Anti-hatching.... Wait for spring

[Ducks and Banny hens]

It seems nobody here has heard of.....

'If you hatch late in the season, the hatchlings will grow into very inferior adults'

Anybody have thoughts on this?

 

[Illia]

I haven't heard of that exact saying, but I've always heard it is best to hatch in the spring and fall.


I think it really depends, though, on how your climate is and how prepared you are.

2 years for me of hatching in the fall-winter and too many dead chicks, I'm limiting my hatches to late winter-late spring. Sad truth is, it doesn't even get all that cold out here. It's the excess rain, wind, muck, and lack of well insulated coops that do the trick. I'll fess up there.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

All of my healthiest and most vigorous birds come from eggs I've hatched on Dec or early January.

 

[sjarvis00]

Quote:
I have always had better hardier birds with fall hatches, and often better birds in general. I for one will completely disagree with this idea, by hatching fall / winter birds out of eggs that were laid under natural conditions I end up with birds that also lay well through the winter months and have fewer problems with them as adults as I have had with spring / summer hatches.
I firmly beleive that a bird that will lay year round, grow and develop well under less than ideal conditions, and lay well into life would be in my opinion a superior bird to one that lays seasonally in the longer daylight hours, warmer temps, and for a short period of time.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

That's not the exact saying. Just a summary. It's not about having offspring at risk from cold etc., it's about the actual quality of the offspring. It's the old-timer type of thing that nobody knows why it is, but it usually (or sometimes) is. I guess it's because all of the domestic birds are meant to reproduce in spring, and so when we try to force (or allow) the reproduction cycle, the offspring aren't smart, social, hardy, strong, etc. This even seems to apply to summer hatches.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

Quote:
This I hear is really early, not really considered very late. This idea might be one of those things like the egg-shape sexing trick...

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

Quote:
I have always had better hardier birds with fall hatches, and often better birds in general. I for one will completely disagree with this idea, by hatching fall / winter birds out of eggs that were laid under natural conditions I end up with birds that also lay well through the winter months and have fewer problems with them as adults as I have had with spring / summer hatches.
I firmly beleive that a bird that will lay year round, grow and develop well under less than ideal conditions, and lay well into life would be in my opinion a superior bird to one that lays seasonally in the longer daylight hours, warmer temps, and for a short period of time.

So you're birds have improved vitality by hatching late/really early. Interesting. We haven't hatched at any of these times, more often we've hatched in late spring-ish.

 

[sjarvis00]

I do my best with late Oct-2nd week of january. the best ones are almost always Nov, and Dec. hatches with them being 12-16 weeks by spring. They have fewer health problems and much less input than the weaker spring and summer hatches and do not grow out in hot dry conditions related to thinner feathers of lesser quality. they seem to put on a much better body and grow at a better more sustanainable rate. the resulting birds also lay very well in the next winter as well as thorough out the spring and summer months. Year round birds of better vigor. It works for me and I will stick to the practice. I do not own a bird from a late spring / summer hatch and do not intend to start now.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm just guessing but I think it probably depends on your circumstances. If chickens free range, they probably get a better spread of vitamins and such when the plants are green. The nutritional requirements for hatching eggs are a little different than just for them laying eggs. If you feed them all that they eat regardless of the season, there may not be a lot of difference.

It is also possible that roosters have more vitality in the spring than the dead of winter. Not sure about that, but ... This may not account for the quality of the ones that do hatch, just how many eggs are fertile and hatch.

If you hatch chicks when the quality forage is bad and they forage for most of their food, they may not grow as well chicks hatched when foraging is great?

As I said, just guessing.

 

[draye]

The latest that I've hatched was in Sept on the 22nd. These chicks seem to be doing fine, Hatched 31 and have lost only one.
I'll wait to see how they lay.

I hatch from eggs that nearly all the nutrition is from the laying pellets, however I do feed table scraps and left overs to them which they seem to really love.