Starting a flock with one Rooster and one Hen..........

[CNJ]

chickens do better in groups of 3 or more .. their social structure tends to rely on that 'triangle' affect to be the most active and healthy .. if your just getting into it i wouldnt count on a broody, some chickens rarely go broody, but yeah, if your sure theyre mature enough and the rooster is doing his thing, collect eggs for a week and pop them in an incubator even if you got only 4-5 eggs the flock will be ALOT bigger lol ... if you need more yeah buying fertile eggs on ebay or somewhere is an option, get you a couple of dozen lol, it will be chicken town around there in no time ...

I have been buying my eggs from ebay, it takes a week to reach Oahu. My hatch rate is low, I am lucky to get one or two to hatch, sometimes none of them hatch. My best hatch recently has been six out of 12.
I have several hens that has been laying for a month, and two 2 1/2 month old Bresse cockerel's, two one month old Bresse chicks, and six three week old Barbeziuex chicks.
My Breese cockerels should be crowing by end of January. One of them has crooked toes. I am planning on crossing them with my Jersey Giants, Australorps, and Lemon cuckoo orpingtons.
Eventually I will breed my perfect one month old bresse chicks together, they are male and female. That's the reason why I wanted to know some things.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

You can easily collect eggs for 10-12 days before setting them. I keep mine in a cooler with a thermometer and try to keep the temp around 60 degrees. Important they do not get too warm while you are collecting them or they will start to develop. Turn them from side to side 2-3 times a day. I have also successfully hatched eggs that have been refrigerated.
Good luck!

 

[CNJ]

I had two hens and one young rooster in a pen and spent 10 days collecting 14 eggs. I just candle them and 5 out of 14 were fertile. I had another young rooster in another pen with 3 hens and collected 9 eggs in 3 days and 6 eggs are fertile. I can't wait to see how they turn out. Its the first time hatching my own crosses.