Breeding and hatching

Aunt Goldie did the business then    Very pretty chicks 

Gave the fourth broody one of the runts of the larger group of chicks and also added six chicks from a local farm and feed store, just to give her something to do and get her off the nest.  The runt is already looking better, more filled out, and she has taken to the chicks well. 

Will have plenty of chickens coming into maturity in the late fall and early winter, right at the time I can kill all the extra roosters and any hens that I've got on my cull list for poor laying, which makes plenty of meat for canning.  It's good to think of all that tender, healthy meat to be used for soup and such.  Raised out on free range, so feed cost is minimal, and living a great life until they are utilized as food. 

Here it is at the end of the season and I have butchered the extra cockerels and the older rooster(10 birds total), along with a few hens that were poor layers, and have a replacement breeder male and 8 new pullets left from my breeding project. 

Since spring this small flock has produced 808 eggs in 231 days, 40 qts. of tightly packed meat in the jar, and 9 flock replacements.  Next spring I'll choose 3 more of the best hens for breeding to this new, young male and do it all over again, if the Lord is willing. 

I've got some ideas for a new setup for my breeding pen and how I'll manage it all this next year that I'm pretty excited about.  One of which is using a more natural nesting situation by scooping a shallow bowl in the soil like a hen actually does when she lays out in the bush, then placing materials in and around it that a hen would pull into a nest, then sheltering each nest with a three sided fence or lattice work shelter with greenery woven in it to simulate a bush/brush shelter over the nest. 

Then I'll not collect the eggs when they lay but make sure there are eggs in each of the nests, maybe even place wooden eggs in each nest to begin with so each hen will lay on all the nests.   I'm hoping each hen will choose a particular nest to lay in but I don't care if they lay in each other's nests...each day I'll just make sure each has the same amount of total eggs in it.   

Then I'll let the eggs mount up to see if I can stimulate them to go broody after they've laid an appropriate amount for a clutch.  I'll start breeding about 15 days before the date I got my first broody last year, as all the rest went broody very quickly right after that, so as to try and catch the wave of their natural rhythms. 

The male will only be in the breeding pens for about 4 days, after being away from the flock for 10 days prior to first breeding...this will make him eager and active when he gets his hens.

All of this is in hopes of providing a more natural experience in a more natural rhythm, that may just increase the clutch size, hatch rate and health of the chicks being born.  Before the hatch, the nesting areas will be sectioned off so as to let each hen have some alone time with her chicks for the first week, then they will be let out on range.  They can return to their nests each night until they no longer wish to do so and want to sleep in the coop. 

I'm tickled to try this and see if it works!