I asked these questions of John via e-mail, and he wanted me to share them here as well.
\"I am writing in regards to the blue bantams that I bought from you last year (from your culled birds). I\'ve gotten 5 offspring from them, that are going on about 3 1/2 months old now, and I was wondering if you could give me some direction about deciding what to keep and what to breed... now we have the 2 hens and the roo, plus 2 pullets and 3 cockerels off of them. the pullets are clearly marked much more nicely than the mother/s, with beautiful lacing, though they are somewhat darker than their mama/s.\"
I then described the cockerels- a black with purple barring, a blue with poor feather quality, and one who seems like he may equal his pop.
\"my thought is to put the cockerel with the hens from you, and put the pullets with the old roo. or, do you think it would be better to eliminate some or all of the older birds and stick with the youngsters? I\'ve got another 1/2 dozen eggs in the incubator from the old birds, so I may still get some more nice young birds off them, and it\'s early in the year yet. what do you suggest?\"
John replied:
\"I always suggest posting questions on the forum to get the most input and also because it helps others get more insight.
I prefer waiting until a black or blue cockerel is a year old before breeding from him, because sometimes it takes that long to be sure he doesn\'t develop any off colors. If you get a good male put him back over the best females. Always breed from the best you have available, whether they are young or old. Hatch as many as you can...cull heavily and eat more chicken.\"
so, my plan for now is to put the pullets in with the old roo (in a few months, as they\'re not yet laying), and maybe cull the old hens. or else, wait to cull the older girls until next fall, once I\'ve gotten a decent batch of offspring. this is my first foray from hatchery laying chickens into actual selective breeding, so I want to get it sort of right!
