When you buy chickens as hatchlings you cannot be assured that they all will be hens. While it may seem cool that you have a rooster and wake to the cock-a-doodle-doo, it is not a good thing if you are hoping to have egg layers. First of all, the rooster is not going to produce any eggs (check your high school biology class for details on why this is). Secondly, the rooster will force you to candle your eggs. This means you will hold each egg up to a light so you can assure that there is not a baby chicken inside.
Well, we have determined that one of our chicks was not a girl at all but a rooster in disguise. So, in the next couple weeks we will be finding a new home for our rooster at a local farm.
The Gal is a Dude:
Hmmm…that is very interesting. I don’t understand the ‘candle’ thing though. Perhaps you could explain that a bit more for those of us less farm educated.
I’ve never had chickens before.
Sure, a little farm biology for you:
If there are roosters, you need to candle your eggs, which means check each egg to see whether it is just an egg or if it contains a baby chick. As we have 15 hens, it is much easier to find new homes for our roosters and just collect eggs daily.