Have had chickens for a few years. Have 6 red laying hens, had a Golden Rooster but he was always starting a fight with a dog and guess that's what finally got him. Managed to hatch out 4 eggs while he was still around (2 roos, 2 hens). They are 4 mos old and think they are fertilizing the eggs and put 4 in the bator today. Plan to keep adding some eggs for a while. Guess that's not the best way to do it, but trying to save up a batch and doing all at once didn't work well either. Friend ran the incubator last time, so I'll be doing that this time. Have a farm in Central Texas, 60 acres, 50+ goats - mostly pregnant nannies so things will probably be getting really busy wih that. They are Boer and Spanish, mixed, and crossed. Everything has pretty much free range. Chickens survive on grasshoppers all summer, and love scorpions and spiders. All my other friends have trouble with scorpions and spiders, I hardly ever see one. In the winter I'll close up the chickens at night or if I think there's a predator around. Have 3 dogs, several cats, and a donkey (think she is pregnant too), who is an excellent guard animal so don't lose many animals. Was worried about the chicks when they were small cause there are some owls and hawks around. Kept them in a chicken wire enclosure so they could get sun and let them out a little more each day. They would usually hide under something, goat trailer, truck, on the porch and think that protected them. Have used BYC in the past to look up answers to questions and found it really helpful. Ya all take care.
