Old fashioned off grid incubator

We had buffs , just for laying hens ; no rooster . We couldn't gather the eggs each morning without a major fight !
Currently I've got 3 Buff Orpington roosters I carry a stick with me in the chicken lot as an RDD ( rooster deterrent device). I gather eggs twice a day if there's a hen in a nest box I just let it go and get those eggs later in the day.
If one is trying to set then I'll pull her out of nest that evening to make sure to get all the days eggs.
 
We find that if you sit with the chicks in the evening before they coop, until they feather, they dont have the tendency to chase or protect. We have been raising them this way for about 5 or 6 years. We have had as many as 40 Buff Orpington in the yard. No rooster problems. Have about 20 hens with 3 roosters at this time.
We try to sit out after dinner until dark if the chores are done in time. About 30 min to watch the sunset and put all the animals to bed. Peaceful to watch all the farm in harmony. Review of my completion of my daily tasks, and start the list for tomorrow, while I enjoy what I worked so hard for.
 
Set 15 eggs under a broody New Hampshire hen.
Yesterday 13 out 15 hatched.
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We are using a couple of game hens to set on some pheasant eggs, and some bantams to set quail eggs. These hens run free around the pole barn on the Kudzu place, and forage out in it during the day, Those quail and pheasants they raise stand a much better chance of surviving predators, than incubator hatched and pen raised birds do.
 

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