New to the process

[Carter4671]

my sons girlfriend thought it would be great to try the trader joe theory of buying the fertilized eggs, bring them home incubate them and wow, baby chicks. Ok she got 2. So excited she did it again. She cant have chicks where she lives thus they came to me. I have dogs and 2 fish ponds. Never chicks. We made a coop for the 2, then for 4 and life began. The first 2 r now the elders. One I think is a rooster, the other i think is the one who layed an egg. A beautiful white egg and so here i am. Now the question is, and call me stupid if u choose but, if I left the egg in the coop what would happen? I pulled it out and I think that is what u r supposed to do right? So then u eat it. How do they have baby chicks? Again totally ignorant to this whole process. Oh they r leghorns, that is all I know. The one dead eye looking at the camera head pc is totally red and longer now, I am assuming that is a rooster. The other I think laid the egg. Also I thought they layed at nite, not mid morning.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Hi, so I believe the chicken in the picture is a female (not positive.) How old is the bird?

Your hen has to go broody (want to sit on eggs and hatch chicks) in order for them to hatch 21 days later. There is no tell-tale time when a hen may choose to do so, if at all. There is not a special season that they hatch chicks in like many other poultry. It's just random lol. Whenever she feels like it. Some breeds are more broody than others, and leghorns are not one of them. The broodiest breeds include bantams (small chickens), silkies, brahmas, orpingtons, cochins, sussex, marans, and others. You could also do this manually in an incubator. That is, if the egg is fertilized. You will be able to tell if the egg is fertilized on about day 4-5 in the incubation process. And yes you can take your eggs out whenever they need checking. I suggest at least once a day to avoid them stepping on the eggs. Hope this helps!

 

[Mrs. K]

If those are pictures of two different birds, I too, think you have both hens. A full picture of each birds would remove no doubt at that age.

If you had a rooster, I would still recommend waiting several months. Birds tend to produce smaller eggs when they start laying, and the eggs are so small the hatch rate tends to be very poor.

 

[Carter4671]

Hi, so I believe the chicken in the picture is a female (not positive.) How old is the bird?

Your hen has to go broody (want to sit on eggs and hatch chicks) in order for them to hatch 21 days later. There is no tell-tale time when a hen may choose to do so, if at all. There is not a special season that they hatch chicks in like many other poultry. It's just random lol. Whenever she feels like it. Some breeds are more broody than others, and leghorns are not one of them. The broodiest breeds include bantams (small chickens), silkies, brahmas, orpingtons, cochins, sussex, marans, and others. You could also do this manually in an incubator. That is, if the egg is fertilized. You will be able to tell if the egg is fertilized on about day 4-5 in the incubation process. And yes you can take your eggs out whenever they need checking. I suggest at least once a day to avoid them stepping on the eggs. Hope this helps!

HERE is a better pic of what I think may b a rooster

 

[Carter4671]

If those are pictures of two different birds, I too, think you have both hens. A full picture of each birds would remove no doubt at that age.

If you had a rooster, I would still recommend waiting several months. Birds tend to produce smaller eggs when they start laying, and the eggs are so small the hatch rate tends to be very poor.

 

[Carter4671]

The first 3 pics are of what i think may b a rooster, he is the tallest and the most protective of the rest and f the coop. The last one is of all of the rest.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

The first 3 pics are of what i think may b a rooster, he is the tallest and the most protective of the rest and f the coop. The last one is of all of the rest.

She is definitely a hen, at least I think so. Leghorn hens have abnormally large combs and wattles that can make them be confused with leghorn roosters. Some hens may act like a rooster when there is not one in the flock. Or, she may just be sort of aggressive. These are just my thoughts.

 

[Carter4671]

So maybe she is the one that laid the egg yesterday. Now I will be trying to figure it out for sure.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

So maybe she is the one that laid the egg yesterday. Now I will be trying to figure it out for sure.

Do you know how old she is?

 

[Carter4671]

Born march 1st and the other one was march 3rd but has no where near the size wattles or combs