Anti-hatching.... Wait for spring

[rodriguezpoultry]

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Or it could be that younger, immature birds won't place as high in a class when compared to birds hatched out earlier in the year.

No, the rule doesn't have anything to do with showing...

Sorry, wasn't referring to your hatching rule. Just my own.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

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Anything hatched out on September 22nd is going to do great.





I hatched out on that date and I turned out alright.

 

[EmtheFishLady]

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Anything hatched out on September 22nd is going to do great.





I hatched out on that date and I turned out alright.

That's debatable.

I have some eggs in the bator now, I'll watch to see if they're any different from the hatch I had this summer, but I doubt it.

 

[cwalsh2]

My experience is with game fowl and chicks hatched early in the season will average a pound bigger than those hatched later, but conformation and quality were equal. If you went too! late you would get a chicken not worth raising. Earlier chicks have a longer growing season before the shorter period of daylight tells their body to mature up and prepare for winter. Just my take on it. I liked to start hatching in March and Quit by late May.

 

[bantyshanty]

I personally have had healthier chicks from my late fall-winter hatches, and zero mortality from those batches, but then again, those are the chicks that get to spend a Lot of time in the house in the "growing out" room in the winter, and get a lot of individual attention, with or without mamas, so I can see a potentially weaker chick & give it extra help. The spring & summer batches live with their broodies outside & don't get as much intercession from me. Although they are tractor-penned and get to forage more than my grown-out-inside winter chicks, they succumb to more congenital problems and diseases than the more coddled winter batches. That's just me. I did just promise my husband "no hatching until spring", of course, for the third year

 

[Ariel301]

It may have a lot to do with climate. I do better hatching and raising chicks through fall and winter. In fact, the same goes for any baby livestock where I live, it is better for them to be born and grown before the extreme heat sets in. We get about 10 weeks or more straight of temperatures over 100 degrees in summer, and it stunts the young ones' growth. (They will catch up when it cools off, but it takes them longer to grow overall with the hot weather) Our winters are pretty mild, we might get 10 days total below freezing, and it's usually in the 40s-50s in the afternoon.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Having read only the first page, if I do not hatch by late winter, the birds will not be ready for fall showing. Birds hatched in full-fledged spring or later will need to be a year plus to be ready for showing. Where I live summer crops do NOT grow. At. All. Winter crops flurish.

I expect that hatching dates for best quality birds vary by climate. As mentioned earlier, forage ability probably makes some difference, but I think it has to be more than simply that. My birds do not forage for quality of feed; they forage as available to relieve boredom. I do my best to give quality feed year-round in their feeders. I bypass many feed stores and brands to give my birds the best that I can--year-round.

Due to family circumstances, I am not setting eggs for another week--I am hoping that the late start will not have too heay an impact on their development quality.

 

[phasianidae]

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I agree. Whenever I hatch OEGBs to late in the year they never turn out -- they are really small and remind me of ducks.

Ryan

 

[phasianidae]

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I agree.

 

[BusyBlonde]

I hatched 16 Halloween weekend, and 13 Thanksgiving weekend, and haven't lost any. They are all doing GREAT. Healthy, happy chicks!