Advice

[fran35]

Hey everybody,
I hope I found the right section to post this question....

I have a broody hen sitting on about 15 eggs. It is day 13 and they are all viable so far. The broody hen has hatched out eggs twice before and been a great mother. However, I am due to replace a bunch of my hens this spring. I am basically wondering, from an egg production standpoint, if it is worth keeping these "mutt" chicks, or ordering from a hatchery to throw purebred chicks under the hen when the chicks arrive. The breed of the chicks would be the following:

I only have one rooster, an Ameracauna. The hens are RIR, Easter Eggers, Brown leg horns, and then a few mutts mixed in. I was originally of thinking of keeping these chicks, but I have heard the egg production drops off significantly in mutt hens. Is this correct?

If this is the case, I would just give away the mutt chicks and buy pure bred chicks to start over.

This may all be for naught, as my hatch ratio is generally 90% roosters anyway

Anyway, I would appreciate any advice

 

[azelgin]

Is your hen still going to be broody, when the hatchery chicks arrive? What are the chances she will accept them? (Probably good)
If your rooster was one of the more productive breeds, the mutts might not be bad layers. My EE are the worst and if it weren't for the colored eggs, I probably wouldn't have them around. I wouldn't keep an EE rooster, if I didn't want more EE hens. I'm wondering how well the Ameracaunas compare?

 

[fran35]

Is your hen still going to be broody, when the hatchery chicks arrive?  What are the chances she will accept them? (Probably good)
If your rooster was one of the more productive breeds, the mutts might not be bad layers.  My EE are the worst and if it weren't for the colored eggs, I probably wouldn't have them around.  I wouldn't keep an EE rooster, if I didn't want more EE hens.  I'm wondering how well the Ameracaunas compare?

Actually, I am almost positive the broody will take the chicks as she has done it before. As for the rooster, I think he is actually an "olive egger". Whatever that means.

 

[donrae]

My mixed breed birds lay as well or better than their hatchery ancestors. My base breeds were Easter egger, barred Rock and brown Leghorn. I've mixed and matched them for a few generations now and am getting more eggs than I know what to do with

.

If it were me, I'd set the leghorn and EE hen's eggs and let her hatch. Then again, you need to deal with cockerels. If you want to introduce new breeds, etc, then feel free to order hatchery chicks. One thing to keep in mind before you chuck the eggs she's on is to check availability of the breeds you want. It's peak season and a lot of hatcheries are sold out of popular breeds.