Hatching vs purchasing chicks

[CaffeinatedRN]

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

Great idea!!! We have a local Montessori school. I’ll check with them!

 

[Jbently28]

We started out a few years ago by purchasing 3 different breeds from our local feed store. One happened to be a rooster and others hens. We got lucky with the outcome. If you do end up with a rooster than there is pretty much a 100% guarantee (assuming you get a breed that tends to go broody like my bantam cochins) that you will end up hatching your own eggs whether it be natural or an incubator out of pure curiosity. Luckily, we have a local chicken swap that takes place once a month where we can take our extra roosters or unwanted chicks that we hatch. Maybe this is something you can look into if you buy straight run chicks.

 

[BugMunch]

I wasn’t able to find any local hatcheries (other than “Pilgrims Pride hatchery” and that defeats the purpose of live chickens LOL) so I ordered from one in Tennessee. And they were able to send me hatching eggs from the 2 specific breeds I want. My husband is excited about DIYing an incubator and has been obsessively looking on YouTube.

For those who asked, we live right smack in the middle of the state, in Clarendon Co. (We’ve also been in national news thanks to a recent murder victim being found here. So sad)

I ordered 12 eggs of each breed, with the goal of 3 hens from each. We may keep a rooster, and I already have a few friends tell me to keep them in mind for other roosters.

So here goes nothing! LOL. The eggs will ship the end of April, giving us plenty of time (and motivation!) to get everything done

Since this is the only time we *plan* to do this, I’ve tried finding someone to loan us an incubator with no success. But the building of one seems like it might be a good project for DH and our 13 year old to tackle together. I just might need more wine to deal with all of THAT

That is a very sad story....My town has had a few as well this past year Orangeburg County here

 

[CaffeinatedRN]

Y’all have had it rough lately!

 

[Frazzemrat1]

My first several chickens I bought from a feed store and from Meyers. It was nice, I got what I wanted. But since then, Ive discovered other breeds that I can't get a from a feed store or from most hatcheries... things like my araucana. If I want them I have to go to a breeder. Here soon, I'm hoping for my brahma to go broody again so I can get some araucana eggs and get more of those beautiful birds, and another rooster.

 

[gimmie birdies]

My first hatching experience, I knew nothing, and we didn't have computers where I could ask friendly people what to do. I had a glass fish tank, and a lamp, and put eggs under it. It hatched 2 chicks and the rest were stuck in the shell. Really gross. My son at 27 still really doesn't like to eat eggs.

 

[alex5chickens]

If you want three females of each breed, at the very least you should get twelve eggs of each breed. To begin with, since you are a begginer, you should count on six eggs of each breed not making it. And since most hatches are around a fifty -fifty split, you'll have 3 males and 3 females. And that's only if you're lucky!
if you start out hatching, you should get probably 15 eggs of each breed.
if you just buy chicks, you are going to save money since you won't need to buy as many chicks as you would eggs.
Also, no incubator cost.
in the end, it's up to you.

 

[BugMunch]

Hey y’all.
I’m new to chickens, though my husband is not. He has incubated eggs as a child, as well as raising chickens. This will be a family activity, but primarily my “project”

I’m looking for opinions on hatching vs buying chicks. To get the breeds I’m really looking for, odds are I’ll have to order online. I’d love to incubate/hatch primarily for the kids to experience it. (They are 13 and a very well behaved 6) Any advice? I’m completely on woth you telling me I’m nuts for starting off with hatching and I should get chicks instead. But if I do hatch I have these questions:

Anyone have recommendations for where to order the eggs?
Taking into consideration the survival rate and the fact that I really don’t want roosters, how many of each breed (I want 2 different breeds) should I order if I’m aiming towards 3 females of each breed? (I’m flexible on that though)

I’m open to any other advice, and I’ll be pouring through the thread to see what I find

Thanks!

Oh, and I’m in SC if that makes a difference

What part of SC? I am in SC as well

 

[Shadrach]

I’m going to stretch a point here. There is more than one way of hatching eggs.

If I wanted to hatch chicks as a project and as a means of showing my kids the miracle of life and the wonder of the process of reproduction, I wouldn’t want that miracle delivered by courier, or cooked in a machine.

Nature often has a inconvenient way of doing things but for me, watching a breeding pair mate, make a nest and set a clutch, then watch while the hen sits until she eventually hatches her eggs and after rears her chicks with the help of her rooster is the most instructive and for me the most fascinating.

If you can have a rooster then this is the method that will teach your children most.

 

[CarpCharacin]

I think that purchasing chicks is a good option if you can find the breed that you want for a reasonable price, but if you're looking for a rare breed chicks might be extremely hard to come by and/or prohibitively expensive, and in that case I think you are better off hatching them.