Between the hoot owls, chicken hawks, fox & skunk
I'd have to & would like to try turkeys
But bald eagles are becoming almost common

Good dogs are everything when you free range birds.

I am wondering how beat up that meat would be, anyone have any ideas? If it doesn't really bruise up the meat I would definitely buy or make one of those. My dad and I killed, dipped, plucked, cut and packaged 100 meat birds on one weekend. I never want to do that again, we plucked by hand and it took forever.

Man you are bringing some good ones today man!! REP.

Chicken Hawks are the worst, you have to have a closed run to completely keep them out. Bald eagles though? Where do you live?

No strawshakers? I have a mixed yard. Maybe 130-140 hens. Mostly red sexlinks, some delawares, and wyndottes. I do not have a cock on the yard. For production purposes what would you put on yard? Keep in mind I want to have a cross where the pullets still lay in the dead of winter.

my ex has 3 hens in the middle of mesa az
they eat wtf ever you give them
the eggs are amazing

Rhode Island Red, by far. We used to have a couple hundred birds back in the day, and they are the best roosters, our hens produced year round.

Ok, second part of this is how could you darken the egg shell pigment and keep the production? I thought about a separate yard of morans and breeding next years pullets back to the red rooster. Thoughts?

set an old telephone pole in your yard and attach a muskrat trap on top of it.
sec

The dark color in the Maran eggs comes from the lining in the oviduct. This is why a Maran hen that lays a lot will typically lay lighter eggs, and one that lays less frequently will tend toward darker eggs.

This mechanism is different than other breeds. A RIR will produce light brown eggs no matter how frequently they lay, for instance.

It's all true, but don't be fooled. I'm green, and you know it.

There are a few chicken genetic calculators out there, too.

Once you know the codes, you can plug in some birds and it takes things into account and spits out a best guess.

http://www.edelras.nl/Henk69/kruising.html

http://kippenjungle.nl/Overzicht.htm#kipcalculator

http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetic...culators2.html

Me and the lil woman argued about this. Source?

Sec, my pitbull lovin neighbours might snitch on me. Sides my hounds are trained.

Didn't refresh before I posted.