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Poultry breeding
Health and Appearance
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It goes without saying that all breeding birds should be healthy and good examples of their type. Pure breeds will have their breed standards to compare with, and can be selected on the basis of appearance and productivity, or whatever characteristic is desired.
With some breeds, such as Sebrights, it might be a wish to breed birds with a particular kind of lacing in the plumage. With others, such as Hamburghs, it might be a wish to breed birds with fine pencilling on the feathers. Utility birds will tend to be chosen for their ability to produce a good number of eggs.
Whatever the criteria, keeping adequate records is essential. This involves being able to identify the breeding birds according to their pen number or leg ring identification, and recording details of the hatches, including fatalities. Not many people go in for trap-nesting these days, but it is essential if individual eggs are to be identified as coming from specific hens. A trap-nest allows the hen to go in but not out until the door is opened for her. This obviously places a responsibility on the poultry keeper to make regular checks so that the hen is not confined for longer than is necessary.
On a very small scale, it may be possible to identify eggs as coming from a particular hen. I once had a Rhode Island Red that laid a much darker egg than the others, for example, while one of my Marans produced a very pale and insignificant egg so she was never bred from.
Sometimes, hens have a tendency to want to share a nest, particularly if there are no individual nest boxes provided. This does not matter too much if eggs are collected regularly and they are all of the same breed and quality, but it could be problematic if some hens were better than others.
Copyright © Katie Thear 2005