Breeding records help (chickens)

[Buckeye Homestead]

Hi, welcome to the forum! I was going to suggest that you might get answers from more experienced chicken people over on Backyard Chickens but I see that you already did!

Breeding record help

Hey! So, I've been considering breeding Exabition Black Australorps. I was wondering what things I should know about when it comes to genetics and traits to look for and the like. The bigger thing I was wondering is how to keep breeding records? I know there are different ways, but I would like...

www.backyardchickens.com

Good luck with your Australorp project. You know what would be really cool? If you bred Buckeye chickens! (Maybe with a username like that you already do. )

we actually had breeding Bucks a few years back. the intention was that I would show them but they were just so big and unruly and I was too small to handle them, so we had to get rid of them. their temperament wasn't that great either among other things but yeah, it would be funny if I got back into them.

 

[Buckeye Homestead]

Leg bands are your friend.

I've been looking around online for them. there are so many except when it comes to ones with numbers... I have to look into it more, but I am definitely going to get them

 

[Buckeye Homestead]

For our purebred show chickens over the years we use leg bands for the adults. Then as chicks are born, use toe punches to identify until they are old enough to start making culling decisions and big enough for leg bands. And always monitor legbands on growing birds so they don't get too tight. You want them to fit so they can't get them off, but the bigger birds legs will get bigger fast and it is easy to forget to check legbands .
If possible breed in pairs to be very detailed on how chicks do... or in trios where the 2 females are full sisters.
I prefer to do pairs.... Housing the 2 females next to each other in pens and switching the male between the pens every 3-4 days or so; or switching the females.... Semen from a rooster can be viable in the female for up to 2 weeks... so if you decide to switch to a different male, you need to allow a 2 week stretch before you start to save eggs for hatching from the new male.... If you want, you can save eggs for a week after the last breeding, then put the new male in, eat the eggs for a week, then start saving from the new pairing.

Once you get some females that are related, you can breed in pens as the chicks should grow to be similar. Different breeders birds will show different traits, so it is good to see what matings "click"

could you explain the toe punching? I've heard others talk about using it, but I have never understood it.

 

[Buckeye Homestead]

One other thing I didn't mention... if you are going to be breeding exhibition poultry... a Standard of Perfection by the APA... and if into bantams, a Bantam standard by the ABA, are ESSENTIAL.... go to some poultry shows and try to listen to everything a judge says when judging the class of birds you are interested in.
As for the breeding end, I mentioned in another post I already made, breeding in pairs will get more progress to see who is throwing what than in a pen of birds...

I have looked into that a lot. making sure the birds I got were going to be standard and also because I show I have been reading it for a long time.

 

[Buckeye Homestead]

I am assuming you are in Ohio , hence the Buckeye in your name. Have you been to the Ohio National poultry show in Columbus in Nov???? It is the biggest in the country now...
My plans are to go this Nov 2025... I attend our Va Poultry breeders show and used to go to several shows regularly in the northeast when I was younger... Haven't shown much lately but getting back into it.

I haven't but I am planning on going this year!

 

[fuzzi]

Leg bands are your friend.

I use colored zip-ties. I can put them on chicks that are only a week old.

This fella is 10 days old.

 

[farmerjan]

Toe punching is a little thing like what you punch out paper holes... only littler and makes a small hole... Chickens have 3 toes with a web inbetween. (except the 5 toed breeds...)... So you take the toe punch and say you have 5 chicks from breeding 1.... Rooster 1 and hen 1.... you punch out a hole in the "outside right web on the right foot.... then you have rooster 1 with hen 2... that is the inside web on the right foot...
You can do the same on left.... then you can do both webs on the right, both on the left... 2 on right 1 on left... There are lots of combinations....16 if I remember rightly...... JUST Draw a little picture of each foot... and make a circle for the hole..... which foot and which web or combination of which..... so you can refer back and keep your pens separate..... If you get a good clean punch out... they do not grow back... like piercing an ear except you take out an actual little piece. There is NO problem for showing a bird with toe punches in the web...
Have you ever seen how they notch pigs ears on purebreds? They have notches that determine which litter, the number that the pig is in the litter... I don't fully understand all the notches exactly but I know the basics.
There is no right or wrong way to toe punch.
Look up chicken toe punch and there are charts to see what is what... Most toe punches are sold by any company that sells poultry supplies.

If you are going to Ohio this year... there will be suppliers there that will have all sorts of leg bands and all that... It will give you a way to look at sizes too...

Never used zip ties that @fuzzi showed... we actually used the old bread twist ties with the little bit of wire in them on some until we got them marked better... The thing is as anyone will tell you their legs grow FAST.... you have to keep up with checking bands and such very frequently.....

Join a local poultry club and go to their show.... offer to clerk for a judge that is judging to learn more about breeds....