How to Prepare Your Chickens for Breeding Season

Successful breeding begins long before the first eggs go into the incubator.

In this episode, Carey Blackmon and poultry nutritionist Jeff Mattocks explain how to prepare a flock for breeding season—from choosing the right birds and setting breeding goals to managing lighting, nutrition, housing, and nest boxes.

We discuss:

• The difference between hatching chicks and building a breeding program
• Choosing breeders with the fewest serious faults
• Deciding what you want your flock to become
• Using linebreeding to improve consistency
• What inbreeding depression really looks like
• Choosing the right time of year to hatch
• Preparing breeders through lighting management
• Adjusting light for younger and older birds
• Improving breeder nutrition before collecting eggs
• Egg size and its effect on chick quality
• Amino acids, vitamins, and chick vigor
• Preparing clean, comfortable nest boxes
• Whether greens have a place in the breeder diet

Breeding season is not simply a matter of putting a rooster with a few hens. Better chicks begin with healthier breeders, clearly defined goals, and thoughtful preparation.

If you enjoy thoughtful, experience-based poultry information like this, that’s what this channel is all about.

Poultry Keepers 360
Helping Poultry Keepers Make Better Decisions.

Chapters and Timestamps

0:00 Opening Conversatio

7:22 Getting Ready for Breeding Season

9:38 Hatching Chickens vs Breeding Poultry

11:12 Where a Breeding Program Begins

12:52 Where Should Your Flock Be in Five Years?

15:58 Turning Goals Into a Breeding Plan

16:20 Linebreeding, Inbreeding, and Predictability

18:05 What Inbreeding Depression Really Means

22:38 Choosing the Right Hatch Season

23:19 Preparing Breeders With Light

25:22 Light Color and Intensity

29:40 Increasing Day Length Gradually

32:15 Lighting Older Breeding Birds

38:55 Continuous-Flow Watering Update

43:15 Feeding Birds for Breeding Season

44:35 Egg Size and Hatching Quality

46:29 Amino Acids and Chick Vigor

49:17 Nest Boxes for Breeding Pens

50:57 Bedding and Nest Cleanliness

53:32 Five-Gallon Bucket Nest Boxes

59:57 Do Breeding Birds Need Greens?

1:03:33 Alfalfa and Other Green Feeds

1:06:03 Final Thoughts

This Audio Edition was adapted from a PK360 LIVE originally broadcast on September 18, 2025. Prefer to watch the original Video Edition? You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/tagqQL2d1_E 

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