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Reechooka

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Ok i'm new to chooks.. been at it for almost a year & pretty much guessing what to do.
We love collecting eggs so we have 10 of the brown ones. I have 1 stupid question... How do they have chicks.?? I assume it has something to do with a rooster but wonder why incubators are sold..?? Like i said.. Stupid question..

Also, a few of my chooks have no feathers on their head. Is that because they are new to the bunch & being bullied by the others or is this a symptom of something else..? Some also have no feathers around their neck.

Thanks to anyone who can shed some light & i look forward to posting more stupid questions...
 
Good morning, and welcome to BYC. A rooster is needed to fertilize the eggs. To hatch the eggs must be kept warm for 21 days. A hen does this by going broody and setting on them with only bathroom and feeding breaks for that period of time. An incubator is man's way of replacing the broody hen. Feather loss on head and neck may be mating damage from a rooster or feather pecking/plucking by flock mates.
 
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Welcome to BYC!​
 
sourland said:
Good morning, and welcome to BYC. A rooster is needed to fertilize the eggs. To hatch the eggs must be kept warm for 21 days. A hen does this by going broody and setting on them with only bathroom and feeding breaks for that period of time. An incubator is man's way of replacing the broody hen. Feather loss on head and neck may be mating damage from a rooster or feather pecking/plucking by flock mates.
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Thanks so much for that. Yeh there's no rooster as he was too aggressive towards anyone who came into "his" domain. He would attack & those talons hurt so we called the ranger early on. As for the feathers i'm going to assume the other chooks are just being assholes.. lol.
 
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There are no stupid questions here! It’s better to ask and learn, rather than not ask at all. Sourland already answered, but here's my longer version:

A rooster only fertilizes the eggs, the hen incubates and hatches the eggs. A hen doesn't need a rooster to lay eggs though. But if you want chicks to hatch, you need a roo. Buuuuttt a hen doesn't always "feel like" sitting on a nest and hatching eggs... that's why an incubator would be useful, so you can decided exactly when you want your chicks to arrive. A broody hen with no rooster around will never be able to hatch her own eggs, so sometimes people will order fertilized eggs to slip under her and she does the rest. A broody hen will only be able to cover a certain amount of eggs successfully, so if you want a bunch more chicks, then there are incubators that hold larger quantities of eggs.

Fun fact: a fertilized egg will never start to develop until it's incubated properly. That's how chickens and wild birds are able to hatch all their eggs at once. It takes a day or longer to produce an egg, so the bird keeps laying until she collects a satisfactory clutch and only then she'll start to sit. The oldest eggs are no further developed than the newest, and once warmth and humidity are provided, all the eggs develop at the same rate.

Pecking in the flock is normal behavior to establish dominance (the pecking order). But there are many reasons excessive pecking can occur. Introducing new birds without a proper introduction time can sometimes lead to serious injuries. Check here for how to integrate new birds safely:
See But Don’t Touch
The Essential Quarantine
Another reason could be cramped conditions. Chickens need a lot more space than you think. If they don't have enough room, they get cranky and stressed and in severe conditions can even resort to cannibalism. That's why factories trim beaks, so they can't kill each other. Sometimes improper nutrition will cause feather plucking... chickens pull and eat feathers from flockmates if they're not getting enough protein. More links:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need
Feather Picking

Hope that helps... good luck with your chickens!
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Not stupid questions! If you want them to hatch eggs, you need a rooster. If you want them to hatch eggs, but don't have a rooster, you need a broody hen to sit on purchased fertilized eggs or use an incubator.

You can buy fertilized eggs (called hatching eggs - meaning eggs for hatching) from breeders and hatcheries. If you have a broody hen who you can use to incubate and hatch them - awesome! But hens go broody when they do, not on your schedule and often only during certain parts of the year. If you want to grow your flock and don't have broodies, you'd use an incubator. And as FlappyFeathers points out, you might want to add a large number of chicks that would be too many for your hens to sit on. And if you need to add during, say, winter, an incubator is helpful.

I just had one of my hens go broody, and I wanted her to have a chick. I didn't want her to hatch an egg, though, because I didn't want a cockerel. So I bought a day-old chick that I could tell was a pullet by her coloring (a Welsummer) and put it under her after she set for long enough that I knew she was serious. Luckily, she accepted the chick.

Bottom line - there are lots of ways to add chicks: roosters, incubators, brooder pens, adoption.
 
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