Does it really matter when?

[rancher hicks]

I hatch chicks ?

1. I'm going to need to buy eggs of certain breeds to hatch, but does it matter if I hatch them now or wait til spring?


2. Do chicks that are hatched in the spring do better than chicks that are hatched in Summer , Fall or Winter?


3. I recently had a hen hatch two and another on four eggs. They insist on sitting. What can I do to stop hens from going broody?

4. If I break them will that cause some kind of internal damage?

 

[bargain]

I hatch chicks ?

1. I'm going to need to buy eggs of certain breeds to hatch, but does it matter if I hatch them now or wait til spring? A benefit of hatching now is that you are closer to eggs in the spring.


2. Do chicks that are hatched in the spring do better than chicks that are hatched in Summer , Fall or Winter? That's a great one. I think it would depend upon your overall climate as well as how well you are set up for brooding out the babies. If you have horrific winters with a lot of power outages and no converter, can you handle the stress.... Or maybe you have a great broody hen who can just marshall her resources and guide the little ones along.


3. I recently had a hen hatch two and another on four eggs. They insist on sitting. What can I do to stop hens from going broody? MMMM.... My tricks are hen in a wire cage with a fan on her. I recently broke a broody by placing her on ice packs. After about 2 days of me switching off the packs (I didn't keep on for 24 hours as I didn't want to chill her) she finally gave it up (that and I put some four week olds near her but behind and she looked at them and me as if to say they are a bit old but she adopted them.

4. If I break them will that cause some kind of internal damage? No, no internal damage. In fact if the hen is repetitively broody as many of mine are, they can loose body weight and that's not good for the long term health of them!

Okay Rancher Hicks, great questions, where's my reward LOL, just kidding!!!!!

 

[gvh221]

Hello Rancher,

I am new to hatching eggs and raising chickens so take my answers with a grain of salt, but here goes:

1. I wouldn't think it would matter if you hatched them now; providing a successful hatch, they should be feathered and ready to go to an outside coop in early fall. If you live in a cold climate, I would suggest choosing cold-hardy breeds.

2. I'm not sure what season would be best to hatch eggs. I will add that most research I've seen indicates that fertility rates in hatching eggs tends to decline in August and the months thereafter.

3. I don't have enough experience to answer this one; I currently have my first "hatch" in the incubator. In my opinion, I would think the best way to stop the broody hens would be to closely monitor the egg laying and snatch the eggs before they get a chance to go broody.

4. I'm not sure I understand this question....if you break what? If you break the eggs than I would think there would definitely be some internal damage involved.

As aforementioned, I'm a complete beginner; but I hope my answers help some, and hopefully some more experienced folks will weigh in. Best of Luck!

 

[rancher hicks]

Hello Rancher,

I am new to hatching eggs and raising chickens so take my answers with a grain of salt, but here goes:

1. I wouldn't think it would matter if you hatched them now; providing a successful hatch, they should be feathered and ready to go to an outside coop in early fall. If you live in a cold climate, I would suggest choosing cold-hardy breeds.

2. I'm not sure what season would be best to hatch eggs. I will add that most research I've seen indicates that fertility rates in hatching eggs tends to decline in August and the months thereafter.

3. I don't have enough experience to answer this one; I currently have my first "hatch" in the incubator. In my opinion, I would think the best way to stop the broody hens would be to closely monitor the egg laying and snatch the eggs before they get a chance to go broody.

4. I'm not sure I understand this question....if you break what? If you break the eggs than I would think there would definitely be some internal damage involved.

As aforementioned, I'm a complete beginner; but I hope my answers help some, and hopefully some more experienced folks will weigh in. Best of Luck!

By break I mean to "break" the broody cycle of the hen. It's also a term I use for when a hen "breaks" or stops tending to her chicks and goes back laying.

Right now I have three hens tending to two chicks though only one sat and hatched the eggs. The other two just sat side by side in a nearby nest box. They were sitting on nothing. Now that the other hen has hatched the chicks and they are out of the nest box they all three are sharing the mothering. Crazy chickens.

Only females would do such a thing. Males would say you hatched it, you take care of it.

 

[bargain]

Indeed, said this lady to another!!! Except in the silkie world, I have one loving Daddy who takes turns parenting amazing !!!!!

 

[rancher hicks]

Indeed, said this lady to another!!! Except in the silkie world, I have one loving Daddy who takes turns parenting amazing !!!!!

My Delaware roo seems to chortle the come and eat song, when I put feed out. He's a very nice rooster.

 

[20736]

The season you hatch only affects the weather conditions outside when you take them out of the brooder, say 10 weeks.

You can not buy eggs now and hatch those eggs in the Spring, if that is what you meant. Shipped eggs have a one week shelf life at best.

I encourage broody behavior in my hens. let them do the turning and worrying. I would suggest in the future you place eggs you want to hatch under broody hens - works for me.

Broodiness is a natural part of being a hen, to some hens. That is why I say use it to your advantage.

So, good luck on the road you choose and I hope this helped a little.

 

[rancher hicks]

The season you hatch only affects the weather conditions outside when you take them out of the brooder, say 10 weeks.

You can not buy eggs now and hatch those eggs in the Spring, if that is what you meant. Shipped eggs have a one week shelf life at best.

I encourage broody behavior in my hens. let them do the turning and worrying. I would suggest in the future you place eggs you want to hatch under broody hens - works for me.

Broodiness is a natural part of being a hen, to some hens. That is why I say use it to your advantage.

So, good luck on the road you choose and I hope this helped a little.

No I was not meaning to buy eggs now to hatch in the spring. I meant hatching in the Spring as opposed to Summer. I normally fire up the incubator in January, but since I'd like to add to my lines, was considering hatching in the fall. I hardly consider what we're having here as Summer since the temps have been so low.

While I would not be so opposed to broody hens, I've got plenty of chicks and chickens. At least in those I care to breed myself. I intend to change out my BR and CR roosters for new ones since I only have the two. My intent is to buy eggs and hatch them myself. These are two breeds I will not nor should be bought from a hatchery. I could get BR's here but not in the line I'm keeping.