First attempt at beginning to breed Chickens!

[duskins]

Hello,

Thanks for all the Warm Welcoming since I joined the form!

I currently have about 65 hens and 4 roosters on my little homestead. I have 20 RIR hens, 45 Americana hens, 2 RIR Roosters and 2 Americana Roosters. This flock is very young 3-6months old. My older flock which I have is going on 3 years I am now weaning them off to the freezer as they have slowed down in production to about an egg every 48hrs. I have always used my current adult flock for egg laying only.

Now I am wanting to start breeding my own. I have selected my roosters from my straight runs from neighboring farms looking for the best "quality" and the healthiest of the flock. I have chosen to keep 2 of each kind for mating purposes.

I have also selected 4 RIR and 4 Americanas hens which are the healthiest and most mature acting of the flock.

I have built a coop for each breed to be with one rooster and the four hens together. I would like them to produce fertile eggs and then I will place them in an incubator and complete the brooding process from there.

A few questions in which I am looking for guidance:

1. Best incubator for 42eggs that I can get for under $150? I would like one as automated as possible.

2. Best design for a brooding box for new baby chicks? I would like the design to keep the chicks safe, heated, and able to develop up until 6 weeks in age.

3. Any diet or particular items to feed the hens and roosters who will be setup to breed fertile eggs? Any supplements I should steer away from like certain fruits or veggies or other treats I give my others will reduce the chance of fertility?

4. I will need to store the eggs for up to 7 days in order to get about 42 possible fertile eggs to make a run in the incubator. What is the best method to store the eggs until I have a full load? I know 8 days is max.

5. Any other suggestions would be helpful!

Thanks in advance for your support and assurance. I am in North Carolina nearby to Charlotte, NC.

 

[tec27]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1. you'll never find it. $150 will buy you a very good manual 20 chicken egg incubator (brinsea). You're best bet is to get a cheapy incubator that can hold 50 some eggs, get a good thermometer and hygrometer, and go from there. Automatic turners are expensive. Turning eggs can be a pain but its not that bad. just turn twice a day. i only turn twice and ive never had issues. some people turn 3-6 times a day. That just sounds exhausting. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2. They can live in a cardboard box. They arent very picky. I use a huge aquarium that i mount a light to. Add some pine chips to the bottom. Water container and food. Good to go. But with all the chickens you want to hatch, it would probably be best to do this outside in a shed or garage or something. They create a lot of waste. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3. They say high protein is very good for the eggs. Make sure you are using laying feed and they have plenty of calcium so the eggs are nice and hard. Just lost of vitamins and nutrients so the embryos are strong.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]4. 8 days is not max. I stored eggs for 10 weeks before. Pointy side down in an egg carton. Preferably in a cold damp basement. Around 50-60 degrees. Turn every day so the yolk doesnt stick to the egg lining. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]5. Make sure you have a good number of roosters to hens so your fertility rates are good. Test some eggs before incubating to see if they are fertile by cracking them open. Will save you some time if you find out that some eggs arent fertile. 1:4 ratio should be could but just check and make sure. [/FONT]

 

[duskins]

Thanks for the information! I travel for work and can be gone for 24hrs so I will need to look into the auto turner. My neighbors will feed, but don't like to ask them to turn.

I am using 17% layer feed, but is there something better for breeding?

I plan on building a brooding house in the barn. I was thinking of building 4 like 2' by 4' with lighting and all.

 

[tec27]

Thanks for the information! I travel for work and can be gone for 24hrs so I will need to look into the auto turner. My neighbors will feed, but don't like to ask them to turn.

I am using 17% layer feed, but is there something better for breeding?

I plan on building a brooding house in the barn. I was thinking of building 4 like 2' by 4' with lighting and all.

brooding house sounds good. just make sure they have access to heat.

Layer feed is perfect. Provides good calcium for strong eggs. Make sure you just provide them with good nutrients and good protein. As long as the particular food you use has these ingredients you should be fine. Yeah having neighbors turn is not the greatest idea. I dont know why but they think it is harder than it actually is. Look at little giant incubators. They are cheap and semi reliable and you may be able to find one that fits your needs. Just make sure you test the thermometers and hygrometers.

 

[duskins]

Great Info! I will def look into a few. This is what I have been looking at:

Electronic Thermostat Circulated Air Picture Window Hovabator Incubator - 1588

It will cost around $225 and hold 42eggs w/ auto turner

Let me know your thoughts! Thanks for your help

 

[tec27]

Hovabators are good too

 

[3 NH reds]

The 1588 is great it self regulates the heat. It has worked out for me.

 

[duskins]

3 NH Reds & Tec27 thanks for the help! I will post the updates as I progress. I will be ready in about 3 months to begin with actual incubation, but I am going to start prepping my new flock and ensure they are up to par. It will also give me some time to get things ready and built so when I start I am ready to rock and roll!

I will keep everyone posted so if they want to venture into hatching then they can lean along the way!

 

[jesus89]

Hi all and sorry if I joined late :0, but I wanted to point out that I recently bought a hovabator 1602n of eBay for about 100$ shipping included and with auto turner and its working out great for me so far, it just takes some sorting through on eBay and you can find one with turner for around 120$ or maybe less in my case. Anyways good luck with your project hope all goes well and hope I've helped a bit

 

[duskins]

Great! I have used EBay many of times. I will try it! I am going to try to start a set of eggs each week so I will need 4 incubators! $100-$120 each is like 1/2 price so that is a large savings. Almost everything on my micro farm is reused, repurposed, or recycled! So spending for an incubator hurts, but I would rather have success than failure based on an equipment piece. Thanks again.

Any tips???