Hi, thanks for all of the answers pertaining to my bourbon reds. with 4 toms and one hen, the hen is mating with one Tom. My question is: should we separate these two? (We would like some chicks). Should we place a nesting box inside the coop to ensure that she can lay her eggs? To boil it all down, how can we best facilitate the hen and get her to lay her eggs? We have a coop, and a fenced yard for them, put them all in at night, and this is all we have left from 15 chicks, so we'd like to really breed them. We have seen them mating, so we're just wondering where it's all leading...they are about 10 months old. thanks for any/all answers!

-- jeannie (mmp@theofficenet.com), April 04, 2001

Answers

They usually AI BBBs. Due to their build, they don't do well as breeders.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), April 05, 2001.

jeannie,

Really search that yard for a nest. Mine was so good at hiding them, I didn't find one until I ran over it with a lawn mower.

-- Mona in OK (jascamp@ipa.net), April 06, 2001.

My bourbon red hens lay very well and hatch out very well. The only problem is when they hatch out too early and the cold gets them. We tried incubation, but found that the hens do as well as we did, so now we let them do the work. If you have your hen in a run, put something in there for her to nest on. We used a 55 gal barrel with the end cut out and hay placed inside. We drilled holes in the barrel for air circulation. The hens would go inside and lay and set on their eggs. We turned our birds out and now they steal nests off in the woods (but never too far from the house) and we watch them to see where they are laying. The Tom will aggravate the hens, so it is best to separate them after the courtship period. We try to mimic nature. Toms, to my knowledge, do not spend all year with the hens.

Good luck

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), April 06, 2001.

hi all, well today when i went down to feed them, i saw an egg in the corner of the coop! So great! I'm really thrilled. I just left it, and hopefully, this hen will prove to be a good mother. It's a little rounder than a chicken egg and hopefully, it will hatch a turkey chick! We're crossing our fingers.

-- jeannie (mmp@theofficenet.com), April 07, 2001.