Hen raising chicks lots of Questions

[Chicken03]

I think I'm going to let my broody hen raise chicks. But first I have to get a rooster. Is the breed of rooster really important? How long does the rooster have to be with the hens for the eggs to be fertile? Will the hen know which clutch of eggs is fertile? Would the chicks need to be seperated after hatching? Sorry for all the questions but thanks for any help.

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

Rooster types is not important, any old roo will do! Chicks will be "designer" chicks

The rooster does not have to be with the chickens long, he should be performing his roosterly duties right away but give him a couple of weeks to make sure he's gotten to all the ladies.

The hen will not know when eggs are fertile. Some broodies will sit on wooden eggs or no eggs at all.

Chicks can stay with the mom if she is a good mom and protects them well from the other chickens. Or you could take the chicks at hatch and raise them in a brooder. Depends on what you'd like to do and how she does as a mommy.

Do you have a broody hen now? Hens go broody when they want to and often there is nothing we can do to make them want to set a clutch of eggs. I have buff orpingtons who are a year old and no one has gone broody yet

I'm anxiously awaiting the day tho!!

 

[cmom]

Sounds to me like you have a broody and just need a Roo to fertilize some eggs. Maybe you could get some fertilized eggs and put them under your broody for her to hatch.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you need fertile eggs, you might check out your local farmers markets and talk to the people selling eggs. Many of those are fertile, you just want to make sure they have not been refrigerated. You may want to make arrangements to pick up fresh, fertile, unrefrigerated eggs. Or you can advertise on here for fertile eggs for your area. You can also advertise on here or talk to the people at the farmer's market about the availability of a rooster. Craig's list can also be a resource for either.

The importance of the rooster depends on what you want from the chicks. The rooster will provide half the genetics for the chicks. If you want pets, it probably doesn't matter that much what breed the rooster is. If you want meat birds or egg layers, or both, then it is important.

Eggs are usually fertile two days after mating. It takes an egg 25 hours to work its way through the hen's egg laying factory. The first 15 minutes of that 25 hours is when the egg gets fertilized. So if the mating occurs on a Monday, Tuesday's egg is probably already past the getting fertile stage. Wednesday's egg will probably be fertile. And One Acre Wonder Farm makes a very good point. A rooster does not automatically mate every hen immediately. It takes some time for him to cover all the girls. When mating occurs, the eggs are usually fertile for the next two weeks.

The second link addresses your other question. You might find both these links helpful.

Isolate a Broody? Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=213218

Raise with flock? thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=215937&p=1

Good luck!

 

[Chicken03]

Thanks for the help everyone. I never thought about getting fertile eggs. I think thats what I'm going to do.

 

[chicken_queen_tam]

Quote:
If you want to watch something funny, put fertile duck eggs under her, and when they hatch you ought to see mama chicken when the babies head for the water pan and jump right in.

Boy the scolding they get from mama. I have raised several batches of ducks under larger breed hens. And its funny to watch when the babies don't act like she thinks they should.

Tammy

 

[Chicken03]

Haha that sounds really funny!!! I bet it's quite a suprise.