Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
P
LANNING ON
H
AVING
B
ABIES?
As touched on briefly earlier in this topic, there are pros and cons to raising baby chicks. The
question becomes whether or not this is the right move for you. Hens will lay eggs regard-
less of whether there is a rooster present; however, in order for the eggs to be fertilized and
have the chance of growing into baby chicks, a rooster is essential. With the addition of a
rooster comes the need to check each and every egg to see whether or not it is fertilized and
has an embryo growing. This process is referred to as candling, as it was done in the past by
holding each egg up to a candle to see the developmental progress of the egg itself. In addi-
tion, you must decide whether to leave the eggs to the care of the chickens or whether you
want to move the fertilized eggs to an incubator. Chickens that are brooding and taking care
of their nest, will not lay more eggs but will concentrate their efforts on nurturing their eggs
so that they grow into healthy baby chicks. Another factor to keep in mind is that chickens
start laying eggs at five- to seven- months-old and reach their peak age for laying eggs at
two years, after which time the frequency at which they lay eggs starts to decrease.
Will you want to replenish your chickens on a staggered basis to make sure that your egg
production never decreases or will you simply want to purchase new chicks when the time
comes? Will you want to have a potentially noisy rooster? Will you want to have to check
each and every egg to see whether or not it is growing? Will you want one of your prime
laying chickens out of commission so that she may sit on the eggs or will you want to setup
an incubator, as we discussed previously? Chickens are easy to take care of in and of them-
selves, but this will add another layer of complexity to your chicken rearing.
If you want to raise your own chickens, one possible alternative would be to have a second
coop: one for your rooster and maybe one or two chickens, with your egg producers in a
separate coop. This will ensure that you still have the same amount of eggs coming in, while
also ensuring that you do not have to check each and every egg that comes out of the coop
without the rooster in it. In this manner, you can leave the eggs alone that are in with the
rooster and chickens and allow them to grow up to be nice and happy chickens, not have to
worry about the cost of running an incubator, and at the same time making sure that the eggs
from the coop without the rooster present may simply be removed, cleaned, and stored.
If you would prefer to go the route with adding in a rooster to your preexisting coop, perhaps
because you do not have room for a second one, it is important to realize the extra work that
will go into this particular process and the potential for a lot more chickens than you anti-
cipated, especially if you are opting only to eat the eggs and not the chickens themselves as
well. The best suggestion is to keep them separate and later on remove the rooster if you feel
that no additional chickens are needed.
