Can I buy eggs & let hen hatch??

[s6bee]

I was going to give hatching chicks a try this year but didn't want to buy an incubator. I had the idea of....

1. Pimping the hen out to a roo I know....
2. Buying some fertile eggs and letting my hens hatch them.

Which option is most likely to succeed?

Thanks guys.
Steph

 

[tiffanyh]

Youd do well with buying fertile eggs and placing them under her when she goes brody.
Pimpin' her out may not work..she might not like the roo and if you only have one hen you will have only one fertile egg daily at most.

What kind of hen is she, does she prefer to go brody?

 

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

Well, for plan one you would need a incubator

and plan two your hen would need to go broody

 

[s6bee]

Why would I need an incubator for pimping her out? Or can I bring the roo into my flock ( I have 5 hens ).
They only started laying a couple weeks ago and I was looking to do this in the summer, so I"m not sure which one would do best and who tends to go broody yet..

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, if you bring in a rooster, you will have fertile eggs. Most production strains though will never go broody. You just have to wait for them to want to sit on eggs. It's pretty random in some birds too at when they chose to do so. Roosters wont make her want to set on eggs. If she wants to set, she will set, eggs or not. Then you still have to wait for the whole 21 days for her to set... some are more reliable mothers than others. I always have an incubator back up just in case.

 

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

Quote:
Because if you get a roo you will have fertile eggs but your hen will not neccisarly (sp?) go broody just because she has fertile eggs, so there for you can collect her fertile eggs and hatch them in a incubator.

 

[SeaChick]

I was thinking about this, too. When/if any of our girls went broody, would there be enough time to find fertile eggs to put under her? I imagine they'd have to be mail-ordered, which would take some time...

I am sure its most successful if the hen has gone broody in the past and you know she's likely to stick with it, huh? Maybe not so good to try on a young girl going broody for the first time?

STacey