Golden comets setting their own eggs?

[Chickiemama1010]

I have 3 GC hens and 1 GC roo. Every egg I crack is fertile, from what I hear about looking for the "bullseye." I understand this is a hybrid breed, and the chicks from GC x GC will be mutts. Im ok with that. My GCs are EXCELLENT layers, I get 3-5 eggs a day from 3 hens, all thru the winter with no supplemental lighting etc. And in northern OH they are very cold hardy birds, scratching around in the snow with no issues but a bit of frostbite on the waddles of the roo.

But from everything I read and also according to the lady at the Meyer hatchery, GC hens are pretty much never broody. If I wanted to hatch eggs in the Spring, will they set their own eggs? or is this a trait thats just not present in GCs? Will I need to get an incubator if I want to hatch? Im not financially ready to fork out a few hundred $ for an incubator. If thats the case, I may just buy some chicks of a different breed that will set eggs and go from there next year. Rocks or RIRs more than likely if I do go that route. Any recommendations? I do really like the GCs and their production rates. Plus the roos are fairly meaty if you do wind up with a bunch of them in a straight run of chicks. I feel like the apple doesnt fall far from the tree and the mutt chicks will be productive too, and good birds even if they are mutts. Sometimes the best dog is a mutt....

Any advise is appreciated

 

[michickenwrangler]

You could probably find yourself a few bantam hens at a swap meet or on Craiglist or Bestfarmbuys to be broodies.

I haven't heard of anyone carrying GC into "the next generation" although I'm sure SOMEONE has. DH wants to see what our cochin roo will sire on our gals. Breeding to a high producing, cold hardy variety like Plymouth Rocks or Orpingtons might be a safe bet.

 

[Chickiemama1010]

I have read a few other threads on the BYC forum, one in particular that had a ton of info on genetics specifically w/RSLs(same as GCs I thought..they go by so many names, golden buffs, cinn. queen, GCs I cant recall them all), how they are sexlinked, silver genes and gold genes, leghorn fathers or something along those lines. it was quite interesting but a bit too much info. for my purposes. The gist of it seemed like they are capable of laying fertile eggs and reproducing GC X GC chicks, but the offspring wont be sexlinked like the GCs are. Someone else mentioned a GC hen that was fertilized by a roo (of a different breed) became broody all the sudden and hatched 2 of her 4 eggs. It could be that the BYC poster had the breed wrong and it wasnt a GC but a light colored RIR or something resembling a GC. Pont being, I know they are capable of laying viable eggs. I am unsure they are capable of setting and successfully hatching them ordinarily. Heres the thread link. Its a great bit of interesting info if nothing else

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=280204&p=1


So I guess what I conclude here is GCs CAN set eggs, but its not likely they will, 1 in 100 chance they do. If they are to hatch, the incu is prob the most likely way to go. I do have 2 bantams. They are teeny tiny and get picked on by the GC hens ruthlessly. I have them separated. I know that one of the bantams was the "roo" hen in the orig flock since there was no roo. Her name is noisy chicken because she is constantly grumbling and occasionally crows still to this day. She was incredibly broody for her 1st owners, so much that she disappeared for well over 2 weeks with no sign of her. They thought she was killed by a predator, but they eventually found her in the field next to their house sitting on a dozen+ eggs. She was broken of her broodyness (no roo=no chicks) and later when they got a roo she did set and hatch 2 clutches. She is 7yrs old now, and lays an egg maybe once a week. Shes getting to be past her prime, but in the event she does get broody again, is it possible to set a few of the GCs eggs under her among her eggs too? Will she set those as well? or will she know they arent hers and break them/push them out of the nest?If she will set eggs of another how do I go about introing the GC eggs into the mix?, hers wont be fertile, my GC roo tolerates her, but doesnt "love" her. I would have to remove the little blue banty eggs or they would rot. I am new to this hatching thing. Looking for any answers that are helpful.

And as far as the bantams go, I dont want a flock of bantys. I took these little girls only b/c they needed a home to retire to. The orig owner had to get rid of them due to a problem with a neighbor. If I did get a run of chicks in spring from the hatchery, like Ply. Rocks to be broodies, could I use them to set other girls eggs along with their own?? As I said, I am new to this whole thing. I DO NOT want to get another roo. If this hatching thing is gonna happen, the GC roo must be the father, or he must be eliminated - read: eaten for dinner- and replaced. I dont really want to do that to him, since I have spent time breaking his alpha roo spirit and aggression toward me and we have finally come to a bit of an understanding. He is a wonderful roo to the ladies in his keep, and now walks a wide berth around me as opposed to chasing/spurring me. But we just dont have the room for a huge flock, and I dont want to intro another roo into the mix for fear of fights... I need to keep it under a dozen birds(except the bantams- really they are more like pets...retired ladies for the most part. Their eggs are sooooo small I need 3 of them to = 1 GC egg) so any resulting roo chicks will be meat birds or be finding homes elsewhere.