How Many Hens to Keep A Fellow Happy

[45lk9p459gm-w]

OK, I totally get this. You want fertilized eggs, but don't to deal with a rooster comin at ya and annoying people and chickens all over the chicken area? Is that it?

Sorry for a delayed response but I got sidetracked .....

You are absolutely correct on this. Having to explain to some duffus rooster that "YOU" are the boss once is bad enough but I refuse to explain it to the same duffus rooster three or four times a day ... every day. Put him and a few ladies in a coop by themselves and he can be boss all he wants. Or until I need to deal with him anyway.

I thank everyone for their input. It has helped me sort a few things out and opened up a few other avenues to ponder.

Mrs.K has marked a starting point for me I think with:
"You can keep hatching eggs on the counter. Date them as you collect them. When they get to be 4-5 days old, they go into cooking use. This will keep a constant supply of hatching eggs ready at all times. Some people never refrigerate their eggs."

I know that it would be easier to get the needed chicks at a hatchery but ... what happens if, for some reason, you wake up one morning and find that you are cut off from that hatchery and other chicken people.

For this reason I'm looking for an organized and controlled way to keep my laying flock productive without having to depend on a hatchery for replacement birds. With a duffus rooster and a dedicated coop ladies producing a daily supply of hatching/eating eggs I will at least have the means to keep things going.

 

[Mrs. K]

or, get a better rooster. Roosters are cheap - and plentiful. Get a nice one.

 

[45lk9p459gm-w]

or, get a better rooster. Roosters are cheap - and plentiful. Get a nice one.

That might take so digging .....

 

[Mrs. K]

Ask at the feed store, the county extension agent, often times 4-H kids have extra roosters about now. I have often gotten a rooster. What you want is one that is close to a year old, has been raised in a multi-generational flock, underneath a rooster...who was so darn nice, he did not get culled, but they don't really need him.