hatching eggs

[Buffmama]

My young 'uns want to hatch an egg from our 6 month old B.O., Flappsy. Is she old enough to produce a viable egg or is she too young yet? If it is possible, can we hatch just one? They are adamant about this and I need the voice of experience in this matter. Thank you for your help.
Jodi

 

[BantamLover21]

My young 'uns want to hatch an egg from our 6 month old B.O., Flappsy. Is she old enough to produce a viable egg or is she too young yet? If it is possible, can we hatch just one? They are adamant about this and I need the voice of experience in this matter. Thank you for your help.
Jodi

Hens can begin breeding and producing fertile eggs at any time after they start laying. Many breeders wait until they are older, as the smaller pullet eggs don't often hatch as well, but I see no reason why you couldn't try.

I would personally recommend attempting to hatch more than one egg. The reasons are as follows:

• First of all, not all eggs are fertile. Experienced and vigorous roosters can produce 90-100% fertility in the hens they breed, but for young males, the percent is usually more like 50--75%. If you just incubated one egg, it might not even be viable.
• Second, incubation is not easy or straightforward for the eggs. There are many factors that influence a good hatch. Sometimes, even fertile eggs won't make it all the way through the incubation period.
• Lastly, if the single egg were to hatch, the chick would be all alone. Chicks do better when raised together with other chicks, and a lone chick would be unlikely to thrive.