My hens have had eggs the past two years and never successfully hatched any babies so I thought this year would be the same. I have the hens in a pen with the males. The first chicks hatched and the male picked one of them up by the neck so I caught them and put them in a cage with a heat lamp...
This is off topic on this thread but since you mentioned "faulty heat tape on their heated roosts" I have to ask.... I'm considering doing heated roosts. Can I ask what happened? Do you advise the use of them or no? Thanks