How do I manage all the offspring

[Stephen Hull]

I have a question about logistics.  If your hen is laying 100-150 eggs a year, and you have to wait until they are 18-24 months old before you select the next generation, what type of pen do you keep them in?  I understand that you have separate pens when breeding them, but what about the wait until they are able to mate?  I also know you can cull early and reduce it down, but do you keep a separate set of pens for then until they are of age, one for the cocks and one for the hens?  I would think you would need to keep the males and females apart.  I have seen many males integrated with the hens for long periods and it is not pretty.  It is like a free-for-all with the males ganging up on the hens, sometimes, even killing them.

I am wanting to know how you would raise them until the group(before selection) is of age to start selecting.

-Stephen

[Anonymous]

What I plan to do with all my offspring is hatch many as possible. Then as chicks hatch I would move them to the brooder. When they are ready to be moved to the grow out pen I can cull obvious defects such as duck toe rye tail anything that’s making itself apparent at that young of an age then keep them in the community grow out pen until they’re about 6 months old cull anymore obvious defects, and then start separating the stags once they start to pick at each other. Then 18 to 24 months old I will select my brood fowl. Obviously not all the eggs will hatch and not all the chicks will make it to maturity so that will also help make it more manageable of a number. And like Kenny always says just hatch as many as you can manage and afford and after you’ve reached your limit stop. But I do understand that it’s very tempting to just hatch as many as you possibly can. Good luck!

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