Hatching Eggs in Winter- A Discussion

[RioLindoAz]

I had on order of of straight run chicks come in from a breeder in the middle of winter, and 60% of the birds were males.
I'm not sure if this is purely coincidence, but there might be a method to your madness.

 

[ga_goat]

I had been hunting Buckeye eggs for 2 years that I could afford , they came in the mail today so , a winter hatch . not much choice.

 

[silkymom1986]

I have to admit first i am addicted to incubating, but I like incubatin in winter, then you should have some nice layers by spring and summer, hatch rate will go down sometimes but as long as i get a few or 1 i feel it's a successful hatch. Does depend on your set up, because you have to have somewhere to keep them warm until you can put them with the rest of your flock, luckily we have a shed out back we move them to once they get 2 weeks old and its plenty warm in there, but we still keep a heat lamp on them for a while.
Hope this helps some!

 

[MSH]

not really sure how old this is but had to add my comments lol I never incubated in the winter I did in early spring and had decent hatches but this hacth is looking pitiful I just candled 9 of the eggs and only saw 3 that were where they should be

gonna wait and try it again in a few days fertility issues I guess but I only have one rooster with one hen in each of the pens these eggs came from

 

[texaschickmom]

Quote:
I hope your candling results are better in a few days. I've got an incubator full right now of Australorp eggs purchased on BYC and some from my own hatchery birds. Tomorrow is day 8 so I'll probably candle. Hope things are looking good in there!

 

[allendianne]

I just received some Silkies that have come from a larger coop with a rooster. I think we will let them go broody and try to hatch some of these first eggs We are in MN so its still cold and I know the chicks will need heat when hatched. First question is what do I need to do to prepare these Silkies to brood and is there anything I need to do in my coop? How many days will the chickens be laying fertilized eggs? This is my 1st winter with chickens and our first Silkies. My other chickens are Red Star and Laced Wyandotte and are all hens.

 

[thechookhouse_123]

I hatch some in the winter so that then I already have some pullets ready for the spring.