Hatching eggs

[usedhobarts]

Hi all, I'm new to chickens so please forgive me if my questions are dumb. I have 8 hens and one roo. My hens are all red stars except 2 that are red star crossed with leghorn. At least that's what I'm told. I bought my chickens as young adults so I did not have to go thru the chick thing. Now that I'm more comfortable with them I would like to hatch out 6-10 more red stars. First question , can I assume my eggs are all fertilized since the roo is in the coop 24/7 with the hens? Second, if I want to end up 6-10 hens how many eggs should I incubate? And finally when I collect eggs daily should I put them straight into the incubator? I'm averaging 7 eggs a day from my 8 hens.

Thanks

 

[Odelia]

Expect half of your chicks to be cockerels. So if you want 6-10 pullets then you need to set 12-20 eggs. No do not put them in each day. Save 3-4 days worth and put them all in at once. You want to keep them at about 55 degrees and you should turn them a couple of times a day. Good luck!

 

[Spongegirl]

Expect your hens to die off first before hatching leaving you only roosters until you go thru about 200 eggs. lol Then once your incubating techniques are great, then you can expect more girls to survive. And no, don't assume the roo is covering all the hens. good luck!

 

[enola]

Expect your hens to die off first before hatching leaving you only roosters until you go thru about 200 eggs. lol  Then once your incubating techniques are great, then you can expect more girls to survive.   And no, don't assume the roo is covering all the hens.  good luck!

What??????

 

[crazyfeathers]

I am on day 17. I put in 9 eggs and only 2 were fertile. I am hoping that out of the 25 pullets I have a few are roosters as I only have a bantam rooster and that is why my egg fertility is low (he is smaller than most of my hens). I did just buy a dozen fertile Frizzle/EE cross eggs for 3 bucks and am looking forward to getting them into the incubator. If you get roosters you can always sell, keep, or eat them. Best of luck to you.

 

[farnorth]

I think she was joking.

First off, Red Stars can only be made by crossing two different breeds. If you breed 2 Red Stars together the chicks will not really be what is called Red Stars (aka Red Sex Links) but that doesn't mean you still can't hatch them if you want.

About half of your chicks will be female (unless your not lucky and then you could get mostly males, it happens) and no your rooster might not be mating with everyone so you can't just assume all the eggs are fertile although most likely most of the eggs are fertile. To end up with 10 hens I would set about 2 dozen eggs. You'll need to have a plan as to what to do with all the male chicks. Will you eat them or give them away etc.

Also, no, don't put the eggs in the incubator each day save them in egg cartons at room temperature until you have all of them and then put them all in the incubator at the same time. Otherwise you will make hatching chaos...they need a different humidity when it's time to hatch and you don't want them hatching spread out for several days if you can help it. It's much easier if they all need to be turned for the same 18 days and if they all hatch at nearly the same time.

 

[Spongegirl]

Well, I WAS joking, but not really. I think its sorta a reality. I know some people will have great hatch rates from the start, and in that case, yes half hens. However, it takes others, like me, a looooong time to get the whole hatching thing down. I read and read and read and followed directions and did what I was told per forum advice of all kinds regarding incubating. I developed my own rules because what works from one will be different from another. Environmental issues are huge. Incubators are all different and require different actions. Anyways, I DO think the roosters are the toughest and survive all the newbie twerks. Maybe the hens need more stability and broodylike conditions. I don't even turn anymore. I roll the eggs with my palms and pick them up only to candle on occasions. The roos are just more hardy to newbie hands more forgiving than hens. The eggs that get pitched are the hens.

 

[enola]

Well, I WAS joking, but not really. I think its sorta a reality.  I know some people will have great hatch rates from the start, and in that case, yes half hens.  However, it takes others, like me, a looooong time to get the whole hatching thing down.  I read and read and read and followed directions and did what I was told per forum advice of all kinds regarding incubating.  I developed my own rules because what works from one will be different from another.  Environmental issues are huge.  Incubators are all different and require different actions.  Anyways, I DO think the roosters are the toughest and survive all the newbie twerks.  Maybe the hens need more stability and broodylike conditions.  I don't even turn anymore. I roll the eggs with my palms and pick them up only to candle on occasions.  The roos are just more hardy to newbie hands more forgiving than hens.  The eggs that get pitched are the hens.

How do you know the eggs that get pitched are the hens?

 

[Spongegirl]

Im not saying each and every one of them. I just mean eggs are unforgiving of newbies. The cockerals are tougher and the pullets die off first. I know im not the only one that knows this.

 

[farnorth]

I had no idea that the female chicks were weaker than the males. I just recently hatched for the first time and all survived so hopefully I have half females or near half females.