We have 4 eggs that are due to hatch in the next few days.
We have 4 hens and 1 rooster
They are all in one pen
Should I remove the rooster prior to hatching? Or, is he ok in there?
What about the other hens, will they be a problem?
Should I take the chicks as soon as they're hatched?
Sorry, but new to all this.
Bruce
separating the rooster?
gee i think it depends on the temperament and how well they get along. mine grew up toegheter and get along great, but i still locked everyone else out during hatching and for several days.
again, depending on the breed, your hens may have a great time and do a great job raising the chicks.
but just how secure is their pen? can soemthing get in there after the chicks where the hens coudln't protect them?
tell us more about your chickens and pen... sorry to answer your questions with more quesitons, but it would help ;-)
first chicks, huh? isn't it great having chickens!?
tf
Great news! Came home tonight to find a new chick laying with momma! What a cutie.
It is a chain link pen and we're going to seal the bottom so it can't get out. The roof is covered so nothing can get to the chickens.
So far all of them (4 hens and 1 rooster) seem to be getting along.
The hens are super frindly with me and most of the time they let me pick them up if I want to.
There is 3 more eggs awaiting hatching. They are due tomorrow (Sunday) or Morday.
We are SO excited!
great news!. yes, close in those tiny holes the chicks can get through but hens can't LOL...
can you take pictures to post for all of us to see?
tf
Hippee!!! Number two was born early this moring, how exciting.
We are so excited.
Yes, I'll take some pics tomorrow. Hopefully we have 2 more in the moring.
Bruce
that is GRAND!
I always seperated my broody hens from the rest, but sounds like yours are doing fine!
I love to see people get excited about their "babies"! Good luck with them!
Audrey
I wouldn't leave a rooster in with baby chicks for 2 seconds. I'm surprised he hasn't killed a hen. I had a rooster that did just that. He was banished from the pen and house and had to live in the yard. He tried to kill my daughter and I everytime we went outside. I didn't shed a tear when some wild animal killed him.
I know my frizzle roo has a bad attitude towards the new chicks from Ideal, but my silkie roos actually help me herd them in at night and seem to enjoy them. I think it depends on your roo.
My Buckeye roo was thrilled to see his offspring for the first time. And they actually weren't even HIS lol, but don't tell him that! But my leghorns, who are a flighty breed anyhow and hens don't go broody so why should roos, LOL, were mean and chased and spurred. Too lean to eat, so they went to new homes.
Bruce, got pics?
I once read in Gamecock Magazine of an old, blind rooster hatched and raised a nest full of eggs! I guess it depends on the rooster!
Audrey
too funny!
I have had rooster take care of biddies myself, and I never remove a cock from the broodpen, of course I also never trap in the chicks, they are free to roam in and out of the holes as they wish. I have seen many times a chick gets too big to get back into its mothers ( and fathers) pen, I often walk the yard at night to make sure everything is ok. sure enough they will be snuggled up to some cock in a holding pen, With bigger holes in it. Long as he is in a pen, I dont care which one. (I hate owls)
two years ago I had a 9 yr old asil cock that took turns setting on eggs with hen, I miscounted days and took the hen out Thinking eggs were bad, and sold her. the cock was an embarasment to me, and I was going to cull him, but didnt get around to it. ( at the time) the next sat, he hatched a few of them eggs, and raised them up too.
in the years I have seen many crazy chicken things, ever seen a hen change colors, grow long tail feathers, and hackle feathers, and crow. I have....................................found out later it was due to some cancer in her that blocked the hormones making her a hen, testosterone levels up, she changed. I can care less if anyone believes me.
I have bred and hatched out probably 7,500 chickens in my life,( glad I didnt raise them all) I have seen chicks with one leg backwards, 2 heads, 3 legs,
inbreeding, linebreeding, crossing, infusing, Every mating is an experiment, this year I only had 17 bonefied brood pens, the smallest # of purposely single mated pairs I have had in many many years, grain prices are crazy, and even at my lowest levels its still 300+ lbs a week I have seen many things but I think I see the end of me and fowl in any serious #'s.
i do bleive you, i ahve read where when a hen gets a problem in her uterus? she will become like a roo... seen pics somehwere...
anyhow, maybe if you could diversify, breed soemthing folks could eat or get eggs from, you could make enough to support your breeding efforts. or perhaps find a grain grower in your area that wants to do some swaps for birds... the farmer isn't getting a higher price. the hike in price is mostly due to increase in shipping costs, no matter what people say...
eventually it will be so high to buy things at stores, more people will be looking for local sources for their food, esp homegrown food that they can swap other goods or services fo...
the ethenol craze has many corn growers in US switching strains does not help, The problem is the breeds I raise and the stigma that comes with them.
Nc, do you raise gamecocks? My exh does, or did.They are beautiful birds. I sympathise with you on the feed bill! When I was raising mine, I was at Co-op at least once a week! My ex worked on Red Fox Farms in Birmingham for a few years, and he had some pretty good crosses.
Audrey
Yes, I raise old english gamefowl, as well as american gamefowl, and asils, and king pigeons,lol I do not fight them..................... I raise them for the preservation of our american heritage, they are on the watch list now, with the new laws, american gamefowl will be endangered in the next 10-15 years( in my opinion) to me, it is like comparing freshwater fish to saltwater fish, the colors, the confirmation, they are the most majestic fowl on earth, though I have been threatening to get a bunch of them little bantams, they come in about the same colors, they are funny, I like them
I think the game fowl are exquisite. If I had the space I would like to keep some. I've heard that in our area, where cock fighting is popular, it can be difficult to keep them safe.
yeah Me and my buddy went 1/2s on 2 trios of thier hatches one time at $600.00 a trio, they looked great.....................the next spring hatched a pile of them, most turned out ok, but 30-40 % came short legged as I remember, I culled my family completely by fall, he eventually did too. but I have seen a few fowl from them others have had, seemed ok, but I dont know thier cull rate, I may be crazy, but I have no time for inconsistancies. I have, and would pay 3 times that amount for quality fowl, but for those prices, I expect them to look and act like clones when bred, identicle in every way.
That's the way Harold Brown, of Red Fox Farms bred his! Very strict. They are beautiful birds. Talk about crowing! We would take our second grandson to see them, he could mock any animal when he was about 2, he would crow, and the whole bunch would crow back at them.
My ex tried to fight them, but he'd get to watching the fight and forget to "handle" his rooster! I watched him "condition" them for a fight. He could do that! No distractions! I don't think he has many, now, he's not able to take care of them.
I raise them for show purposes only, Fighting chickens is a felony now. That is interesting and has its place in history, but probably should not be talked about anymore. That is exactly the stigma that will be over the heads of such beatiful fowl untill they are shunned into extinction. unless people like me are able to keep as many diff families alive as long as we can. most do not realize ther are atleast 184 Gamefowl breeds reconised by the NPIP, and only 246 of other large breeds combined. Bantams have them all beat though, lol still for every 4 families of large breeds there are 3 families of gamefowl that noone ever hears about.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_dis_spec/poultry/downloads/npip_codes.pdf
Yes, I know, that's when my ex stopped raising so many! That was 25 or so years ago! He had quite a few Bantams, too. We drove all the way to the mountains in East Tn. to get some of these. They are sooo cute!