4 years, 9 months ago-
Posts
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@Tony,
I am planning my breeding pens for the spring.
I have selected my birds that I want to breed.
I had planned to do single mating, with my best cock and best hen.
However, that is not many chicks. To hatch chicks within 2 wks of lay, best case scenario is 12 eggs or so going into incubator.
I have 2 incubators, would do a different hatch every 2 wks, maybe? Best case scenario is 10 chicks a month? For 5-7 months?
or is it better to use an additional hen that is not *quite as good to get more chicks.
working on laced Orpingtons. Working on type and lacing/color.
thoughts? Thanks! -
Hey MBrid,
It’s true – you must get as many chicks from a mating(s) that you can manage and afford. The more chicks you have, the better your ability to select the stand outs. You need to find those handful of birds that has the ability to improve the strain and take them to the next level. You cannot do that from a small number of chicks. It’s not impossible, but it is more difficult.
My first question for you is –
- do you have other hens?
- Are they of the quality of the hen you plan to breed?
- Do you have multiple pens?
You can breed the cock to multiple hens and still single mate. Just pen the hens separately, and move the cock from pen to pen. I like to move the cock ever 2 or 3 days.
As long as the hen is from the same family and strain, is a good representative of her breed and variety, has the character and traits you are looking for, and is free of defects or disqualifications, and most of all is health, you should be fine.
If you only have the one hen, then do your best to make sure she does not go broody. Use foster hens to hatch and raise some chicks, and/or the incubator.
Does this help?
Kenny
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@Thanks Kenny.
I like the 2 pen single mating idea.
my 1 hen is very good on all accounts.
second hen is just ok. Ok on all accounts really.
think ill prob just try the one hen.
was planning on using incubator.
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