Expert: Abi - 9/18/2007

Question
hi there i am new to trying to keep chickens and want to know is there a way you can help me on a set up i would need to keep chickens for laying eggs and to have some chickens have babies and what does it really intail , because i have about a dozen brown chickens as of now and i have 2 roosters one is in with them as well as i have about 8 boxes made for them in a garage , i was looking for some insite on how to have them mate and have babies and have others so they can just say and lay eggs , currently some of them are laying eggs but i dont think the rooster is fertilizing them and the hens are not sitting on them is there something i am doing wrong ?

Answer
No you're not doing anything wrong! If the rooster is mating with the hens the eggs should be fertilised; as long as the rooster is over 18 weeks old. The reason the hens aren't sitting on the eggs is that it isn't the right time of year and they are brown hens!
Brown hens will not sit on eggs- they're not bred for it. You need a reliable 'broody hen' to sit on your eggs for you. Broodys will sit on eggs more in the summer than in the winter because for some reason the warm weather makes them go broody. I would say to try and get a broody hen who will sit on your eggs for you but if you can't and you really can't wait till summer you could always put the eggs in an incubator.

Thankd for your question, get back to me if you need any more help. :)