What do you think?

[ellie32526]

I don't want a rooster, heard too many bad things about roos, but I plan to wait until after my hens start laying and order some hatching eggs, then substitute the hatching eggs for the ones my hens lay and let them set. If/when the eggs hatch is it safe to leave them in the coop with the hen who hatched them and the other hens or do I need to separate them. Forgive my ignorance but this is how we learn, by asking dumb questions.

 

[AlienChick]

No dumb questions here!

If you have a broody hen, you'll most likely want to separate her from the rest of the girls anyway because the other girls will just keep laying their eggs in the broody's nest and you'll end up with a bunch of eggs all due to hatch at different times which will cause the broody hen to abandon the unhatched eggs once it's time for her to get off the nest and raise the chicks. Do not get any eggs until you have a hen that goes broody.

So since she's already separated, she'll be fine raising the chicks.

I usually just mark the eggs my broodies are sitting on with an X or the date and I do not separate my hens. BUT this means that I have to check the broody nests every day to remove the freshly laid eggs. Once the chicks start hatching I usually put the broody w/chicks into their own separate quarters inside the coop or another location. This can be accomplished simply by putting a large dog crate into the coop where the hen & chicks can be housed along with food/water. I also have a large pole barn so I've always got room in some corner to put my broody hens so they can raise their chicks in peace.

As far as roosters go, my roosters do not really bother the chicks, but the other hens will peck at them or keep them away from the food (and I've got about 14 roosters running around). So I just keep my hens w/chicks separated for a few weeks till the chicks are more comfortable with keeping up with mom and hiding in bushes.

Hope this helps a bit.