My hubby and I thought it would be fun to let one of the girls hatch out some babies. I did a search and couldn't find any threads that 100% answered my questions. So here it goes! Ok, I have 17 hens and 2 roos. 1 roo has his group of girls that he "tends" to and the other roo has his select few girls. My question is, how do I know the eggs will be fertile? I mean, I know I see them breeding the girls, but how do you know if they are getting the job done or not? I have 2 hens in particular that go broody on a regular basis, so I was just going to pick who ever is broody at the time to hatch out the babies! How many eggs should I put under her? I have cracked open eggs to try to see a bulls eye, but I just can't tell! Help!!
I would go ahead and geather eggs when one of the hens shows signs of going broody. I had two hens share a nest and one would care for the eggs while the other got off to eat and drink ect. After a week or so you can candle the eggs to see if they are fertile or not. You only want to put as many eggs under her as she can cover. If eggs are sticking out then that's too many. Altho I know of a small banty hen that hatched out over 18 eggs. She did a heck of a job on them.
How do you calculate a fertility rate? If I wanted, let just say, 6 babies, how many eggs should I set?
Chances are if you see your roo doing his job they are fertile !! Here are some pics to help you tell when looking at the yolk.... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008 If you want 6 chicks I would set 10-12 eggs. If you want more hens I would set 15 since 50% of the chicks will/should be roosters.
I can't wait now! I do want some more EE's so I think I will set some EE's, some Orps and some Delaware Blues! Hoping to get a few of each, but the EE's and Orps will be bred with my partridge cochin roo. He seems to take care of all the orps and EE's, the blue hen roo sticks to the blue hen girls! These will be my first home grown babies! I think I will wait until late March or Early April....to think that is too early? I don't want the babies to be cold out there!~
If you want to confirm fertility I bet if you offered eggs for the cost of shipping to folks on the board here, you would be out your time and wrapping materiel but nothing further. I dont need them but normally it is not a problem, someone will likely take them.. I agree that bulls eye is sometimes hard to see. I use a flashlight an some times a magnifying glass. But I am old and eyesight is waning LOL.
