I got the chickens originally for the eggs, started with 6 straight run chickens that were about 3 months old. It is a learning process, I had no clue what straight-run was. I do now.
After figuring out 2 of my original 6 were Roosters, I decided to get 4 more...but laying hens. I had 3 Easter Eggers, 3 Rhode Island Reds and now 4 Dominique hens. It was coming up on winter when I got them...those crazy hens slept outside on the roost all winter, I did wrap the run in heavy canvas and put a heat lamp out for them, but they have continued to sleep out on the run.
When Spring rolled around, I ended up with broody hens...the first time, I didn't let them sit on any eggs. You can break a hen that insists on sitting on eggs by locking them out of the nest boxes, they need to be cooled off and some people dip them in cool water or put them on a wire bottom cage with no bedding. The second time, I let two hens sit on eggs at first I got eggs from my neighbor, none of them hatched, then I used eggs from my chickens and had tiny little chicks, 7 black chicks hatched out and one yellow chick. During that time my favorite hen suddenly died, I only had one egg from her that hatched...it was the blond chick. My Rhode Island Red Rooster was the Daddy to all of these chicks. I had loaned my Easter Egger Rooster to my neighbors so none of the first batch were his. It seems like there is close to 1/2 and 1/2 on the sexes of the chicks. I ended up with 3 males out of 8 chicks with that hatch. But my hens actually stayed broody and sat on two clutches of eggs...they sat on eggs for 45 days total. They looked rough...so after they hatched the babies and took care of them for a week, I took the chicks away so they would eat and drink and gain back the weight they lost. Once my hens gained strength and started laying again, it was not but a month and the same two went broody again! I let them collect some eggs and sit again...but I had bought an incubator since the last hatch. I wanted some different breeds of chickens, so I bought some hatching eggs and substituted my hens eggs for the purchased eggs...and put my hens eggs in the incubator.
I had to separate my two roosters after my Easter Egger Roo came back from the neighbors house, he was beat up pretty bad when one of their roosters attacked him. I bought some chicks from Tractor Supply after my first failed hatch in the incubator, they told me they were all pullets...one was a rooster. I ordered chicks from a hatchery too, I purchased one rooster for each breed and a Dominique rooster for my Dominique hens. I found out that if you have any non-barred rooster and mate it with a barred hen, all of the females will be black, and all the males barred like their mother. I have a lot of little barred roosters running around, and about an equal amount of little black hens...but I can tell by the shape of their heads that a lot of those are fathered by my Easter Egger Rooster, they have beards! Lol, I hope I get some green or blue eggs out of the hens. I hate to say it...but most of the barred roosters will be dinner when they get older, they can be quite mean at times. They attacked me when I would try to change their water and feed them. The meanest will go first. I believe that I have about 20 roosters at the moment, but some are just too young to tell yet.
I just came in from outside and cleaning up the brooder on the back porch...I got all the 3 week old chicks outside in that brooder now, so just 4 chicks left in the bathroom for the next two weeks...until the ducks hatch, and a few days later a few chicks too. But, my little hen Brown Racer is at it again...she is still in the nest box from yesterday, yep she is broody again.
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