Taranakian
In the Brooder
- Aug 26, 2025
- 2
- 16
- 21
This passed Sunday we decided, after almost 5 years in our rural acre in the hill country of Taranaki, New Zealand - just the two of us and a dog, that we'd best get chickens and figure out the process of keeping a rolling flock for meat and egg production.
On Monday I found a listing on our local auction site for 12x fertile Blue Orpington eggs for sale in our region. Also I started scratching around here and learned that hatching chicken eggs isn't terribly straightforward, so spent the day frantically trying to get my hands on the components to build an incubator that automatically turned the eggs, and failed. I know I could have turned them by hand, but I also know that we have a couple of big celebrations coming up - my citizenship ceremony and our wedding anniversary - that would make that impractical.
Yesterday around midday I checked the auction site for the 300th time and found a listing posted a half hour before for a Brinsea Octagon 20 Eco, with the automatic turning cradle and their chick warmer for the low price of $50 and a 3 hour round trip. I got home in time to win the auction for the eggs that I will pick up today or tomorrow, and now we're just a few short weeks from being overwhelmed by chicks we have no idea what to do with, yet.
The idea is to have a flock that constantly replenishes itself for our consumption. We roast approximately 1 chicken a week. A 1.5kg (3.3lb) chicken at the grocery store here is about $18 ($11.75US), a dozen mixed grade eggs is $10.80 ($6.33US). If we absolutely hate them, or the constraints on our time, and just eat the original 12 (assuming 100% hatch rate), when you figure in the price I paid for the eggs, the cost of the incubator, and my diesel to pick it up, we're looking at saving about $50 over super market chicken only - not figuring in savings (or even income) from their eggs. Obviously it won't work out to be that favourable - especially when I buy in feed, but ultimately I'm really clear that the breakeven point could easily be within the year.
So now I've just gotta use the next few weeks figuring out how to keep them out of our multiple gardens, and within our boundaries, and how many I will want to keep rolling at any one time once the initial 12 get to size, and how frequently to hatch how many eggs, and get the blackberry under control, and, and, and...
Exciting/Daunting!
Edited to add:
I just got talking with my husband and we sorta decided that since the incubator was running anyways, and it was going to use electricity, and time, and water, and care anyways, we might as well fill it up. I've reached out to seller and he's happy to provide a mix of 20 total Blue, Black, and Splash Orpingtons. I think I like this story better, too, for when it comes time to replace my layers. They'll quickly lose their aesthetic special-ness, I get that, but I like the idea of genetic diversity.
Also, the eggs cost me $4.40/ea. Day old chicks that aren't Hylines or Brown Shavers are going for $15/ea, and laying hens for approximately $45. If I undercut the market and sell the extra 8 for $11/ea I've paid for my original 20 eggs. If I sell at market rate I'll pay for my eggs and my initial outlay on feed. If they don't sell immediately, well, the longer I hold onto them the more of my initial outlay they cover when I sell them - assuming my time is worth nothing, of course.
On Monday I found a listing on our local auction site for 12x fertile Blue Orpington eggs for sale in our region. Also I started scratching around here and learned that hatching chicken eggs isn't terribly straightforward, so spent the day frantically trying to get my hands on the components to build an incubator that automatically turned the eggs, and failed. I know I could have turned them by hand, but I also know that we have a couple of big celebrations coming up - my citizenship ceremony and our wedding anniversary - that would make that impractical.
Yesterday around midday I checked the auction site for the 300th time and found a listing posted a half hour before for a Brinsea Octagon 20 Eco, with the automatic turning cradle and their chick warmer for the low price of $50 and a 3 hour round trip. I got home in time to win the auction for the eggs that I will pick up today or tomorrow, and now we're just a few short weeks from being overwhelmed by chicks we have no idea what to do with, yet.
The idea is to have a flock that constantly replenishes itself for our consumption. We roast approximately 1 chicken a week. A 1.5kg (3.3lb) chicken at the grocery store here is about $18 ($11.75US), a dozen mixed grade eggs is $10.80 ($6.33US). If we absolutely hate them, or the constraints on our time, and just eat the original 12 (assuming 100% hatch rate), when you figure in the price I paid for the eggs, the cost of the incubator, and my diesel to pick it up, we're looking at saving about $50 over super market chicken only - not figuring in savings (or even income) from their eggs. Obviously it won't work out to be that favourable - especially when I buy in feed, but ultimately I'm really clear that the breakeven point could easily be within the year.
So now I've just gotta use the next few weeks figuring out how to keep them out of our multiple gardens, and within our boundaries, and how many I will want to keep rolling at any one time once the initial 12 get to size, and how frequently to hatch how many eggs, and get the blackberry under control, and, and, and...
Exciting/Daunting!
Edited to add:
I just got talking with my husband and we sorta decided that since the incubator was running anyways, and it was going to use electricity, and time, and water, and care anyways, we might as well fill it up. I've reached out to seller and he's happy to provide a mix of 20 total Blue, Black, and Splash Orpingtons. I think I like this story better, too, for when it comes time to replace my layers. They'll quickly lose their aesthetic special-ness, I get that, but I like the idea of genetic diversity.
Also, the eggs cost me $4.40/ea. Day old chicks that aren't Hylines or Brown Shavers are going for $15/ea, and laying hens for approximately $45. If I undercut the market and sell the extra 8 for $11/ea I've paid for my original 20 eggs. If I sell at market rate I'll pay for my eggs and my initial outlay on feed. If they don't sell immediately, well, the longer I hold onto them the more of my initial outlay they cover when I sell them - assuming my time is worth nothing, of course.
Last edited:
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