Haven't Done This For Years

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alyssakluesner

alyssakluesner

Hatching
6 Years
Jul 1, 2013
2
0
7
Hello,

My name is Alyssa and I have recently began a small back yard flock of barred rocks at our property. I had chickens while growing up but haven't had any for years and don't remeber any specifics as I was very young. I have a few questions that I was hoping to have answered.

I have 5 Barred Rock pullets. I got them at a few weeks old (1-2 weeks I'm guessing). I have had them for 8 weeks tomorrow but was wondering how old they should be before I start expecting eggs? Do I need to place a dummy egg in their nesting boxes to train them where to lay?

My husband brought a full grown rooster home from a co-worker who had too many from a hatch (no clue what kind he is but will post a picture when I figure out how to the breed forum). My question is he was used to roosting at night but was pretty much free range. Mine are inside/outside as they wish but in a covered run only when outside. Will he help teach my hens to roost at night if I start free ranging late in the evenings?

Also I just hatched some barnyard mix chicks from a neighbor (some green/blue eggs and some brown hatched, 9 total). They are in my basement now and will be for a few weeks until they no longer need a heat lamp. When can I add them to my flock? I have read that BR are bossy and sometimes mean to others?

Thanks for any help!!
 
Greetings from Kansas, Alyssa, and
welcome-byc.gif
! Great to have you aboard! Most breeds start laying around 20 weeks on the early end 26 at the late end. Roosting is a natural thing - the hens should take to it with or without the rooster. I wouldn't intro the newbies to the established ones until they are at least 1/2 as large. There are lots of threads devoted to the steps to take when introducing new birds - type in the bolded words into the BYC search bar and you'll have plenty of reading. Good luck to you!
 
Eggs come at around 18-24 weeks, 20 weeks the baseline
No, you don't need to place a dummy egg if you have a full grown roo. He'll tell them to lay in the boxes. You should notice he will try to entice the ladies to the boxes by going in and clucking, very cute stuff.
If you have had them locked up for 8 weeks, then they know where home is and should come in for night. I would wait until they're about 14 weeks old, just in case though.
Start at 95 degrees and decrease every week until they're fully feathered. If its warm where your at (80-ish) then they can go w/o a lamp during the day when they're about 2 weeks. When the chicks are about 6 weeks they can go in with the big girls, but watch out for bullying.
BRs tend to be bossy, yes. Unless you notice wounds or severe feather loss then I wouldn't worry about anything.
Best of luck
 

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