How many eggs to hatch?

[FluffyColor]

A few days ago, when I saw a contest for a "pet-look alike", I decided I wanted a black chicken. Buying it as a chick sounded way too complicated, so I decided to hatch a few eggs. I was thinking maybe 3-5 eggs. I can take up to about 5 chickens. I have two already.
How many eggs should I hatch? I don't want to get too many and then have them all hatch and have a bunch of chicks I can't keep. I get attached to any animal I raise. Don't ask me why, but I do.
Thank you for your help in advance.

 

[joe17]

Quote:
Well it depends on many factors. Can you have roos? If you can't I would suggest hatching around six eggs to get atleast one pullet. It also depends on how good your incubation skills are lol If you have a great incubator with the right settings, you will get a better hatch.

 

[Mahonri]

Put six or seven in the bator and sell any extras.

You could end up with a lot of roos.....

 

[joe17]

Yeah you would have to sell SOME regardless of what you do.... How hard is it to sell chickens where you are at?

 

[FluffyColor]

Quote:
Going to caponize all roos.
I'm a pretty good pullet hatcher. I wouldn't really need to sell that many-that is if any hatch. I'd probably get 1-3 chicks out of 4-6 eggs.
Can someone show me what a mini incubator is? I want one but I'm not exactly sure what they are.

 

[joe17]

Quote:
Going to caponize all roos.
I'm a pretty good pullet hatcher. I wouldn't really need to sell that many-that is if any hatch. I'd probably get 1-3 chicks out of 4-6 eggs.
Can someone show me what a mini incubator is? I want one but I'm not exactly sure what they are.

Do you exactly know what caponizing entails? You must remove the roos testicles through the ribs. Caponized roos can still crow too. I also got this from another thread

1. Neutering the rooster does not guarantee that he will remain sweet.
2. It does not guarantee he will not crow.
3. It does not guarantee he will not fight with other birds.
3. He may not get his pretty rooster feathers because his hormones are altered.

The surgery to decrow a rooster is expensive, not always effective, and may have a high mortality rate.​

 

[FluffyColor]

Quote:
Going to caponize all roos.
I'm a pretty good pullet hatcher. I wouldn't really need to sell that many-that is if any hatch. I'd probably get 1-3 chicks out of 4-6 eggs.
Can someone show me what a mini incubator is? I want one but I'm not exactly sure what they are.

Do you exactly know what caponizing entails? You must remove the roos testicles through the ribs. Caponized roos can still crow too. I also got this from another thread

1. Neutering the rooster does not guarantee that he will remain sweet.
2. It does not guarantee he will not crow.
3. It does not guarantee he will not fight with other birds.
3. He may not get his pretty rooster feathers because his hormones are altered.

The surgery to decrow a rooster is expensive, not always effective, and may have a high mortality rate.
​

So what am I supposed to do?
Maybe I should get BSLs, so I can seperate the cockerels fasterl​

 

[joe17]

Quote:
Do you exactly know what caponizing entails? You must remove the roos testicles through the ribs. Caponized roos can still crow too. I also got this from another thread

1. Neutering the rooster does not guarantee that he will remain sweet.
2. It does not guarantee he will not crow.
3. It does not guarantee he will not fight with other birds.
3. He may not get his pretty rooster feathers because his hormones are altered.

The surgery to decrow a rooster is expensive, not always effective, and may have a high mortality rate.
​

So what am I supposed to do?
Maybe I should get BSLs, so I can seperate the cockerels fasterl​

I just wanted to let you know about caponizing. I wanted to do that too but sadly I found out it wasnt what I thought it would be. Its really for meat birds to make them fat.

Black sex links would work great! You wouldnt get as attached either.

 

[ericsplls]

I have a brinsea mini advance. It is one of the best small incubators you can get. It only holds seven chicken eggs with the turner installed. There are the styrofoam bators thet you can get with turners for about the same price and they hold 42 eggs. I think the brinsea is a much better incubator than any of the styrofoam bators out there but it holds alot less eggs. For me thats a good thing but it does have a great hatch rate and I have hatched 40 of the 42 eggs I've put in it since last spring. Of the two that didn't hatch one of them was very porous and should have never been set but I didn't realize it until the first candle. As far as how many to set only you can answer that question. You could set one egg and hatch a pullet or six eggs and hatch all roosters. That said I would set at least six eggs in case some don't hatch and in case some are roosters. If you don't know how to caponize you will likely lose some of the first ones you do. They do make some beautiful birds but if I could only have five chickens it would be five that lay eggs. If you only intend to hatch enough eggs to keep five chickens I would probably just wait until next spring and get some at a feed store or build a cooler bator with a light and thermostat maybe a fan and just hand turn.

 

[FluffyColor]

Quote:
Do you exactly know what caponizing entails? You must remove the roos testicles through the ribs. Caponized roos can still crow too. I also got this from another thread

1. Neutering the rooster does not guarantee that he will remain sweet.
2. It does not guarantee he will not crow.
3. It does not guarantee he will not fight with other birds.
3. He may not get his pretty rooster feathers because his hormones are altered.

​

So what am I supposed to do?
Maybe I should get BSLs, so I can seperate the cockerels fasterl

I just wanted to let you know about caponizing. I wanted to do that too but sadly I found out it wasnt what I thought it would be. Its really for meat birds to make them fat.

Black sex links would work great! You wouldn't get as attached either.

How many eggs should I hatch to get at least a pullet?