Chicken math isn't supposed to work this way!!!!!

[Smart Red]

Red, why not can up the extra chicken so it doesn't take up room in the freezer? I can all my chicken...makes it tender, flavorful and speeds the prep time for meals.

Never thought of canning. Just might try that.

@Ridgerunner, I just noted my experiences with the chickens I've had. Out of 5 Australorps and 5 Brahamas only the Australorps went broody -- three of them in one year. I sold 4 of them later their second year. The one that remained has gone broody every year since (4 more). I did have one Moran go broody, but that's one of one for two years and not the best way to form a generalization.

It is also true that chicks purchased from one hatchery will most certainly have different genetics than those from another and not all hens of a specific breed will set eggs.

 

[Beekissed]

Broodiness requires some sort of slow down in the egg formation process. A hen laying 300 eggs a year with a month off for forced molting, has trouble scheduling time off from work.

Surrogates, both natural and robotic are considered the way to go. Think about what would happen if the hen asked for sick leave ...

Steve

For some reason folks think a hen that takes time off for brooding isn't productive...can't figure that one out. She's producing replacement layers and meat all the while, which is WAY more productive than laying that daily egg. She's insuring the future of the flock.

The way it's done here is the birds that aren't broody lay right in the same nest of the birds who are, so each hatch is producing birds that are naturally prone to broodiness and those who are not, who will then ~when mature~be laying while the broody girls are working on a different assembly line.

It all works out in the end, just like God intended.

 

[Jared77]

Sex link chicks are a really good idea. You could sell the girls you produce since you know what they are right away.

The boys you raise till butchering age. The sale of the girls would help fund feed and essentially your flock is helping pay for itself.

You could produce some black sex links too. They lay well and the boys would eat just as good too.

 

[digitS']

I didn't have roosters for about the last 15 years with chickens. I can tell you, it was a relief ... but, more than that, I no longer lived where a crowing bird would fit into the neighborhood. As it was, I had flocks for months, even years, without immediate neighbors knowing I had them .

This worked even better with meat birds kept for a few months. Adult chickens are the noisy ones.

Anyway, a broody hen served no purpose for me in an all-female flock. I generally bought chicks through the feed store. Never really thought of getting fertile eggs.

I would have enjoyed a flock of good-laying Barred Rocks with a mild-mannered Rhode Island Red rooster for black sexlink chicks. (mild-mannered RIR? )

Steve

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...they make 'em. If you get someone breeding to the standard RIR, you will likely get a very mild mannered RIR male.

My WR cockerels are all big enough to butcher before they begin crowing...and they usually won't crow with an older, already dominant, male in the flock until they are feeling big enough to take him on. They are dead long before that ever happens.

It's hard for me to imagine living where one cannot have a rooster, though I know it is more and more prevalent....I just couldn't picture myself living where such basic freedoms are not allowed. Same with other Americana like clothes hanging out on a line....that's something I rarely ever see any longer. Seems a lot of towns won't allow it now...that's so very weird to me. What could ever be the problem with people trying to dry clothing the natural way? The world is getting ever more weird.

 

[digitS']

I'm all for outdoor clothes lines but can only take advantage of them 6 months out of the year. I used to have an indoor clothes rack but, wow, I don't hardly know what corner I could put it in ... let me think about that. Sounds like a winter challenge I should take on .

It would not be wonderfully fair to my neighbors to have a rooster. I only have a 50' by 120' lot here at home. Legally, it is shorter than that by a few feet. I've never explored if that means that there was a now nonexistent deeded alley or if they just made the road narrower than it could have been.

Anyway, I have a good neighbor who works swing shift ... I talked about him in GWR's freeze warning thread. Additionally, I have had babies - as in human - just a few feet from my chicken coop. Yeah, the pre-schooler neighbor who had that corner bedroom grew up and had his own baby (& the baby's mother) in that bedroom for a while. They seem to only visit now ... I almost started a TEG thread once about adult children sleeping on the couch but, actually, they just moved back into that corner bedroom.

Behind their lot, is a very quiet older lady. The previous neighbors with the baying coonhound and bark collar moved away. Probably not a moment too soon for that dog!

Steve

 

[Jared77]

Out here it's 20 acres to build a structure/shelter for livestock. That's a township rule. So no run ins, etc. you can build a barn but it better be storing machinery.

I think I can have chickens, rabbits, and pigeons are fine. I wouldn't push my luck with peacocks and guineas. We hang clothes on the line out here regularly too. Most folks do what they want out here without issue.

I wonder instead of RIR what about a buckeye? Does it still work? I'm thinking a heavier bird would still give you sex links and possibly meatier cockerels.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

well, the chicken math worked in my favor yesterday. dh butchered the BR roo. he's been noisy & dh had complained for the longest time about it but it took me prodding him yesterday to finally do the deed. now i'm down to 2 bantam roos, Sunny my 7 year old Cochin & CC, the non-bearded Faverolles roo who just turned 4. these 2 are quiet compared to Fred the BR.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm all for outdoor clothes lines but can only take advantage of them 6 months out of the year. I used to have an indoor clothes rack but, wow, I don't hardly know what corner I could put it in ... let me think about that. Sounds like a winter challenge I should take on .

It would not be wonderfully fair to my neighbors to have a rooster. I only have a 50' by 120' lot here at home. Legally, it is shorter than that by a few feet. I've never explored if that means that there was a now nonexistent deeded alley or if they just made the road narrower than it could have been.

Anyway, I have a good neighbor who works swing shift ... I talked about him in GWR's freeze warning thread. Additionally, I have had babies - as in human - just a few feet from my chicken coop. Yeah, the pre-schooler neighbor who had that corner bedroom grew up and had his own baby (& the baby's mother) in that bedroom for a while. They seem to only visit now ... I almost started a TEG thread once about adult children sleeping on the couch but, actually, they just moved back into that corner bedroom.

Behind their lot, is a very quiet older lady. The previous neighbors with the baying coonhound and bark collar moved away. Probably not a moment too soon for that dog!

Steve

Basic manners are different in town than out where I am. Out here my chickens don't bother anyone, no one is close enough and none work night shift anyway. I know my few neighbors well enough to know that. My clothes line is mostly hidden from the gravel road by my workshop, but that helps keep the dust from the road off the drying clothes. My neighbors don't complain if I don't keep my grass cut. That usually bothers town people because it depresses property values and gives vermin a place to live.

Good manners is not saying please or thank you. Good manners is being thoughtful of other people.

 

[baymule]

I wonder instead of RIR what about a buckeye? Does it still work? I'm thinking a heavier bird would still give you sex links and possibly meatier cockerels.

That is a thought. I wonder which cross would make the best meat cockerels? Wonder which one would grow out the soonest?

@Beekissed your White Rocks are ready to butcher at what age? And what size carcass do you wind up with?

At our previous house, in town, mere blocks from city hall and close neighbors all around, we had no rooster. One neighbor even asked me to get a rooster, but I didn't think everybody else would appreciate a rooster going off at 3 in the morning. I probably could've had a rooster, I could hear roosters crowing from time to time. But in interest of being a friendly neighbor, no rooster.