Hatch the eggs or not?????

[2ndTink]

Hatching eggs is fun, as long as you can deal with death. The hard part of hatching is the loss, not every egg will hatch every time.

Very true, you literally can't count your chicks before they hatch. Some may never start developing, some may quit developing, some may be ready to hatch and not make it. You run the risk of hatching something with a deformity, failure to thrive etc.

Plus, unless one of your girls goes broody, which not many hatchery chickens do, you need to buy an incubator, for this do a lot of research to find the best one for you. In the last 5 years I've had 1 chicken go broody 1 time, another has gone broody 3 times, both black astraulorps, and then last spring I got 2 silkie pullets which both went broody last fall. I have about 60 chickens, so not a very high broody rate, except now I have a whole flock of silkies so next year may be interesting.

 

[Leomome]

So, if this is your goal plan A. I would try to let hens sit and do it themselves as that is the easiest and very rewarding watching mamma and littles. Plan B have the incubator ready to put your eggs in. Plan C go get TSC chicks if A. B. fails. One other thing to note is how long has your hens been laying? First eggs laid from new hens can have difficulties with hatching.

I got them in February from TSC and they started laying right before Thanksgiving

So, if this is your goal plan A. I would try to let hens sit and do it themselves as that is the easiest and very rewarding watching mamma and littles. Plan B have the incubator ready to put your eggs in. Plan C go get TSC chicks if A. B. fails. One other thing to note is how long has your hens been laying? First eggs laid from new hens can have difficulties with hatching.

So, if this is your goal plan A. I would try to let hens sit and do it themselves as that is the easiest and very rewarding watching mamma and littles. Plan B have the incubator ready to put your eggs in. Plan C go get TSC chicks if A. B. fails. One other thing to note is how long has your hens been laying? First eggs laid from new hens can have difficulties with hatching.

Thanks!!!!