Re: Need advice on breeding/raising chicks

Thank you so much for that very detailed answer. It was just what we
needed. Now, can I ask a few follow up questions?

1. We have two golf balls in our nest. Do you think putting about
five golf balls in the nest will work? Presently all three hens are
laying every day in the nest with two golf balls.

2. How long is it likely for one of the hens to get broody? How long
can we store the eggs in the dry cool place before they will spoil and
not be either edible or good for producing chicks?

3. We keep our house at about 78 degrees and the relative humidity is
about 50% . Is that dry and cool enough?

4. When one of the hens gets broody, do we only place under her the
eggs she laid or can we put eggs from other hens too?

5. How many eggs should we put under the hen?

Thanks again for all the help.

On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 22:45:29 +0200, fowls@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (nuele
mersch) wrote:

<jplasater@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



Hi and welcome to the group!

My wife and I have our first chickens. We have three hens and a
rooster. We got them all from a lady that had a yard full of mixed
breeds so ours are themselves mixed with a variety of colors of tan,
brown, red and green/black. The three hens are all on the medium to
large size but the rooster is small as a piegon and has a long green
tail.

Congratulations to such a colourful flock.
You didn't make the same mistake that I made years ago, when I was given
a large cockerel to go with my bantam hens. The other way round, like in
your flock, is much better.

The hens each lay an egg of a different color(dark brown,
light brown and green shaded white). We have seen the rooster mate
several times with only one of the hens. Is is likely that he is
mating with the other two?

I would think so. Some hens like to sit down for matings more often. One
mating will fertilize a number of eggs, up to two weeks.

We have thought of raising some baby
chicks but don't know just what to do. All three hens use the same
nest but our coup has a second nest they seldom use.

yes, they like to add their eggs to an existing clutch.

Do we just stop
taking all of the eggs

no

and see what happens or do we leave only the
eggs of the hen we know has been fertilized?

no.

What you do is you give them a small clutch of nest eggs, like five,
fake eggs made of plastic or ceramic or whatever you can buy. You take
out all freshly laid eggs daily and store them in a dry, cool place with
a stable temperature (not the fridge).

And then you wait until one of the hens gets broody. She will stay on
the nest in the evening and will spend the night there. She will only
get up to drink and feed and will make you familiar with one of the most
remarkable smells in this universe: broody poo.

And only if you've got a broody hen like this, you can remove the fake
eggs from the nest (e.g. while she's feeding and dustbathing, or at
night when she's asleep) and give her the "real" clutch. Each egg marked
with a pencil to be able to sort out any eggs that might be added later
by other hens.

21 days later, you should have chicks.

Assuming that one of the
hens chooses to start setting, do we need to provide her any special
care?

It is best to separate her nest so that she can sit in peace. Some hens
tolerate moving but for your first experiment I would suggest you close
the box she sits in, with cardboard or whatever you can think of. It may
be pretty dark inside, that's okay, just make sure there is enough
circulation.

Make sure she leaves the nest once daily. Some hens don't. She must not
lose more weight than necessary. The eggs are okay if left alone for
fifteen to thirty minutes depending on room temperature. Cooling down a
bit does not harm them at all.

How long does it take for them to hatch? Can the baby chicks
occupy the same coup?

No, they should have a separate run with her mum, the other adults will
peck at them mercilessly.


As you can see we are inexperienced so some
coaching would be appreciated.

Ask away, normally there's always someone here who is glad to help.


Nuele (D)

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