Do hens hatch chicks in the fall?

[tweetzone86]

Hello all!

So I ordered a new flock hatching June 8 with roosters this time because we now live on 5 acres in the country! I couldn't find any sexlinks available in the hatcheries, so I did the next best thing- I ordered the breed combos that hatch sexlinks (New Hampshire Red roosters, silver-laced Wyandotte hens, and Barred Rock hens- first combo will produce Cinnamon Queen sexlink, and latter combo will produce black sexlink). This is my first time with a roo in the flock, and thus my first flock that will hatch chicks.

The way I figure it, I will keep a small sexlink "breeding flock" once we have enough sexlink hens for our laying flock (and keep them separated), and that way I don't have to rely on hatcheries to produce sexlinks for me (and I won't have to buy chicks every year, but rather hatch them naturally when mama hen can do the work for me because, you know, I'm lazy ). My breeding flock will consist of the combos above (NHR Roo/SLW hen, and NHR roo/barred rock hen). I'll prob sell the extras too, or since they're meaty birds, butcher excess roos at about 8-12 weeks old.

Anyway, with a hatch date of June 8, my birds won't be mature enough to hatch a clutch of chicks until at least the beginning of November (20+ weeks), if not mid-Nov.

Will chickens hatch chicks in late fall/winter, or will they wait until spring? I read that the BR and SLW will lay through winter. And if they do hatch chicks this winter, is there anything in particular I need to do to make sure the wee things don't die? I live in north Idaho and we get all 4 seasons and winter gets snowy and cold here (I do plan on making sure there's a windbreak, as we live on prairie in between the mountains and it gets windy, and due to coyotes we always lock the chickens inside the coop (a shed, really) at night).

 

[The Happster]

First time my broody hatched was November 3-4. But I think she was just impatient.

 

[SharW75]

We have a bantam cochin hen who hatched out chicks in mid October last year, and when I was growing up, a hen also hatched out chicks in mid October. In northern Ohio at that time of the year, it can get cold, but both times the chicks were just fine.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

Hens don't usually go broody when they start laying. Most hens will go broody when they are closer to a year old. Broodiness is also encouraged by more sunlight, so when the days start getting longer in spring, hens are encouraged to go broody. In spring, your hens will be the right age and the days will start getting longer, so your hens will probably go broody in spring.

 

[tweetzone86]

Hens don't usually go broody when they start laying. Most hens will go broody when they are closer to a year old. Broodiness is also encouraged by more sunlight, so when the days start getting longer in spring, hens are encouraged to go broody. In spring, your hens will be the right age and the days will start getting longer, so your hens will probably go broody in spring.

Ok. Does breed make a difference though? I read that Barred Rock and SL Wyandottes lay through winter? And would supplemental lighting make a difference too (I usually do it so we don't have to buy store eggs because we sell extras to pay for feed and hubby said if we have layers we are not buying eggs it was his condition when starting in chickens).

 

[aart]

Breed doesn't really matter....unless you get hybrids bred specifically to be laying machines.
You can hatch sexlinked birds(solid male over barred female),
but that doesn't mean they are like the high production sexlinks you get from the hatchery.

Pullets that start laying in late summer should lay all thru their first winter.
June hatched pullets may not lay until after winter solstice.
If you want to hatch birds for 'perpetual' eggs, you might want to get an incubator and hatch in march/april. There's no telling when or even if a bird might go broody.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Many pullets, especially from production breeds, will skip the molt their first winter and lay eggs whether you extend the lights or not. Many, not necessarily all. Wyandottes and Rocks would qualify as "production breeds" so I'd expect you to see some eggs over winter. Severe cold or heat can cause them to cut back on numbers. Where you are you will see some severe winter weather. If you don't use lights to extend laying, they will molt their second fall and stop laying until the molt is over. I do not extend lights and most of my hens that molt do start laying during the winter after their molt is over. But that leaves me a few months where I depend on pullets for eggs.

According to Henderson's Breed Chart Wyandottes and Rocks are not known to go broody that often. That doesn't mean you will never get one, but that it's not that common. Even if you had breeds that are known to go broody you still don't get any guarantees they ever will. One thing for sure, they don't go broody on demand. You have no control over if or when they go broody. If you want to control that you need to get an incubator and raise them yourself.

Henderson’s Breed Chart

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

It is generally recommended that you do not hatch those small pullet eggs. There are different reasons for that. For an egg to hatch everything has to be right. The internal egg making factory is pretty complicated, it's not unusual for a pullet to take a while to get everything working right. That's why it's not unusual to get some weird eggs when they start to lay. I have hatched pullet eggs, you can get chicks. When I hatch pullet eggs my hatch rate is not as good as when I use regular eggs. I hardly ever lose a chick that hatches but when I do it's often a chick that hatched from a small pullet egg. I find that if I wait until they have been laying at least a month these problems are reduced but don't totally go away.

There is nothing magical, mystical, or mythical about red or black sex links other than you can tell sex at hatch by down color. Some of the sex links sold by hatcheries are the commercial egg-laying hybrids, thee are egg laying machines and where a lot of the myth about sex links comes from. The type of sex links you are talking about are made by crossing two different breeds. They are not the commercial hybrids. They inherit traits from their parents and will be a lot like them. If the parents are from good egg laying flocks (most hatchery New Hampshire, Wyandottes and Rocks are) the offspring will also be good egg layers. You will probably be happy with those crosses.

 

[Mrs. K]

I have never had a pullet of any breed go broody before being close to a year old. I have never had silkies, have heard they will go broody early and often. The dual purpose breeds are more common at a year.

I have had broody hen in late fall, hatching out in October, and she raised 4 chicks. I didn't give her very many eggs, because I thought it would be harder to keep them alive. When they were 2 weeks old, we hit a week of -20 degrees at night, but she raised them just fine. But she was the only one, the rest have always done it late May to June, or for some reason - often times in July.

Personally, I love a broody hen, love her raising chicks. I have had roosters and hens of all kinds. I do not have a incubator, and I have been in the hobby for 15 years... and numerous times I have had to buy chicks. As Ridgerunner is fond of saying, they are live animals, and they just don't always follow the plan.

good luck,

Mrs K

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I wouldn't count on those breeds to set frequently or at all. It doesn't mean they won't, I just wouldn't expect it.
I've never had a Wyandotte or Plymouth rock of any variety go broody.
The breed does tend to make a big difference but there are exceptions. I've had Orpingtons hatch eggs and others that never did.
Leghorns aren't supposed to go broody but I've had white and black leghorns go broody. One back leghorn hen hatched 4 or 5 clutches for me.
I usually have at least one black Penedesenca go broody every year. I have one right now. One year I had 9 pullets in a building and shortly after they started laying eggs, 8 of them went broody together in a community nest.
If you don't get an incubator and you want to hatch regularly, I would get 4 or 5 Cochin hens. At least one of them would likely be broody at any given time.

By the way, I've had hens start setting most any time of year, like from March to November.

 

[Acre4Me]

Good points above. But, generally don’t want to hatch from those early eggs laid by a young pullet. They are often smaller and the kinks are still being worked out in their egg laying systems.