2026 Chick Thread!

[Lizzie_Pinecone24]

 

[Lizzie_Pinecone24]

I got this little odd one of the batch to the new hampshire in absolutely love with it.

 

[FernwoodHollow]

I know I do it super differently than a lot of folks but I do late summer early fall chicks that way I get an entire laying season of eggs before they hit their first molt so my next batch of chicks will be coming the last week of August they hit laying age by the end of February early March just as spring hits and I get the entire summer of first-year laying instead of waiting until July August for them to start laying only for them to hit their fall moult 2 months later. But I'm adding some Speckled Sussex, some Australorps, and some BCM, to my current group of 11 Exchequer Leghorn, Olive Eggers, Easter Eggers, Marans, and Ameraucanas. Originally I was going to add a rooster but was on the fence and decided against it this year. Maybe next year.

 

[kattabelly]

I know I do it super differently than a lot of folks but I do late summer early fall chicks that way I get an entire laying season of eggs before they hit their first molt so my next batch of chicks will be coming the last week of August they hit laying age by the end of February early March just as spring hits and I get the entire summer of first-year laying instead of waiting until July August for them to start laying only for them to hit their fall moult 2 months later. But I'm adding some Speckled Sussex, some Australorps, and some BCM, to my current group of 11 Exchequer Leghorn, Olive Eggers, Easter Eggers, Marans, and Ameraucanas. Originally I was going to add a rooster but was on the fence and decided against it this year. Maybe next year.

Pullets will often lay through their first winter, so if egg production is a priority you might be better off hatching early enough in the spring that they'll start laying the same autumn and probably not slow down much for a full twelve months.

 

[FernwoodHollow]

Pullets will often lay through their first winter, so if egg production is a priority you might be better off hatching early enough in the spring that they'll start laying the same autumn and probably not slow down much for a full twelve months.

Its not top priority for me, but started doing it that way and have just been sticking with it haha plus I like mine becoming adults in the cold I have no proof but I feel like it helps them adapt better to it since they've known nothing else

 

[kattabelly]

Its not top priority for me, but started doing it that way and have just been sticking with it haha plus I like mine becoming adults in the cold I have no proof but I feel like it helps them adapt better to it since they've known nothing else

Fair enough! Mine aren't exactly warm in the summer

 

[FernwoodHollow]

Fair enough! Mine aren't exactly warm in the summer

I'm lucky that I get both extremes. I get below zero in the winter and above 85 in the summer

 

[kattabelly]

I'm lucky that I get both extremes. I get below zero in the winter and above 85 in the summer

That sounds horrific Anything much over 65F and I have to jump in the sea, or lie on a cool floor under damp towels like a beached cetacean

 

[FrostRanger]

That sounds horrific Anything much over 65F and I have to jump in the sea, or lie on a cool floor under damp towels like a beached cetacean

Better than most summer days hanging around 100F with near 100% humidity.....

 

[kattabelly]

Better than most summer days hanging around 100F with near 100% humidity.....

No thanks! That much humidity at what counts for high temperatures here is bad enough.