I've had chickens for about a year now, and I have 14 barred rock hens and 1 barred rock rooster. We want to breed them this spring and hatch out some eggs, because I just got an incubator, and I'm wondering about how long to leave the hens with the rooster. I think 14 hens are to many to leave with one rooster and to expect fertile eggs so I'm thinking about making a "breeding pen" and putting about 5 hens in with the rooster in the breeding pen. My questions are, how long do I need to leave the hens in with the rooster to have fertile and eggs, and are all the eggs in the incubator going to hatch at different times because they were layed at different times?

Thanks!!

If he's doing his job, and he likely will, you can start collecting the eggs a few days after they are together. You can collect eggs for about week before putting them in the incubator. They will all hatch at the same time because they don't start developing until they are being heated.