Hatching vs purchasing chicks

[TomZilla43]

Following with extreme interest.

 

[TLCMidMichigan]

I went to a local who had the birds I wanted and got eggs to hatch. Not doing the best, but got 26 out of 48 eggs hatched. There may have been more but I was in a hurry to setup house for the chicks. Out of those there were 8 roos!
I gave 6 of them to a family that had a bunch running around. They didn't care.
Their yours when hatched and brought up.

 

[woodmort]

In my experience here are the options.

While hatching chicks is a great project for kids you'd better be prepared to explain why some of them didn't make it. Also, as pointed out above, be prepared for roosters. I once hatched out a dozen eggs and got 8 roosters so a 50/50 odds don't always hold. (I also bought 6 straight-run and got 5 pullets so you can never tell.) Then there is the problem with the source of the eggs. If you get them from an established breeder you can be pretty sure they will be the breed you want On the other hand go to someone with a mixed flock and you could get all kinds of mutts.

If you really want chickens buying day-old (or better) assures you of the breed and sex you want. Also once chicks reach a couple of days post-hatch (the usual way they are purchased from a feed store) they are pretty hardy.

Finally, if you with straight-run chicks you will probably get some of both sexes. Give them a year or two and then you can either incubate some of your own eggs or get a hen to do it.

 

[JDS98922]

I just ordered 9 day old chicks from MyPetChicken.com

They also have eggs they are selling too. They also sell pullets. I used them for the day-old chicks because they did not have a minimum order of like 25 chicks of one breed. I ordered 9 chicks and 5 different breeds. They had a fair amount of information (obviously not as much as this site) that I found useful. They pre-group some chickens into categories like cold-hardy and heat-hardy. A good number of pictures of mature and young chickens for each breed.

I have not received my chicks yet (they are shipping April 22. I am in Central Washington State and I still have areas of snow and heavy frost this morning) so I can not vouch for the shipping, etc. I found the price to be good ($35 for the chicks and $35 for expedited shipping). I have placed my order and paid, I can cancel my order for a $5 fee up to the week before. They had a section for me to fill out telling them what substitutions where acceptable if they did not have enough chicks hatch to cover my order.

Maybe you could try both. Start with some local chicks from the local feed store or online and then as you and your children's confidence in raising chickens grows you could try hatching them. I remember when we hatched eggs as kids. It was actually exciting.
From a financial standpoint it may make better sense to start with day old (less equipment required) and then if the kids and you are still interested add hatching eggs.

 

[equine chick]

Since you don’t want any roosters, I would go the hatchery venue versus hatching. It will be cheaper in the long run. It’s not easy to find roosters good homes that don’t wind up on the dinner table. Hatching is fun for kids but you could do that later and you might get frustrated before you get a decent flock. Granted we all have had bad luck with hatcheries; make sure you pick one closest to your home, one that has a good reputation and one that carries your breeds. Good luck

 

[woodmort]

View attachment 1722640 Beware the enablers

I went the feed store route the first time. 1/6 sexed chicks was a roo.

Statistically chickens hatch at 50/50 male/female so you'll need at least a dozen eggs if you hatch with a plan for the roos. Unless you get POL pullets, boys will happen.

Having chicks is fun, hatching chicks is more fun.

Actually back in my tropical fish days we figured to get 6 fish to be assured of at least one of both sexes

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Reading your first post...

You got lots of good suggestions already!

I personally would buy chicks at THIS point over hatching JUST to not have to deal with roosters... and unhatched chicks... or only one hatched chick and still have to go to the feed store. More so for disease control.

With power outages and other issues... feed store or hatchery chicks have allowed the ability to try MANY breeds with zero stress or heart break when compared to hatching. Most feed stores have already absorbed the losses and failure to thrives. Dispatching a chick that hatched with splay leg or what have you... difficult to do.

If you do hatch... make a plan for your cockerels and why not allow it to include that the new homes they go to MIGHT let them grace their dinner table... a wonderful lesson about where our food comes from for young ones. Has made it so much easier for me to accept the circle of life and to know that ever day something dies for us to live.

 

[BugMunch]

I bought my first set of chicks last May, from a barnyard supply store, they were 3 weeks old when I got them. Last June, I incubated some eggs I got from a friend and had 3 hatch(2 cockerels and 1 pullet). All of them are friendly and I can hold all of them, but the one pullet that I hatched in my house, will follow me around like a puppy when I am outside. I bought 3 1 day old chicks a few weeks ago(they were the breeds I was looking for) and I just hatched 5 eggs again, as well.....they are all super attached to me, as they see me as their "mom"....the only down side is like the others have said, getting cockerels when you hatch them yourself. Luckily, I have friends looking for roosters, so mine will have a home to go to. My boys really enjoyed the whole incubating, candling, and hatching process.

 

[Toothpick]

I ordered all females from Meyer Hatchery :https://www.meyerhatchery.com/get_subcat.a5w?cat=1020&A5WSessionId=11002c12609543c0b86072d6978e3065

And I also included 1 rooster. So I got 15 hens and 1 rooster. Arrived at the PO early in the morning - 4am. They called and I picked them up and it couldn’t have been easier.

Chicks take about 21 days to hatch. So you can start them and time your order so they arrive when the eggs hatch. Best of both worlds.

 

[equine chick]

Check your local library or school, they might lend you an incubator. Some schools lend them to students and families for their educational benefits.