silkie roo + other hens?

[cami]

this is my first time breeding chickens. i only want to breed my silkies (i have 2 hens and 1 roo) but i also have 2 orpingtons and an aracona.will my silkie roo try to breed with my other chickens?
how should i take care of a broody hen, eggs, and chicks? how can i tell when the eggs are fertilized?

 

[cami]

also how often will a roo mate? how often will there be fertile eggs? how many fertile eggs are averagely in a clutch?
i want infertile eggs for breakfast too

 

[LarryPQ]

He will breed with all the girls available.

Do you have a broody already? A search would get you 90% of the way there.

He will breed as often as he can get it...10+ times a day, sometimes more, sometimes way more.

I don't know what you mean by "fertile eggs in the clutch". If he is mating the hens, they should all be fertile. Especially if you only have 5 or 6 hens.

 

[mama2many]

My silkie roo had 9 babies with an EE and 3 with his silkie wife......at the same time. He only mates with those two. My big Roo mates with EVERYONE including the Guineas all day long, but there have been no babies yet, I'm sure that will happen eventually. My silkie EE mixes are pretty except the roo. He looks kinda wild and has poor behavior to go with it. You should be fine, but if you only want silkies better lock them up.

 

[mama2many]

Oh and on the broody subject. I break that up quick, found a hen with almost a dozen eggs under her today. I don't need anymore babies. I have 8 guinea keets and a chick I am trying to get out of my garage to the grow out pen. I gather eggs every day and they go straight to the fridge, there will be no developing embryo's in my camp, not this year........

 

[cami]

ok so will i be able to still collect eggs from them to eat that arnt fertile?
and no my chickens haven't even started laying yet they are all 5 months old except for the silkies they are only 5 weeks old.

 

[LarryPQ]

Umm....I would expect them all to be fertile, but there is no reason you cannot eat them. THere is no difference between the fertile and unfertile eggs, nutritionally.

Fertile eggs only hold the potential for life--they have to be warmed to 99.5 degrees for several days for life to actually get started.

 

[cami]

i dont eat fertile eggs or anything that has the potential for life. im vegetarian.
so pretty much the only way to have infertile eggs and chicks is to separate the rooster?

 

[LarryPQ]

Potential for life your mean seeds and such too... but I understand what you are saying.

It would be unfair to keep the rooster seperate from the hens--he would be miserable. If you kept him with the silkies only, you would have a lot of wasted eggs--unless you were putting them all into your incubator. Then you end up with 50% unwanted male chicks.... You get the idea.

 

[cami]

i will be selling all the chicks i have limited space in the coop