Going to have baby chicks, totally new, help?

[Bloommagical]

We got 6 month-old chickens in May this year. They don't lay eggs yet.
After one of them was taken by a hawk, we were suprised with a rooster.

We want to have baby chicks, and I've heard about incubaters and the like. (Why couldn't we just let the hens lay on them? Is that safe?) If we do use an incubater, how long after the egg is laid should it be put in the incubater?

If we bundle all the eggs that they lay together, will they all sit on them?

And finally, if I put them in an incubater how should I introduce them to my flock?

Thanks for reading!

 

[cochins1088]

You can let hens sit on them, hatch them, and raise them but your hens need to go broody first. They have to want to hatch those eggs. You will know if one is broody if it is constantly sitting on her eggs and her belly area loses feathers to keep her eggs warm. You can try to trick them by putting golf balls or real grocery store eggs in one of their nesting boxes and see if one takes to them, but it depends on the breed. Some breeds have had that instinct bred out of them while others are obcessively broody like my cochins. For an incubator, collect eggs like normal, once a day unless you have extreme tempatures in which case collect them sooner. Fill a few cartons until you have as many eggs as you want to incubate and then put them in. You can store them for a good week at room tempature and they will still develope fine once you put them in the incubator. In fact it's advise to let them sit at least one day before actually incubating them. Next questions, if you bundle them will they all sit on them? No, I have seen 2 chickens hatch together before but thats the most and it doesn't happen often. Also remember they have to be broody and odds are they won't all be unless they are crazy like my cochins filling all 20 nesting boxes even though there are only 22 total chickens. And last but not least, how to integrate the chicks into the flock. Well if you have a broody hen at the time. You could slip day old chicks under her at night and she might accept and raise them, but most don't get that lucky. You have raise them separately until they are good sized. They can be outside once they are fully feathered and they can be put with the older chickens once they are nearly full grown.