeding now, so working on the final things to be done on the breeding pen today so I can get things started.  Also brought home some free pallets so I can throw together an extra breeding hut for my wild card breeder this year...a mixed breed pullet that I want to breed for funzies and to see what kind of birds result. 

Can't wait to see how all the chicks turn out and if the results of this breeding are good.  I hope to put plenty of chicks on the ground this spring so I can cull down to the very best in the fall and use the culled birds for part of our winter meat supply. 

Come fall I think I'll be looking for a Lab or Lab mix puppy to train up on being a chicken dog, as my old Jake is getting some age on him and the coyotes aren't getting any older around here.  Jake needs a companion and a helper and two dogs are always better than one when it comes to guarding livestock.  Don't want to try and train the pup when the chicks are small...too much temptation...so it will have to wait until fall when all the chickens are older, fleet of foot and can avoid any lapses in the pup's training success.