Starting with chicks

[Cchumley]

Hi! We have had our hens for eggs up until now, we brought in a rooster and are interested in raising baby chicks but not sure how to go about it. How do you start if I want the hens to brood and raise them vs us incubate?

 

[Eggscaping]

Hi! We have had our hens for eggs up until now, we brought in a rooster and are interested in raising baby chicks but not sure how to go about it. How do you start if I want the hens to brood and raise them vs us incubate?

Well, when the daddy rooster and the mama hen love each other VERY much.....
....just kidding! Well, not, but hey:

Welcome to BackYardChickens! So glad to have you here in our wonderful community of friendly, helpful, knowledgeable people!
My limited experience (from incubating but not having done the other yet is: Get rooster. Get hens. Let them mix. Rooster (hopefully) gets along with the hens, they let him mate them. Eggs are fertile. You provide nest boxes. Hen lays fertile eggs and (hopefully) broods them until they hatch, then raises the chicks. I think that's it...? Questions? Others will answer who've actually done it!

 

[Cchumley]

Well, when the daddy rooster and the mama hen love each other VERY much.....
....just kidding! Well, not, but hey:

Welcome to BackYardChickens! So glad to have you here in our wonderful community of friendly, helpful, knowledgeable people!
My limited experience (from incubating but not having done the other yet is: Get rooster. Get hens. Let them mix. Rooster (hopefully) gets along with the hens, they let him mate them. Eggs are fertile. You provide nest boxes. Hen lays fertile eggs and (hopefully) broods them until they hatch, then raises the chicks. I think that's it...? Questions? Others will answer who've actually done it!

So far the rooster has blended well with them we are just not sure which eggs do we take to eat and which leave to see if they will hatch? Will the others in the flock attack the babies?

 

[Eggscaping]

Hmm. Let me tag someone with actual experience in that...hang on....
@aart @oldhenlikesdogs @ChickenCanoe @casportpony

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Not all hens will go broody. Collect eggs daily or you can end up with broken or rotten eggs.

Once a hen goes broody she will stop laying to set. You can store unwashed eggs for up to 10 days at 50-75 degrees, give or take, before viability begins to fall.

If you want to just try hatching than get an incubator and give it a try.

Hatching with a hen comes with problems sometimes. Some hens aren't good moms. Sometimes you have to pull chicks, and you need to separate the setting hen or else you can have other hens interfering or even attacking chicks.

Are you prepared to deal with all the extra roosters?

 

[Tamdog]

Welcome to BYC-

 

[aart]

How do you start if I want the hens to brood and raise them vs us incubate?

Cross your fingers.
There's a lot to learn about incubation.
First, start looking at the yolks when you break eggs to eat,
so you can see if your boy is getting the job done.

 

[Cchumley]

Not all hens will go broody. Collect eggs daily or you can end up with broken or rotten eggs.

Once a hen goes broody she will stop laying to set. You can store unwashed eggs for up to 10 days at 50-75 degrees, give or take, before viability begins to fall.

If you want to just try hatching than get an incubator and give it a try.

Hatching with a hen comes with problems sometimes. Some hens aren't good moms. Sometimes you have to pull chicks, and you need to separate the setting hen or else you can have other hens interfering or even attacking chicks.

Are you prepared to deal with all the extra roosters?

What is the best way to deal with the roosters when they have not sold

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What is the best way to deal with the roosters when they have not sold

Eat them.

Some I keep, but generally most become dinner for my husband.