Proud owner of a roo.

[petlove]

I ended up with a black australorp roo in my batch of 26 chicks. I always enjoy reading posts regarding hatching. I am looking forward to doing this. My question is, do I let a hen hatch them or do I get a bator? I am going to separate my roo and the other australorps to keep the chicks pure. Any advice?

 

[Chirpy]

I think it's totally a personal decision... which do you want to do?

I just had my first broody hatch her first chick and we love watching her with the baby. But, to have a broody hatch eggs you first need a hen to go broody! You never know when or if a hen will go broody. If you keep your Roo with your hens (which I'm assuming you will) then when a hen goes broody you can add some eggs under her and let her hatch and raise the chicks.

Or, many people love to use an incubator to hatch the eggs themselves (so to speak) and watch the chicks hatch out. I think that would be cool also but can't afford an incubator myself. It would be a great learning experience especially depending on how much of the 'tinkering' you have to do with whatever incubator you use.