Hi everyone! I am a newbie and having a blast!! I can't keep myself and the kids out of the coop! LOL!! We have 4 laying hens- 2 Rhode Island Reds, 1 barred rock and 1 Americauna. Then there is Joe Dirt, our Rooster! We love them all! What our question is, is that we want chicks!!! Is there only a certain time of year that our hens will lay fertile eggs or can they at any time? We aren't really sure how this part works, LOL!! I raise parrots, and know they lay fertile any time, but I am wondering if the chickens are seasonal or how they work in that way :) I hope I don't sound stupid, but I really am a newbie to the chickens :) Thank you in advance!!
More Newbie Questions :)
As I understand it, they are fertile basically whenever. Of course, it will be easier for the girls to hatch out the eggs if it is warm enough out that they can get up and eat/drink for a few minutes without the eggs getting too cold. Also, then the chicks will survive better.
Secondly, are you going to hatch them in an incubator or have the girls do it? If the girls are going to do it, you need one of them to be broody. That means that she wants to set on eggs all the time. You'll know she is broody b/c she will hardly get up and will be upset at you if you collect eggs ( may peck, etc.) and will collect any nearby eggs and put them under her. She'll need to set them for 21 days!
To make sure that the eggs have a good chance of being fertile, and to keep chicks safe, lots of people take a rooster and 2 hens and separate them from the group. THen you are very likely to have the rooster fertilize all of the eggs. When you have a bunch of eggs, one of those hens. or some other hen who is broody, can be seperated from the group to set them and raise them.
i was browsing through a book, Stromberg's Chick Hatching , or something like that, and it mentioned some fertility issues i thought were interesting. first, more semen is produced by roos from December through April. also, their production goes down after their second year. maybe that is why i heard it suggested that you have a second roo that is a year younger, and a third cockerel, and keep replacing them.
of course, that is all theory pertaining to raising flocks for a profit, and i bet there are plenty of older fellas out there that would object to my suggesting they need to be replaced LOL.
i just thought it was interesting that perhaps MOther Nature has things set up for best hatching in the spring, plus genetic diversity by having older cocks lose out to the younger...
if you want your hens to raise your own chicks [i know RIR may go broody, but not Americaunas, and i am clueless about barred rocks broody nature], you need to make a "brooding pen" where she can have her own space to set, hatch, and raise the chicks.
i bet if you google you can find a TON of info, both here and on other sites. we too are newbies. my hens led to stressful a life to suceed in any kind of broodiness, yet i want to raise their offspring, so we opted for borrowing and buying some hovabators. hopefully this next flock will be able to do it on their own so i cna focus more on the garden next year.
we would love to see pictures of your flcok! Welcome to Dave's Garden!
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Thanks for the responses! Although a lot is the same as parrots, alot is also different, so want to make sure I have it straight :) Here is my Barred Rock hen, she is so big and pretty! Her name is Drama Queen.
Here is Sugar, she's a dirty but SWEET girl!! Was told she is an Americauna.
Here is Joe Dirt, my male mixed youngster with 1 of the RI Reds and Drama Queen again .
And last, my 2nd RI Red getting ready to lay another egg! They are awesome layers!!
Great Pics jdmcm5! And Welcome to Dave's Garden! I love the names(Joe Dirt-I guess he kinda looks like David Spade !!)
Sue☺
Joe i sso pretty too!
Yeah, I can't wait to see how Joe looks when he's full grown! Was told he in an americauna x buff orp.