wanting to breed own chicks

[kiwiyates]

My 14 year old son has an egg business. His 40 hens (Easter Eggers, Black Australorps, Red Stars and Buff Orpingtons) and one roo share a large coop area and free range all day. We live rurally, so they have plenty of grassy and wooded areas to roam. We were planning to buy a few more chicks in the Spring to replace those lost to a predator. However, my son is interested in hatching his own chicks.....or rather hoping that a hen would go broody and have her do the work. I read on this site regularly, but thought I might as well put my compete ignorance out there and ask for specific advice. If we isolate the roo and a couple of hens in their own area (we have another large, fenced area that would be suitable) might the whole mating/laying/hatching process happen naturally? I don't believe that a hen will be able to go broody in our main coop. Though we have plenty of nesting boxes, they, of course, only use a few and fuss at each other when waiting their turn to lay. After reading about broody hens, I don't believe we've had a truely broody hen. Some like to sit longer than others.....but we've never had one just sit and sit and sit. Mind you, we've not encouraged that at all. How would we choose which hens to isolate....or is it better to buy a specific breed just for her broodiness and give her fertile eggs...I know I can search here to find out how to know when an egg is fertile. We regularly see the roo "about his business", so I assume we have fertile eggs. Well, thanks for reading and any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[muddyhorse]

A roo only has to visit a hen every 3 days for the eggs to be fertile. Isolating a few hens with the roo might be a good idea. orpingtons are good brooders, just let some eggs accumulate and see if one takes an interest in them. If you want something that will definitely go broody get some silkies or cochins.

 

[possumqueen]

You're on the right track, kiwiates!!

Get a couple of broodies in a spot by themselves and give them nest boxes where they'll feel completely at home. If your roo is doing his job you won't need to keep him with the broodies. You can pick the eggs you want them to set on, save them until the girls are actually setting, then sneak the eggs you want to hatch into the nests when the girls aren't looking. Then you wait. . . . andwaitandwaitandwait. . . . Looks like you've been lurking around BYC for almost a year, so you know how to go from there.

Or you could buy fertile eggs from a breeder who has the breed you'd like to have, and have the girls set on those. They'll mother the babies same as if they'd laid those eggs themselves.

good luck!

and don't be a stranger. Sounds like you and your son know your business. I've never been to another website like BYC, where you're even MORE welcome if you think you know anything! Especially chickens!

 

[Spunky~Chick~Mom]

You are absolutely on spot with what you are thinking.

We did this last year for the first time.

I got the majority of my hens last year late spring/summer. I have several breeds. 9 austrolorps were given to me by a friend that was moving.
One day, several days in a row when I came in the coop one of the austrolorps was ALWAYS in the nest box. She was the ONLY one of all mine that
went broody. I just slide a few eggs in under her and she was the best Momma ever!!!! Her name is Apple and she is the greatest!

I wish you alot of luck. You have some great breeds! It is wonderful that your son is interested! I also have a 14yr old boy and he was interested at first but one of my roos attacked him a few times. (He is no longer with us!) Now he really doesn't go in the coop.

 

[HEChicken]

- sounds like you're from down under?

I wanted to add that if you're trying to breed, the ration of hens to roos is normally about 1:10. With 40 hens to service, your current roo is probably not able to service all of them so you'd have a lot of infertile eggs right now. Your inclination to separate some of them with the roo is a good one. Of the breeds you mentioned, the EE's and the Red Stars are very unlikely to go broody. Its not impossible (my sister has 8 Isa Browns which, like Red Stars, are bred for egg production, not broodiness, yet one of hers went broody right before Christmas) but the Buff Orpingtons are the MOST likely to go broody, followed by the Australorps. This doesn't mean you can't hatch fertile eggs from the other hens - as the broody hen won't care where her hatching eggs came from. Like you, I am hoping one of my BO's goes broody so I can let her incubate some hatching eggs for me. DD 14 wants to get an incubator but I just don't want to deal with the concern over temp and humidity, plus having to set up a brooder again for the chicks. So - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a broody this Spring and then I'll put some fertile eggs under her. The problem is that we can't MAKE them go broody - we just have to wait for them to decide to be mamas. Around here you'll hear lots of people complain about their hens going broody and asking for advice on how to break their broodiness. So I just have to hope Murphy's Law is not in place here - i.e., that because you and I WANT one of ours to go broody they won't

 

[kiwiyates]

I am from Down Under - hubby is NZ'er and after we married, I lived there for 17 years. We're now here in Central FL with my family.

I want to say thanks a bunch for all your replies - great advice!! My son and I will soon do some repairs to an unused portion of our large coop to prepare to isolate the roo and a couple of hens and let nature take its course.

 

[farmboydj]

bantams are the best they will be broody