I'm thinking of trying to hatch my own chicks with a homemade incubator. The hens do not stay on the eggs after they lay them. I have two roosters so i know some of the eggs would be fertile. Has anyone tried??
Fertile egg = hatchable. Plenty of people hatch eggs from chickens who were of hatchery stock....chickens is chickens is chickens...
You will defiantly be able to hatch the eggs, the eggs don't need to be kept warm before incubation for them to hatch. You can collect, and store eggs before incubation for ten days, and still have a great hatch rate as long as you turn them.
Much of my flock came from hatcheries as chicks. As Kilsharion said, chickens is chickens. I just sold a dozen mixed eggs from my flock to a gal who has a broody hen and no roosters. I get referrals from the manager of my former, favorite feed store (I moved too far away to patronize that one any more). One of the feed store employees has been buying fertile, mixed breed eggs from me for a couple of years, whenever she has a hen go broody. She spread the word to local folks asking what to do about broody-but-roosterless hens. I don't ship them; I either meet halfway between the buyer's house and mine, or folks drive up here to get some. Last year I did ship some fertile eggs, but that was special. Those were for a couple folks just wanting to hatch something in their incubators for the BYC Easter Hatch-a-long. It was very cool to have some of my GrandChicks growing up across the U.S. So, yah, go ahead and hatch some of your flock's eggs!
First off leave the eggs in the nest till there are atleast 16 before you give up and decide there is no way they are broody. If they are still not broody here is a list of breeds that make great moms. - Australorps - Buff Orpingtons - Cochins - Silkies More breeds make good moms lots of hens are broody girls you just need to find the right one. I have let my hen brood befor she hatched 10 little chickies! What breeds of hens do you have? Have you been leaving the eggs? P.S. You will need to make a seperate nest away from the other hens and roosters for them to brood. Good Luck!
Any chicken can go broody, although some breeds are less known for it, like the welsummer, and some, lke the silkie, is very well known. They usually lay their egg and leave, even though some think they need to rest a bit on the nest after laying. lol if you have a rooster, eggs are fertile. try hatching! FYI- its addicting
this time of year, you will have to collect the eggs and keep them from freezing unless you coupe is heated/kept above freezing. It is recommended you not refrigerate your collected eggs that you intend on incubating (either in mechanical incubator or under a chicken). Once you have your 8-10-12 eggs (about all a live hen can manage) then you can put them out under a broody hen. Obviously if your using a mechanical incubator you can do as many as it will hold.
