Hatching vs. buying live chicks

[marcym]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'll have hubby read these in the morning and will repost any more questions we might have. Thanks again, and keep those ideas coming!

 

[AngieChick]

My first chicks I bought from the hatchery. They are nice birds, one even went broody on me. Every new bird that I have added since have been hatched out. The quality and temperament of my silkies far exceed what I could have ordered. Then end cost for the chicks, factoring in egg costs, includijng the fact that half hatched, and I still came out ahead of what the hatchery chicks would have cost me. The same cost for much nicer birds with minimal effort on my part (in fact it's amazing fun) is a no brainer for me. My buff orps were hatched out by my broody girl so they were really no effort for me. The eggs came from a local source and the girls are beautiful and fantastic layers.

The options of types of birds and the quality available is much much greater with hatching eggs. Any new additions to my flock will be hatched out.

 

[Kansaseq]

I've hatched a grand total of 2 clutches, and say go for it. I hatched both shipped eggs and my own, and got very good results from my own eggs. If you get a good bator, it's pretty easy. I would personally recommend the Brinsea Octagon, and you can catch them on sale for $99 without the turner. You can always hatch out extras to make some extra money, too. It's a win/win!

 

[hensonly]

Quote:
Yeah, hatcheries CAN sell you sexed chicks....but I ordered RIR chicks, got gold sex links - because, mind you, this allows 100% accuracy in sexing - and out of 15 chicks, I STILL got two roos. So I got: A) not what I ordered, and B) exactly what I DIDN'T order! So don't count on the hatcheries (though I'm sure some are better than others) to give you the sex you order.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

There are some serious cons to hatching your own that have kinda been glossed over here. I hatched my own successfully for years when I lived in Florida, using eggs from my own heritage RIR flock. Then we moved to Alabama and I hatched more of my own RIRs quite successfully--so successfully that some ba$tard stole the whole darn flock! I bought some hatchery chicks and when they were grown I cranked up the ol incubators again. The first hatch, using my own eggs, nothing hatched. The second try I got one chick, a roo. The third I got 2 more. The fourth hatch I got 4 chicks--ALL of them with defects. One couldn't walk, another kept falling over. One was blind. The last one couldn't even hold up his head. I had to euthanize all 4 of them. Have you ever euthanized a chick? I guess I had been really, really lucky before this, because I had never had to kill an entire hatch before.

After that experience, I sold one incubator and gave away 2 others.


Rusty

 

[JCoogle]

I just have one con for hatching,,,,,It is addictive.

 

[allquackedup]

We hatched out two clutches from our own flock . First yeilded one chick out of nine (fustrating). 2nd hatching from our own 9 out of 16 hatched (exciting). We then decided wanted differant breeds. We opted chicks. Ordered when recieved they started dying had them tested after death they were diseased (ticked off + scared) . Afraid our others are affected even though we took all precautions. We ordered 40 eggs for the other breeds only 5 hatched 1 died of natural causes.( Disappointed). Lessons learned GET YOUR BIRDS OR EGGS FROM A NPIP BREEDER. SHIPPING EGGS ARE A BIG RISK. Eggs can carrydisease from parent flock . Chicks can be carriers of all kinds of nasty things. Most positve watching these little guys start to pip their shells. Don't get us wrong all animals were put here for a pupose. IMO chickens to lay eggs and supply meat source for my family. But you have to be amazed at the miracle of life. Entertainment value is a by product of raising chickens. If we had known how much we would have started raising our own when the kids were little. Good luck with your choice just have fun and don't over think it.