I agree with blueface. If my hens are laying dec-march I start the hatch process with an incubator. I will add a little more light in the barn (two hours) starting in December. But the goal for me is show birds for Fall.
As for raising the chicks I have brooders with air filters set up in the house that the chicks use until almost full feathered and then they are moved out to the barn into horse troughs with heat lamps added.
If my chickens are laying and I have no where to go with the eggs, I will incubate them, I had rather get baby chicks as to let the eggs go bad. My winter are not as harsh as the ones up north, so it is not as stressful on the chicks. I don't recommend Doing pullet eggs because of the low hatch rate, and the hens have not fully developed. But I will hatch them out just to see what I get if they do not meet MY standards I have a place for them. I turn my lights off when time changes, to give my chickens a rest but mine have not went through their molt this year, and my egg production is around 6-7 eggs a day, with average weight of 1.6 oz.. Mother nature will run its course and when they stop laying they will get a rest. If you do hatch out in late fall winter months make sure you are set up to handle what you hatch out, you brought them into the world so make sure they have a happy life.Not to change topic but.... I have had some discussion in another type of social media on this subject and well let's just say it did ruffle some feathers and there are people who think what I'm saying is wrong. Open for discussion
Ok this question my ruffle some feathers. Oh well...
Lately I have been seeing a lot of posts around the internet on people still breeding and hatching eggs. I have a real problem with this as this is the time of year that the birds are going thru a lot of changes with molt and getting ready for the harsh winters. Fall moving into winter is the time of year to most and I mean most breeders let their birds rest and have some time to add on poundage from the long breeding season of spring and late summer. Most hens are so exhausted that they need this time of year to recoup. Breeding and rasing chicks in the dead of winter in most parts of the states is not a good idea. It's bad enough trying to deal with the winter and taking care of birds let a lone chicks. Again this is my opinion not everyone may agree with this and frankly I would expect that.
Granted that there are some places in the USA that are nice or mild all year long, however what I am seeing is places that are in the northern areas of the country. Even still this time of year most true (good) breeders and/or backyard hobbist let their birds rest. Most will start back up for breeding in Late Jan early Feb and run till about End of April to early May. Because once the temps start getting too warm it is hard to ship chicks and/or eggs with out bad results. Then most will start back up again in Sept time frame and run a shorten breeding program and then whine down for the later part of fall into early winter for a rest period for the flock and to also allow the better pullets and cockerels that were choosen to be the next breeding pairs to fill out more before they ramp back up.
My opinion on places like FL, South TX is that yes the breeders can go longer but ya still have to give the birds a rest or you will end up wearing them out sooner rather than later. I'm talking more on the USA. Yes having birds in breed pens for this sole purpose will exhaust them and if the winter in harsh in a particular area that could cause them to not make it. LIke I said before to each their own and if you do continue to raise birds throught the winter please and I mean please make sure you have the facilities to hold them until such time that you can let them outside and make it. That is my point on hatching late in the year and or thru the winter. I know that there are many who live where the climates are mild and that allows them to have better options than the ones who live in the northern states. Look at how the hatcheries do it, think about it there is a reason why they have limited numbers of certain breeds available this time of year.
So why would you want to exhaust your birds to the point that they may end up not making the winter or even try and raise chicks during the winter?
