Whats a normal hatching rate?

[UBkevy]

I am thinking of trying to get 4-6 silkie hens and having them in a nursery coup. Then have them hatch fertile eggs that I will buy. I just need to know the hatch rate of eggs that are raised by a chicken. My goal is to hatch 20 hens a year so that means approx 40 chicks and will need to know how many eggs I would need. Then i would know if my 4-6 silkies would be able to do the job

 

[cashdl]

Shipped hatching eggs usually have a low hatch rate. I would say 25% average and if you get a higher hatch rate sometimes, consider it a bonus.

Lanae

 

[quibs]

I ordered hatching eggs and got 9 out of 12 in my last hatch

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

I have had 0 hatch out of 24 and 29 out of 30 hatch another time. There is no way to know what percentage will hatch. Now the first time I was using one of those metal Sears incubators tha was junk. Second time I was using a Roll-x. I have had 100% hatches with my eggs more times than not with it.

 

[SierraView]

If you're buying shipped eggs then the average hatch is 50% so you need 80 eggs a year. If they aren't shipped it will be less. I would use 80 as the most you need to buy.

 

[Niss]

What is normal rates for your own eggs?
At what age does fertility peak?
Does method of incubation have much to do with it? UBkevy and I are both talking about using broodies, but Ted and Jan discuss results with two vastly different incubators they tried.