Broody Questions???

[chickenscratch]

One of my hens went broody and we put 12 fertilized eggs under her and 10 of them hatched this past weekend.
My questions are-
-Will she go broody again in the future?
-How soon till she starts laying eggs again?
-How old do the chicks need to be before we figure out which ones are roosters?

Thanks!!!!!!!!

 

[DementedHam]

Congrats!!!

Ofcourse she will go broody again!
For eggs, you have to wait a little over a month, once her broodiness has passed and she allows the rooster to mount her.
At a month old, the mom will start "hurting" her kids (pecking them or holding them in a stern manner) to make them leave her and so that they become independent. A month, give or take a week, is normal for sexing a chick. Males will have a larger and redder comb than the rest and will have little wattles or at least they will begin to show some redness.

 

[chookboy]

Depending on which breed of Hen you got she can take care of her baby chicks as long as 5 weeks to 13 weeks. You can tell when she is ready to give them up because she stops calling them for food and start to peck them away. She will resume egg laying as soon as she fatten up again after she abandon her baby chicks. I had a hen where she started laying eggs and at the same time still took care of her babies but when she started brooding round 2 she peck her babies away. At around 2 months of age u should be able to tell which one is a rooster but that also depend on which breed of chicken. Some breed of chicken u can tell right away if its a boy/girl when they hatch by looking at their colour.

 

[FLchook]

Ive had hens mother thier babies long past the month mark. Even well into the egg laying cycle. Id go in and find mamma and babies in the nest box some times. The mammas never tried to push them away, they just waited for the babies to grow up and start thier own clicks.

On the other hand, I had a few mammas that were never allowed to be mammas again.

It seemed to much work for them and a mere couple weeks they ran off to join the flock, leaving me tocare for the peeps.

It all depends on mamma. As for boy vs. girl. It does take some time before you know for sure, but this little boy on my shoulder now is only a couple weeks old and I know for sure hes a boy.

Good luck with your new peepers!