centrarchid, it seems you have it down to a science. It makes a lot of sense to rotate so you do not have all the chicks hatching at once and then destroying your pasture. It also makes sense to take a break in the winter when there is less food available.
Is it easier to hatch chicks with an incubator? It seems that some broody hens would hatch chicks and do most of the work of raising them.
How many chicks do you hatch a year?
Still working things out. Biggest problems for me center around providing quality roosts for free-ranged juveniles. Roosts can be the strong or weak
link to the multiple cohort free-range strategy when no fences are used.
I have only three production seasons worth of chicken egg hatching using incubators. When using hens (games) a lot more. Last year I hatched about 240 using an incubator. I hope to increase by 1/2 again for 2012 production season. I am doing good to get 85% hatch and sometimes only realize 50%. It is hard to find someone that does not know more than I do about bird incubators. My expertise lays with fish where I can hatch millions.
When number of chicks desired is low, hens are American game, and lots of walks (free-ranging locations) are available; then hen raised gives better quality but control over timing and quantity has a lot to be desired. This is very much a game of timing and quantity.