Questions about when to expect baby chicks

[sarai77]

I have some dominecker hens(5), a few maran pullets (3) and 2 buff orpington pullets. I'm planning on culling all of the roosters except for one really pretty Americauna roo this winter. I'm curious to see what kind of chicks I would get from him and the different ladies. Just backyard chicks. Can I expect to get chicks this spring? All of the hens will be mature by February. What are the chances that with 10 hens at least one of them will go broody? Anything I can do to increase my chances of getting some babies? Otherwise I'll probably end up buying some chicks as soon as they start showing up in the feed store in the spring. I'm really excited about having some little chicks running around.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Depending on your rooster's coloring, you could get sex links by crossing with the Dominique's. (can tell their sex at hatch) If your rooster carries the blue gene, you could get female offspring that lay olive colored eggs by crossing to the marans. For both of these, you'd have to test hatch to find out.

Marans and Orps tend to be broody breeds, so you have the possibility of having a broody in the bunch.