Once you know which hens are going into the nesting boxes, and have most of the non-layers sorted out, set up a motion activated camera. You should be able to identify the egg eaters and eliminate them as the next step.
There are possibilities. Another is an ink pad in the nesting box, a different color for each box. Which nesting box is your egg eater using? Which hens use that box?
Narrow it down. I suggested to a friend that she take 3 at a time and isolate them for a few days. If she got three eggs, great. Band the chickens and try another set.
Thanks, Lauren, for all your helpful tips. We might try a camera in the nest boxes to identify egg eaters. I’m sure there’s a big possibility that the egg eating trait is passed on to the next generations so we really want to work against that.
Isolating 3 chickens at a time out of the 60 that are still laying would take some time, but if we tried slightly larger groups such as 5, using ink or paint like you suggested, it would be cut back to 24 days if each group was kept separate for 2 days. That should be do-able.
I don’t know whether it’s genetics or lack of inbreeding depression, but my Biel x BA (4) and Biel x JG (1) crosses seem much larger than they should be for their age.
(Chuckles.) Wouldn’t it be funny if all the industrial chicken farming efforts to breed broilers that get big quickly were actually doing nothing more than reversing a common symptom of inbreeding depression?
I begin to suspect that’s exactly the case. Pure bred birds are seldom as large as they’re rumored to be, or as large as their ancestors were, and the largest are invariably hybrids. Or barn yard mixes, as the purists say with contempt.
There are recognized weaknesses in almost every standard breed. Some of these are so extreme that to mate two of the same breed will result in a 75% death rate before hatch.
This is never blamed on inbreeding, and in fact I have been told many times that it doesn’t work that way for chickens. Mother to son and father to daughter breeding is not only common, it’s often considered the only way.
In my experience the percentage hatching is pretty high in most circumstances, regardless of breed. I just mentioned that as an extreme example.
One breed has close to a 90% death rate within two years. Others have a high rate of birth defects. People just shrug it off when all their chickens get egg bound or have prolapsed vents. After all, they’re told by the experts that this is normal and has nothing to do with inbreeding.
It’s always passed off as something the owner has done, but when you concatenate the experience of many owners it becomes something different. If wild populations had the number and kind of problems our domestic chickens have, they would go extinct.
I hadn’t heard of this, but our raptor population has selected out all but the e solid colored chickens. Within that population, black is the dominant color remaining, followed by buff, blue, and a lone white bird.
I am also reminded of prior breeding tactics that created the most popular breeds like Plymouth Rock and Rhode Island reds. They were selected extremely selectively each generation. Things like size, weight, but also those that laid eggs before 10:am. I will have to try to unarchive that research.
RHODE ISLAND REDS
HOW TO BREED AND JUDGE THEM
By THEO. HEWES
WITH ARTICLES ON BREEDING, REARING
AND MATING BY AMERICA’S LEADING
RHODE ISLAND RED FANCIERS
«In breeding Rhode Island Reds, 1 always try to bear in mind the thing Which makes them valuable and which has brought them to the front so rapidly, and that is their utility qualities; in other words, egg production and table quality and quantity.»
“Finally, kill every bird which you do not think is good enough to breed to, or if you wish to keep them for winter layers, keep them separated from those few choice ones which you have selected for breeders, and save your eggs for hatching from those selected birds properly mated.”
The Rhode Island Red chicken breed was developed in the New England states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the mid to late 19th century
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. The breed’s creation can be traced back to a series of breeding experiments initiated by William Tripp in 1854
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. Tripp, a sea captain, purchased a red Malay rooster from a colleague and allowed it to breed with the hens in his flock
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. The offspring from these matings exhibited desirable traits, which caught the attention of Isaac Wilbour, a successful poultryman who further developed the breed
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Rhode Island Reds were developed as a dual-purpose breed, suitable for both meat and egg production. They are known for their hardiness, ability to handle marginal conditions, and excellent egg-laying abilities, producing around 150-200 brown eggs per year
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So this now standard breed was created via landrace style selection. It is now surpassed by newer breeds that lay more eggs or produce meat more efficiently and are now likely very different than this variety was in 1906. This is to say they are smaller and breed to focus more on egg production than dual purpose birds.
I have eggs in the incubator that are a JG x RIR back-cross for the male foundation of the second population group. I have Marans and Speckled Sussex coming in the spring to finish out that group.
The other group I have the two Biel x Dominique cockerels, which I will be culling as they have developed some bad habits. I have eggs developing for them as well but I’ll cull any roosters from that group and watch any descendants behavior closely. Females are JG and BA but I have Rangers and Buckeye chicks coming in the spring. JG and BA hens will be given away once I have the mixed population foundation laying.
I don’t intend to use the incubator long term, but chicks are taken out post weaning but before adulthood, mostly by snakes. The raptors seem to be ignoring them, for the most part.
I harvested the two Biel x Dominique cockerels. Lots of reasons behind the decision, but the final was that both appeared to be shooting blanks. Out of 17 eggs set, not one started to develop.
Instead I have the Biel x Jersey Giant cockerel (12 weeks) and his half brother, a Biel x Black Australorp (10 weeks).
I also have 8 of the 10 eggs I set for the JG x RIR back-cross. They should be hatching here in the next day or two. The JG grandfather was amazing. Intelligent (for a birdbrain), polite, took care of his ladies but no sign of human aggression. He died defending his girls from a dog.
His son, JG x RIR, seems to have taken his father’s intelligence and amped up the good behavior. He’s 20 weeks old and has already become the flock master for a group of mature hens. I’ve been told this is borderline impossible. I am hoping for a high percentage of cockerels from his eggs so I can sort out those that carry on these traits. Any pullets will be given away or sold.
We have nearly 40 varieties mixed now for a chicken landrace. We went through nearly all of the common hatchery breeds as well as Black Sumatra and Silver Phoenix, even those showy breeds have a contribution to the mix. The Silver Phoenix are really good parents, even the roosters help rear the chicks.
My friend has all rare breeds, so now we introduce roosters yet again. We are mostly selecting for survival over the hot summer and resistance to disease. Eye worms, gape worms and flu have all gone thru the flock in years previous, now we have a fairly stable flock, good mothers, big eggs, lots if colored eggs, good flyers to get away from predators and vigilant enough to roost high in trees. Happy to get the blue and lavendar feather color as well as its a cooler color when the summers are so hot. We are in Yuma, AZ. Im just glad more people are lettinng thier flock get all mixed up!!
Yes, he is. Looks like I may have 4 or 5 cockerels from his chicks. I’m hoping some share his coloring, but the behavior comes before any consideration of appearance.
Absolutely. The beauty seems like a highly desirable bonus. Something to lightly select for if you have lots of options, but there are far more important priorities.
I am curious about what others think of an idea I am entertaining.
It seems to me that a lot of the problems we have with chickens are a result of how we raise and breed them. Feather picking is one example, caused primarily by boredom and protein deficiency, both of which are related to being raised in a coop environment.
However, on a more broad level I begin to think that other behaviors have similar causes.
A wild hen that is abused can go find another flock, or start her own. In the wild, a rooster courts his ladies, asks for their favors, because on a biological level if the hens don’t like him they can reject his sperm, just poop it out. If he’s not nice to the hens, if they don’t like him, he won’t get chicks to carry on his line.
However, for hundreds of years, we as humans have required that they mate at our discretion, without regard to preferences. I think that the abusive behavior, including rape, bullying, killing chicks, and so on, are the direct result of selecting for mating behavior over flock behavior over a period of many generations.
I saw something interesting with the RIR back-cross yesterday that I have never seen before with chicks. I am not sure if I am misinterpreting.
Two of the chicks, one male and one female, seemed to be titbitting for each other. They were taking turns picking up a piece of food and dropping it.
I find it encouraging that they are (or seem to be) mimicking adult behavior at 6 weeks.
Another interesting thing was two cockerels faced off, and rather than either of them submitting they sort-of bowed with their necks crossed and then both went back to foraging.
I am not sure what that means, if anything.
The Biel x BA cockerel died, apparently of liver
Failure. So I am down to one cocketel, the Biel x JG.
