Advice needed - Hatching Eggs or Day Old Chicks

[FreedomLover]

I'm still in the early planning stages with regards to getting chickens but this is something I've been tossing around in my mind for a while and thought I'd throw it out here and see what people think.

We want egg layers and one roo for each breed that we end up with. Originally I was thinking Buff Orps and Black Cooper Marans. Then I saw Wyndotts and feel like they'd be a good addition as well.

Then I started scoping out the auction area to see what is generally up for auction there and have changed my mind to Splash/Blue/Lavender Orpingtons and Blue/Black/Splash Marans. Wyndotts hasn't changed.

Now, if I were to stick with my original selection, I could order day old chicks from an on-line hatchery, for the most part. However, I'm a bit hesitant to do that since I've heard that their "stock" isn't always the best.

But if I want to go to my revised selection, I'd probably have to go with Hatching Eggs since those are somewhat rare breeds that can't be gotten from the on-line hatcheries. But with the cost of those eggs, the thought of having a horrid hatch rate makes me nervous.

Add to that the fact that I really want to start with between 30-50 chicks so that we can get some good fryers as well as a nice selection of good laying hens and good roo's to cover the hens for selling hatching eggs, and you can begin to see my quandry!

I don't want to "start" as a total addict to chickens and would prefer to work up to that

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

You have big plans for your chicken-filled future, so naturally you want to get the best start you can, which is going to come from the best stock you can get. Which is expensive. That being said, get some cheap-o eggs (i.e. mutts) to practice incubating with first, and you may want to do a couple of batches to make sure you've got it down. As a rule, don't buy eggs off of ebay, buy them from here (granted, there are plenty of reputable ebayers, it's just alot easier to get scammed there than it is here). Just like if you were going to start breeding dogs, you want to buy your stock from a reputable breeder, not from a puppy mill.

If you don't already have an incubator, buy one that has a good track record, like the hovabator 1588 with the fan, get the egg turner - I do not recommend pinching pennies here. But even with everything and shipping, it'll be less than $200. When you get your hatching eggs, make sure you see lots of pics of their stock, in fact, if you haven't already, start looking now and get on a waiting list if necessary for your eggs.

Good luck!!

 

[FreedomLover]

Cloverleaf -- Thanks for the response. I think maybe you're idea is a good one, about getting "mutt" eggs to start with. We can always use those as our meat chickens

and it would give me plenty of experience with hatching eggs.

And you're 100% correct about getting started with good stock, which is why I am hesitant to start with the on-line hatchery chicks. I don't have a problem with spending good money for good eggs from good stock.

And the BYC auction is really the only one I've been looking at. And in all honesty I've already started adding people to my buddy list here on BYC that I see have a good reputation. That way when I'm ready I can already have people I can contact about eggs.

So far the only bator I've priced was the one at TSC. It was fairly inexpensive but it was also a still-air bator and the clerk said that they didn't have any fans available for them. Again, I don't have a problem spending good money for good equipment. I'll google the hovabator 1588 with the fan and see what I have to look forward too!

Thanks again for your response.

 

[Illia]

Yep. personally I much prefer getting hatching eggs over hatchery-bred day old chicks. But, I agree very much with Cloverleaf Farm - I started out with a cheap incubator, and just collected some fertile eggs from my own chickens. From there, it costed nothing but $50 for the cheap incubator. With that, I learned a LOT, including the fact that cheap incubators like Little Giants are NOT reliable.

From there, I got more expensive eggs, after much studying of course, and also got myself a good Hovabator 1588. With all the stuff learned, I got an excellent fertility rate and a decent hatch rate. My Ameraucanas came out beautifully, and the Marans, as expected, had a couple troubles.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
Indeed! Pieces of poo those LG's are!! Me and my old LG:

Me and my Hova 1588:

 

[sgtmom52]

Quote:
I just bought the Hovabator Genesis 1588 with turner from Cutler Supply for $162.10 plus shipping ($179.10 total) www.cutlersupply.com

Another good source is from the company itself ~ G.Q.F. manufacturing for $184.80 (free shipping) This also includes 30 quail eggs. http://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=66

The Genesis is often available on ebay too.

 

[FreedomLover]

Well a quick google search showed it's top site with a hovabator 1588 with the fan and egg turner for about $175.00. Add in shipping and it'd probably come to about $200. Not too much to insure easier hatching

Actually I think the one TSC sells is the LG model. I wasn't overly impressed just from looking at the box. My DH said it was made from foam and they didn't last long and were hard to clean. (He's raised all sorts of farm animals so I trust his judgement.)

Once the barn is built I will have 5 coops with an average of 56 sf total for each. Way I figure it that'd be good for about a dozen chickens. Two of them will be next to smaller 25 sf coops that I'm thinking about using as brooders for hatching egg chicks and for any hens that may happen to go broody. Total SF for all coops will be about 330 sf. Plenty of room for starting a smallish flock and room for expansion!

What type of mutt eggs do you suggest starting with?

Edit to add: Sgtmom, I saw that one with the quail eggs. Who knows, maybe I'll get that one just to try quail