Raising chicks and chickens without a rooster?

[urbantails]

Hi everyone! Question!

I have not started my coop yet(gotta wait til we move), but I had a thought. If I wanted to raise dual purpose chickens, and I want to breed my chickens to have chicks, so they can grow and lay, but didn’t want the trouble of having a rooster. Is that even possible? Is there such a thing as a rooster studding service?

 

[Mylied]

Umm, never heard of that. One rooster isn't really trouble if you get a nice one. Otherwise, just buy fertile eggs and a breed of chicken that goes broody. When one goes broody, slip her the fertile eggs.

 

[ChickNanny13]

2x Fertile eggs however you need to have a broody & you can't make a hen go broody You could try incubating And it's best to build your coop/run BEFORE you get your chicks & as for size, figure in Chicken Math

 

[urbantails]

Umm, never heard of that. One rooster isn't really trouble if you get a nice one. Otherwise, just buy fertile eggs and a breed of chicken that goes broody. When one goes broody, slip her the fertile eggs.

Great idea! Thank you!

 

[centrarchid]

To keep options high, you can take your select hen(s) to someone with desirable rooster for a day or even a couple hours where females can be exposed to male for mating. Hen will then be good for a few good fertile eggs starting about 36 hours after the mating. Hens need to be in lay or better yet coming into lay where they give particular behavioral signs. Allow hen to lay eggs in a clutch that is either not disturbed or swapped out with dummy eggs until incubation begins. I would have hen exposed twice weekly to get good fertility. The transport of hen will be stressful and likely to either reduce number of eggs produced or mess up initiation of broody cycle.

This based on experience where I have done similar although hens only transported a couple hundred yards by hand. Car ride will not be insignificant.

 

[urbantails]

To keep options high, you can take your select hen(s) to someone with desirable rooster for a day or even a couple hours where females can be exposed to male for mating. Hen will then be good for a few good fertile eggs starting about 36 hours after the mating. Hens need to be in lay or better yet coming into lay where they give particular behavioral signs. Allow hen to lay eggs in a clutch that is either not disturbed or swapped out with dummy eggs until incubation begins. I would have hen exposed twice weekly to get good fertility. The transport of hen will be stressful and likely to either reduce number of eggs produced or mess up initiation of broody cycle.

This based on experience where I have done similar although hens only transported a couple hundred yards by hand. Car ride will not be insignificant.

THIS! THIS is what I was looking for! Thank you so much! Do you think it’ll be possible to bring a rooster over temporarily? Or is it a territorial thing?

 

[centrarchid]

Bringing the rooster would be better. Allow him to cover hen multiple times each visit to ensure enough sperm deposited. Having him in with too many hens will dilute his efforts. I condition my hens to get them heavy and ideally squating to even me before exposing them to rooster. That ensures things go quick so rooster can be pulled, and in my case placed with another hen.

 

[urbantails]

Bringing the rooster would be better. Allow him to cover hen multiple times each visit to ensure enough sperm deposited. Having him in with too many hens will dilute his efforts. I condition my hens to get them heavy and ideally squating to even me before exposing them to rooster. That ensures things go quick so rooster can be pulled, and in my case placed with another hen.

This is excellent advise. Thank you so much! Covering hen, I assume, means letting them mate? Would they need to be locked in together? I plan on having my flock free range in my garden.

 

[centrarchid]

yes

 

[urbantails]

2x Fertile eggs however you need to have a broody & you can't make a hen go broody You could try incubating And it's best to build your coop/run BEFORE you get your chicks & as for size, figure in Chicken Math

Already got that planned out! I have the coop, just need space to put it together.