How to choose a rooster for laying hens. “The Rooster's Story”: does the laying hen need Petya the Cockerel? How to select old chickens

Chickens are the most popular birds in the household, so you need to be able to choose the right ones when purchasing in order to ultimately get a healthy flock. In order to buy a bird, it is important to pay attention not only to the breed, but also to appearance individuals, so today we will look at the subtleties of choosing and.

Where to buy: market, poultry farm or private farm?

There are several places where chickens are often purchased - the market, poultry farm and private farms. Usually big difference there is no price, so you need to focus solely on the quality of the individuals. The market is a center for the sale of chickens from the personal yard of poultry farmers. The advantage of buying such birds is that they are adaptable to eating natural food, so there will be no problems with them.

The downside is that they are kept in spacious yards and poultry houses, so if you plan to put the birds in a cage, they may start to get sick and egg production will decrease. If, after purchasing, the bird is provided with sufficient space, then adaptation to the new home will go well. Before buying chickens, pay attention to their appearance so that they look healthy and strong.

Important! When buying chickens on the market, you always take a risk, sinceNothere are no guarantees that individuals do not have health problems.

If the bird looks good outwardly, without signs of any disease, no one can guarantee that it will not die in a month, since some diseases in birds develop very slowly, but often lead to death. Some sellers, when keeping poultry for sale, do not care about vaccination, so individuals are more susceptible to viruses and bacteria and often get sick, which certainly affects the quality and safety of meat, as well as egg production rates.
Due to the above factors, it is better to purchase chickens on the market from familiar or already verified breeders. By purchasing chickens at a poultry farm, you will be insured against the possibility of acquiring sick individuals. Such birds are vaccinated and have high egg production rates. The downside is that chickens at poultry farms are fed with special compound feeds, so after purchasing and switching to natural food, chickens lose weight and their egg production is greatly reduced.

Also, in poultry farms, chickens are kept in cages, so they have underdeveloped muscles, which does not allow them to adapt to life in a spacious poultry house. The best place for purchase is a private farm.

Did you know? Chicken was tamed and domesticated more than 8 thousand years ago. Since then, the process of breeding new breeds has begun, which at the moment there are about 700.

It is in such a place that chickens receive the necessary vaccinations, are raised under the supervision of veterinarians, and have balanced diet and enough space for walking. In addition, on the farm you can track the living conditions, quality of food, and the appearance of the rest of the poultry.

People who have their own farms are focused on selling quality animals in order to get regular customers and good recommendations to increase the number of buyers, so it is not profitable for them to slip in weak or sick chickens.

Choosing a laying hen

If you buy egg-laying hens, you need to pay attention not only to the main characteristics of the laying hen breed, but also to their appearance in order to make right choice.

External signs of a good layer

If the purchase of a laying hen is necessary in order to obtain a bird capable of immediately laying eggs, it is recommended to select individuals that have reached the age of 20 weeks. To do this, it is necessary to select the best specimens, based on their weight - at 5 months of age, chickens belonging to good egg breeds should weigh about 1.5 kg. If the weight exceeds 1.5 kg, this may indicate an admixture of meat breeds, which will affect the productivity of purchased laying hens.

If the mass is much lower, this indicates poor nutrition, poor development of individuals, or the presence of any health problems. Special attention it is necessary to pay attention to the plumage of the bird: if the feathers are clean, soft and shiny, without bald spots, this means that the chicken was kept in good conditions, she is quite young and healthy. Be sure to inspect the feathers around the cloaca - this area should be clean and free of dirt.
Young, healthy individuals have a bright red comb, while old and sick individuals have a faded comb. The comb should be warm to the touch; a cold one may indicate poor circulation in the body, which is typical for sick or old representatives. The color of the beak and paws of young, healthy chickens is yellow, and their eyes are dry, without signs of mucous secretions.

The best breeds of laying hens

The main indicator of productivity is a correctly selected breed with high egg production, so we will consider the 3 best breeds, their main differences, advantages and disadvantages.

Did you know? In Europe, the California Gray appeared in the 1970s, but today it has not become popular, since it is not recognized as a breed, but is a cross (hybrid).

Thus, having examined three egg breeds, we can conclude that the easiest way to get high egg production at home with minimal effort is by keeping Adler silver chickens.

Choosing meat chicken

To choose a good one meat chicken, it is necessary to pay attention to the main characteristics of the breed, which will contribute to rapid weight gain in a short time.

The best breeds of meat chickens

If you are planning to buy meat chickens, you need to consider the best representatives of this category, their features, advantages and disadvantages.

Did you know?-a breed of chicken that is capable of producing unusual chocolate-colored eggs. The special density of egg shells allows you to protect the contents from the penetration of any bacteria and even salmonellosis.

Having considered the main meat breeds, it is quite difficult to single out one, since each has both pros and cons. In order to make the right choice, it is necessary to base it on personal preferences and take into account the characteristics of each breed.

Choosing a good rooster for hens

To ensure good productivity of laying hens, it is necessary to take a responsible approach to the selection of roosters, so let’s look at the main characteristics of good males.

External qualities of a good rooster

First of all, when choosing a young rooster, pay attention to the state of health and suitability natural characteristics, if you buy a purebred bird:

It is better to choose a rooster with clear signs of sexual dimorphism; the comb should be well developed and bright red, a good male should have smooth paws with regularly shaped toes.
A young rooster has only tubercles instead of spurs; the first thickenings can be detected in the fifth month of life. Still, it is recommended to select a rooster at the age of puberty, which occurs at 5-6 months of life, so that you can track not only the main features of appearance, but also the already formed temperament.
A high-quality bird should be active, show dominant qualities, and not be afraid to get into a fight with other males in the yard.

But despite the need to acquire an active and strong rooster, you should not give preference to overly aggressive individuals that attack people at the slightest opportunity.

How not to lose a rooster

Roosters have a positive attitude towards fights, and the strongest of them wins the dominant place in the herd. The “showdown” begins at 9 weeks of age: it is at this time that the hierarchy in the chicken coop is built. Fights occur much less frequently between individuals of the same age if they were constantly located and grew up in the same herd, but even in this case, the “main” rooster will be chosen - the most fearless, strong and lively, who is able to protect the chickens and drive someone else’s bird out of the yard.

If the roosters grew up together, then when choosing the main male in the flock, other, weaker ones try to avoid conflicts and minimize the number of fights. To prevent young roosters from causing mass slaughter in your yard, do not purchase or retain more than 2 roosters for a flock of 20 layers. Over time, roosters and hens are able to separate into small groups, which are recommended to be provided with personal food and water to minimize possible risk another fight.
If it turns out that there are more roosters in the flock than necessary, then install an inclined ladder in the center of the house so that weak roosters can avoid a fight by jumping to the top in time. Fights cannot be avoided if one rooster was constantly present and grew up with the herd, and the second was added to it as an adult - this could cause the weak rooster to leave the yard, or one would beat the other to death. It will not be possible to reconcile them, no matter how hard you try, so when choosing the dominant rooster from the flock, you cannot add a new neighbor to him.

At the very beginning of our farming, the first thing we got was, of course, chickens. In the very first season, the question of selecting roosters and hens for the breed arose.

In autumn, especially late chickens do not lay eggs yet. Exclusively egg-laying breeds can lay eggs in the fall, but they are, as a rule, small, and we don’t particularly like them - we like meat and egg breeds more, they ripen later, they lay a little less eggs, but the carcasses turn out great.

So, it is recommended to select chickens with bright combs. Fact: Only cockerels have brightly colored chicks in the fall. In hens, before the onset of egg production, the scallops are inconspicuous.

If the hens are already laying eggs, the comb really becomes brighter.

How to select old chickens?

Old chickens should also not be selected based on the color of their sinuses. Especially during the period around molting - everyone who was rushing diligently at this time looks like a dirty comb - a faded comb, shabby plumage, pale legs and eyes.

Truants look completely different - they are stately and beautiful, their molting goes unnoticed and they look like woman in a million necessary. Their combs are bright, their legs are yellow, and their eyes are also colored. In the beginning, we kept these beautiful ones, and we culled the poor toilers - the laying hens.

Not a rooster, not a hen

I don’t know what happens in the body of a chicken (or rooster), but we have had cases when a chicken grew into neither a rooster nor a hen.

Here the local population calls this phenomenon the word “kuray”. Outwardly it looks like a chicken, very beautiful plumage, but a bright comb like that of young cockerels and enlarged earrings.

And the expression on the “face” is not some kind of chicken. Such comrades can be completely baked in the oven; leaving them, of course, makes no sense, we just kept them for a while, I wonder what kind of birds they really are?

An annual mistake when selecting roosters!

Every year we make the same mistake - we don’t select roosters for the breed for a long time.

Roosters have such conceit that as soon as they find out who is in charge, the proudest and strongest, but not the victorious ones, simply leave the yard.

It may live somewhere in the neighborhood (they have been found more than once in neighbors' chicken coops), it may spend the night somewhere in a tree - in a word - you can lose roosters.

And as soon as he tastes free bread, he returns to the yard less and less - the dominant winner drives him away - and he does not dare to even go into the chicken coop at night.

Rooster selection

Another point of selection is the choice of a rooster (there was already a little about this in the first issue of the magazine). I usually leave the two most beautiful ones for every ten chickens. I saw this practice here.

At first, one is in charge - he leads his company around the yard - and the backup one is on the back-up near the nests. We drive, but we can’t live without it, the one who drives himself doesn’t have time to look after the flock and watch for every chicken.

So, we usually slaughter the senior rooster and give the persecuted one the opportunity to lead the flock. I came to the conclusion that this is not worth doing: the persecuted person becomes so accustomed to his status that it is not always possible to fulfill the role of a leader, and then the chickens are left unattended.

Adult roosters can be selected for breeding at 5-6 months of age. The most important sign is the productivity of the parents. If it is impossible to install it, choose according to weight and physique. Take the bird in your hands and feel it.

You cannot leave an exhausted woman with a defect to the tribe. physique, signs of illness.

Males must have a typical appearance for the breed. Pay special attention to the condition of the feet and living conditions. Lack of bedding, dampness, and dirt in the poultry house and on paddocks contribute to the formation of namins and microcracks on the legs, which sharply reduces the ability of males to mate and leads to an increase in the number of unfertilized eggs. A well-developed bird is active, always on the move.

The rooster behaves as if he is the most important not only in his barn, but also in the poultry yard, and is not afraid to prove it. He drives ducks, geese, and turkeys away from his flock. He should not be both timid and pugnacious. Many people keep chickens and do without a rooster. But he doesn’t eat so much; he watches over the chickens and disciplines them. Always on the alert - listens to any sound. And if something happens, I’m ready to fight back.

It is better if the roosters are from the same brood, the same weight category. And they should be raised together, although they can still fight. If you change at least one, then it is advisable for the rest to be the same age - that way they get along better. Leave the largest, most powerful roosters. And for the winter - at least two. In the spring, if you decide to incubate the eggs or the hen plans to incubate them, there will always be the opportunity to replace the rooster if he cannot cope with his duties.

To increase the activity of males during the breeding season, give additional feeding. Use special feed additives that contain many vitamins that activate spermatogenesis. Increase the amount of protein in your diet (skim milk, cottage cheese, meat and bone meal, fish meal).

It is better to form a chicken flock in the fall. For each rooster, leave 6-10 hens. For young hens, choose an older rooster, and for older hens, on the contrary, a young one.

A. Alekseev

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