Keeping the rooster and hens together?

[bantamkelley]

Okay from what I've read you have to put the breeding pair in a seperate pen to breed them. If my goal is to get plenty of eggs and to raise chicks occasionally then do I ever need to seperate the rooster from the flock? I want some chicks do I need to seperate the breeding pair from the flock? And can I still eat the fertilized eggs or is that gross?

 

[BlazeJester]

You shouldn't need to separate the rooster.

If you want specific babies, you'll want to separate the breeding pair so you can identify the eggs to be hatched. If you don't care or have all the same type of chicken, you won't need to separate.

And you can absolutely eat the fertilized eggs! Make sure to collect & refrigerate every day.

 

[donrae]

A rooster will breed all the hens he's with. The only trick is incubating only the eggs you want, if you have different breeds of hens and only want to hatch specific breeds.

Fertile eggs taste like eggs. Keep that roo in with his girls. Everyone will be happier.

 

[fowlsessed]

I agree with both posts. What breed or breeds do you have?

 

[fowlsessed]

Also, I think the ratio for fertile eggs is something like 1 rooster for up to 8 hens. And the only gross thing about eating fertile eggs is if they have started to be incubated. Although it's a delicasy in some places. yuck

 

[bantamkelley]

I think I might get 4 sussex, 1 easter egger or ameraucana( or however you spell it ), 2 silkie hens, and 1 black cochin bantam. Can they breed together?

 

[7L Farm]

Roo's instinct is to mate he will go crazy to mate. He's gonna make sure the whole flock is mated.

 

[fowlsessed]

Yea, he'll breed them. But the fact that he is a bantam, that might not work out to well. I had a oegb and he would try to mate with my larger hens and never got the job done, he was just to small. I know that oegb are on the small side of the bantam list, but still, I wouldn't bet on a bantam rooster getting the job done, especially on those large breeds. So I would recommend you get a large sized rooster aswell, if you want fertile eggs.
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[Dublin21]

The fertilized eggs are delicious but I know some of my family can't stand them until they've been stored away for a while.