Best time to start incubating for spring hatch?

how bad is the itch? If you want chciks that will be able to go outside in 6-8 weeks after hatching then you want to set eggs in march maybe they would go out in may then and you would have eggs from them before fall. How long do you want to run heat for them? is really the main question you can hatch chicks anytime. And how bad is the itch?

 

I'm planning to start incubating around Jan 1 (if the girls cooperate). A little warmer here than Ohio I'm sure, but I want these to be laying by late Summer/early Fall

 

It is not that important as to when you start incubating, you just have to think of where you will be keeping them after they hatch? I never start until at least March because of the weather here in Ohio. It has to be warm enough for them to at be in my attached garage. I got chicks once in late Jan and kept them in my basement under a light. I will never do that again. Everything was covered with dust from those chicks being in the basement for three months.

 

I'm planning on setting my first eggs around the 1st of March... hopefully the snow will be gone by June next year... If the itch is bad enough, you could always hatch just a couple and keep them inside longer...

 

My first hatch of the year was in April. Still no eggs. Loafers!