New to this

[Reddirtchickens]

Hello, everyone

I have a few questions hope someone can help. We Lost our first hens to what we believe were coyotes since we live in north Edmond, anyways we still had our rooster so, we went and bought two more hens. Well after a few weeks we started to notice that one of them started to look like our rooster. It never has crowed or doesn't have huge tail end like Big Daddy but, the red thing on its head and neck are huge like BDs'. Unfortunatly we just lost our dear Big Daddy to the heat, so finally my question. How do we know for sure the other one is a rooster? We tried to see if momma would go broody and she never did. I now have 14 eggs and want to try incubating them how do I know if they are fertilized and when it's not worth trying with tis group of eggs?

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC! The 'red things' on a chickens head (comb) and under their beak (wattles) will become enlarged and bright on a hen that is laying. As far as fertile eggs, it all depends upon how long ago Big Daddy died. Eggs retain moderate fertility up to 3 weeks after the removal of a rooster and some fertility may even exist out to 4 weeks.

 

[Reddirtchickens]

Thank you very much