Completely new to this-advice much appreciated

[boomspaqetti]

Good morning all, I'm looking for some advice please.
I've had my girls for about 3 years. I have 3 silkies, an Orpington and a frizzle bantam. Yesterday I rescued a male lavender bantam. A rival cockerel had given him a bit of a beating and the lady wanted to get him rehomed, so I offered to take him. I picked him up yesterday and he's an absolute sweety! He's been hand reared so is very friendly and my girls welcomed him with open wings! It was lovely. I'm very new to the whole thing with hatching chicks etc but he's already had his way with some of the girls and I wiukd like to be prepared. I've purchased an incubator and an electric hen. How soon after he's been in there do you think I should start putting eggs the girls are laying into the incubator? Any advice with regards to hatching chicks would be very much appreciated

 

[N F C]

Good morning and welcome to BYC!

I'm not experienced with hatching eggs (no roo here) but just wanted to welcome you. Nice to have you join us!

 

[Lalegid]

I haven't got a rooster so haven't got a whole lot of experience, but I think they need about 4 days with the hens and then the eggs are fertile. You can collect the eggs and store them (pointy end down) for up to 10 days, and then set them in the incubator all at once. When storing them, keep them at room temperature, not in the fridge, and turn them a couple of times a day.

Hatching chicken eggs takes, on average, 21 days. Do some reading in the sticky/education part of this website for lots of info on hatching. Your incubator should be set to 37.5 - 38 degrees celsius depending on whether it's a still air or has a fan. Good luck!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Good morning all, I'm looking for some advice please.
I've had my girls for about 3 years. I have 3 silkies, an Orpington and a frizzle bantam. Yesterday I rescued a male lavender bantam. A rival cockerel had given him a bit of a beating and the lady wanted to get him rehomed, so I offered to take him. I picked him up yesterday and he's an absolute sweety! He's been hand reared so is very friendly and my girls welcomed him with open wings! It was lovely. I'm very new to the whole thing with hatching chicks etc but he's already had his way with some of the girls and I wiukd like to be prepared. I've purchased an incubator and an electric hen. How soon after he's been in there do you think I should start putting eggs the girls are laying into the incubator? Any advice with regards to hatching chicks would be very much appreciated

Good luck on future attempts. I would recommend this page for learning about hatching. It is an awesome source of info: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101