Bare Minimum???

[Russ Blair]

Hello everyone I have a dilemma. I am putting a 1/2 acre pond in and unfortunately didn't plan for it 10 years ago when I got into my chicken hobby. It looks like I may have to tear down and move some of my coops. At first I was hoping to only have to move my 4 4x6 above grounds but after talking to pond guy tonight it looks like my 12x40 may have to go in order to put the dirt and get a natural water way. He took measurements and grade to do his calculations but now comes my question. What would be the bare minimum you guys would recomend me to keep for breeders? I am thinking if I kept 3 trios of every variety I raised I should still have a decent gene pool to rebuild my flock. If I have to tear down my coops the problem will be housing birds through winter. With my work schedule it will be hard to build anything before the big freeze. I am really at a cross road here and appreciate any and all input. Or even better yet would you think it safe if I cut back to 3 breeding pairs? This would definitely make it easier but I am afraid of shooting myself in the foot. I would hate to keep less than 3 cockerels of every variety because I learned the hard way if you lose 1 by a predator and another has fertility issues it is a real bummer.  I guess the silver lining would be I would cull down to my very best. At these figures (keeping 3 trios) and taking into consideration some of my varieties like white bantams, LF brown reds and blue bantams (which I currently don't have 3 trios) that would mean only wintering 83 birds, which would be somewhat feasible instead of the 150 I roughly have. Thanks for listening to my rant

[John W Blehm]

I would hate to keep less than 3 cockerels of every variety because I learned the hard way...

Me too.
3 pairs of each variety sounds like a minimum, if possible. 
I was keeping 3 LF lavender cockerels.  The best one got loose and by the pile of feathers in the yard I think an owl got him.  Another got sickly looking, kept loosing weight and died the other day.  I'm down to one that I hope makes it thru the breeding season and is fertile.   

[Mike Gilbert]

If you can swing it, 3 trios or as close to that as you can get would be my advice.   But you should know that I seldom follow my own advice.   

[Tailfeathers]

I would recommend you definitely NOT keep just a breeding pair.  IMO, that would be a recipe for disaster just waiting to happen and for Murphy's Law to kick in.  As you stated with your comments about keeping less than 3 males.

Personally, I don't see a need for 3 Trio's of each variety.  As a general rule, I run two lines for each of my breeds.  For breeders I will have 4-5 females and 1 male in each line.  Additionally I keep one "backup" rooster (brother) in each line but he doesn't get bred unless something happens to the stud.  Once I get at least a dozen or so cockerels from that breeding the backup goes to freezer camp or sold.  Should something happen where I lose both males in the line I would just use the male from the other line, close the line without the male, and start a brand new line with him. 

Now, that said, if you need to run 3 lines for specific reasons, you could always cut down the females by 1 or 2 but I wouldn't go less than 1 stud and 1 backup for each line unless you have too. 

Hope that helps.  Without knowing more about your lines, what each has and doesn't have, and what your future goals are that's the best I can do.

[Beth Curran]

Someone said once keep 3 males of each variety because one will die, one will be sterile, and that will leave you one to breed. I don't remember who the quote came from but I've found it to be painfully accurate. So I would say 3 pair minimum, 3 trios preferably.