I want some chicks

[bwinn01]

I am new to this chicken game. One of my hens has laid 2 eggs, I want to have some chicks, so do I just leave the eggs there and she will sit on them to hatch? Will she lay for a few days before she begins sitting on them? If she lays one egg a day, will the chicks hatch one each day or will they all hatch at about the same time. I know nothing about this.

 

[StormyMoon]

Quote:
Do you have a rooster you didn't mention anything about a rooster....what are your chances of them being fertile ?
I think they save up eggs and then sit on them. I am new to this too I was given 2 hens that are already sitting on eggs......
Good luck!

 

[dsqard]

bwinn01 I would suggest reading a lot of posts on rasing chicks. There is so much to understand before you start leaving the eggs with the hen. First important question you would need to answer is if you have a rooster. LOL

 

[gryeyes]

The NEXT most important thing is "do you have a broody hen?" Not all hens - as a matter of fact, not very many nowadays from most breeds - go broody. Certain breeds are more prone to it than others. Most production hens have had the broodiness bred out of them, because it cuts down on the egg production. Hens do not lay after they start their clutch of eggs... it takes 21 days for chicken eggs to hatch, and then the mother hen won't lay for another few weeks while she's raising her chicks. Hence the practice of breeding broodiness out of many chicken breeds, especially those designated soley as layers.

If you don't have a broody hen, your chances of hatching chicks are nil, unless you use an incubator.

 

[orionburn]

Quote:
Yep. No roo, no chicks.

Keep in mind not all hens like to sit on their eggs. Some are broody, others are not. To answer your question once she feels she has enough she will start to sit on them. Eggs typically take 21 days to hatch...assuming she actually sits on them for the entire time.

 

[bwinn01]

Thanks for the quick replies, yes I have a rooster. Actually, these are wild chickens that we caught. My hometown, Fitzgerald Ga is over run with wild chickens, they are supposed to be Burmese Jungle fowl. I brought them back to Watkinsville to mix with my domestic chickens. I kept them seperated for a month and then slowly introduced them, they are doing fine together. My domestic chickens are 4 months old. the wild chickens are a mature rooster and hen and two young hens. The mature hen started laying 3 days after she was turned loose with the rest of the chickens. I only want to have one batch of babies, then I'll start taking the eggs each day. I don't want to hatch any of the domestic chicken eggs. I bought these at Tractor Supply and don't really know what I have, they are some white and some red.

 

[orionburn]

Then your best bet is to not collect eggs for a few days and see what happens. Our one hen laid for about two weeks and then suddenly stopped. We checked and there were babies forming in some of the eggs. Not sure why she called it quits. A couple of weeks later she had another clutch and started laying again. We figured we'd let her be and see what happend. This time she did lay for the entire time and hatched out 8 chicks, but one died early on. I think there were 3 eggs left that never hatched.

Good luck!