Post by mnjrutherford on Mar 7, 2014 13:06:37 GMT -5
We have decided to "create" a breed of chicken. This decision, originally made about 6 months ago, has taught me a real appreciation for my ignorance of breeding, animals, and chickens. While we set out with certain goals in mind, we were not limited by preconceived notions based on unknown facts. Basically, we knew that we needed a broad base of genetic diversity. How much diversity? Well, we figure that we can handle up to 100 hens with 5 roos for each hen. Technically speaking, that is a lot of ladies for a roo to service, but if the roo is young that won't be as difficult as it would be for an older roo. So, we will probably keep our roos for a maximum of 18 months.
We have also settled on using a "base" of four breeds. We have brought in birds from other folks as well as from commercial entities with the idea of diversifying the genetics of the individual breeds as much as possible right now in the earliest stages of the process.
Some of the qualities we are looking to retain or establish include (but are not necessarily limited to):
1. Non aggressive - Don't want them to be TO docile, but don't want them to attack everything particularly their caretakers.
2. Day neutrality - I'm not sure "day neutral" is really the correct phrase. We want them to lay through the winter without a light. This notion is based on the conventional knowledge that chickens require 14 hours of daylight in order to produce an egg. But as time goes by and more learning is achieved we realize that they don't need more "daylight" than the security light the electric company installed about 50 feet from the coop area. Additionally, the breeds we are using a known as "winter layers" who will lay 250 eggs or more per year. So I'm thinking "Day Neutral" should be dropped in favor of "heavy" layers, producing at least 300 eggs annually.
3. Large eggs, multiple colors.
4. Dual purpose (tasty meat)
5. Landrace - This is another term that I was using at first that I am now rethinking because really... How pertinent is it? Chickens have a pretty broad range of survivability and productivity as it is. So if you were breeding them to be particularly suited to a specific area, wouldn't you be limiting them and therefore reducing survivability and productivity?
6. Auto sexing - This would mean that you could tell at birth wether a chick is male or female. We have tossed this aside as this is a trait peculiar to Barred Plymouth Rocks. I'm still on the look out for other breeds that have this trait, but not for out breeding purposes. More to attain knowledge.
At this point we've removed all the "odd" birds from the gene pool and we've hatched 80 or 90 chicks SOME of whom are first stage crosses. We have an incubator going now with 39 eggs at day 10 using the "Dry Incubation" method as described by Bill Worrell. We are candling for the first time, which caused us to reject 2 eggs on day 7. If we get at least 30 chicks out of this hatch, we are probably finished hatching until next December.
Meanwhile, I need to learn how to vent and feather sex with greater accuracy. We have to remodel our chicken coops. We are looking for a dull moment somewhere.
We have also settled on using a "base" of four breeds. We have brought in birds from other folks as well as from commercial entities with the idea of diversifying the genetics of the individual breeds as much as possible right now in the earliest stages of the process.
Some of the qualities we are looking to retain or establish include (but are not necessarily limited to):
1. Non aggressive - Don't want them to be TO docile, but don't want them to attack everything particularly their caretakers.
2. Day neutrality - I'm not sure "day neutral" is really the correct phrase. We want them to lay through the winter without a light. This notion is based on the conventional knowledge that chickens require 14 hours of daylight in order to produce an egg. But as time goes by and more learning is achieved we realize that they don't need more "daylight" than the security light the electric company installed about 50 feet from the coop area. Additionally, the breeds we are using a known as "winter layers" who will lay 250 eggs or more per year. So I'm thinking "Day Neutral" should be dropped in favor of "heavy" layers, producing at least 300 eggs annually.
3. Large eggs, multiple colors.
4. Dual purpose (tasty meat)
5. Landrace - This is another term that I was using at first that I am now rethinking because really... How pertinent is it? Chickens have a pretty broad range of survivability and productivity as it is. So if you were breeding them to be particularly suited to a specific area, wouldn't you be limiting them and therefore reducing survivability and productivity?
6. Auto sexing - This would mean that you could tell at birth wether a chick is male or female. We have tossed this aside as this is a trait peculiar to Barred Plymouth Rocks. I'm still on the look out for other breeds that have this trait, but not for out breeding purposes. More to attain knowledge.
At this point we've removed all the "odd" birds from the gene pool and we've hatched 80 or 90 chicks SOME of whom are first stage crosses. We have an incubator going now with 39 eggs at day 10 using the "Dry Incubation" method as described by Bill Worrell. We are candling for the first time, which caused us to reject 2 eggs on day 7. If we get at least 30 chicks out of this hatch, we are probably finished hatching until next December.
Meanwhile, I need to learn how to vent and feather sex with greater accuracy. We have to remodel our chicken coops. We are looking for a dull moment somewhere.
