Incubation vs buying baby chicks

[KM2H]

Yes, I do. But I also thought that it would be cool for my kids to see the whole process of chicks being incubated and hatched. ❤

 

[Double Yolked]

Hello everyone,
I recently adopted a small flock of Barred Plymouth Rock. 6 hens and a rooster. They are converting me into the crazy chicken lady and so I would like to add a couple more. I have read that the hens don't go broody very often so I thought it would be a good idea to get some female baby chicks of a breed that can be good moms to do the job, then my husband suggested I get an incubator since our eggs are most likely fertilized.
I have two little children 1 and 3 so my hands are sort of full, add to it the chickens, two potbelly pigs and five sheep. What is best in my situation? Incubate or buy baby chicks that can do the job as nature intended? Thanks for any advice

Over the years I've repeatedly tried to incubate and I've come to the conclusion that, unless I am simply a glutton for punishment I just don't have time to incubate. A BPR will occasionally go broody, of my flock of 6 to 16 depending on the year, I had at least one broody hen every year. And quite often it was the Barred Rock hen. They make great mothers. With your busy house I'd try chicks over incubation. Oh and be patient and watch for the signs of a broody hen (you will get one sooner or later!) and let the hen do her thing if you just want the fun of seeing them hatch.

 

[Red Dirt Rose]

Can the brooder be something like some sort of plastic tub with the heat lamp, etc. Can I use the lights that one would use for an infrared sauna for the chicks or do I need certain specialized lights? I really don't have much experience as yours can see given my questions.

Heat lamps are the most commonly used heat source, but I strongly recommend against it. No animal, but especially a developing baby animal, does well having light 24/7. Neurologically, they really need darkness at night. There are some good non-light heat sources out there.

The Brinsea eco glow is excellent. It’s a heated ceramic plate, and the chicks go under it, as they would a mother hen. You can raise one side higher than the other so they can choose more or less heat as they need. You raise the plate higher as they grow.

There’s also something shaped like a heat lamp bulb, but it’s ceramic, not a light bulb. I think some people also use heat mats of some sort.

 

[3 gallenas]

Hello everyone,
I recently adopted a small flock of Barred Plymouth Rock. 6 hens and a rooster. They are converting me into the crazy chicken lady and so I would like to add a couple more. I have read that the hens don't go broody very often so I thought it would be a good idea to get some female baby chicks of a breed that can be good moms to do the job, then my husband suggested I get an incubator since our eggs are most likely fertilized.
I have two little children 1 and 3 so my hands are sort of full, add to it the chickens, two potbelly pigs and five sheep. What is best in my situation? Incubate or buy baby chicks that can do the job as nature intended? Thanks for any advice

 

[3 gallenas]

Hello everyone,
I recently adopted a small flock of Barred Plymouth Rock. 6 hens and a rooster. They are converting me into the crazy chicken lady and so I would like to add a couple more. I have read that the hens don't go broody very often so I thought it would be a good idea to get some female baby chicks of a breed that can be good moms to do the job, then my husband suggested I get an incubator since our eggs are most likely fertilized.
I have two little children 1 and 3 so my hands are sort of full, add to it the chickens, two potbelly pigs and five sheep. What is best in my situation? Incubate or buy baby chicks that can do the job as nature intended? Thanks for any advice

I still remember the horror of watching chicks be incubated and canabilized — that was 60 years ago! My great grandfather had a company that made incubators (Lyon Rural Electric) so we were always testing them out it seemed. I always buy hatched chicks because of that experience.

 

[Pippin quail]

Heat lamps are the most commonly used heat source, but I strongly recommend against it. No animal, but especially a developing baby animal, does well having light 24/7. Neurologically, they really need darkness at night. There are some good non-light heat sources out there.

The Brinsea eco glow is excellent. It’s a heated ceramic plate, and the chicks go under it, as they would a mother hen. You can raise one side higher than the other so they can choose more or less heat as they need. You raise the plate higher as they grow.

There’s also something shaped like a heat lamp bulb, but it’s ceramic, not a light bulb. I think some people also use heat mats of some sort.

I have used the 3 things you mentioned (heating plate, heating pad and ceramic heat lamp)
Lessons I've learned: the ceramic heat lamp had a temperature setting but it was either too low to feel or so hot that it burned out or fried something inside very quickly. It was obviously not high quality and I wouldn't recommend that!
The seedling heating mat I have works quite well. It stays on all the time and I have it covered with a thin towel or old t shirt folded up and then paper towel over that. Keeps it just warm but not hot. They love to plop down on there for a nap during the day. The heating plate I find gets really hot to the touch underneath so they usually only go under there to sleep at night so the heat is above but not touching them. They also love to go on top and poop all over it. I ordered a way bigger one than I thought and needed my hubby to make me this nice big brooder to fit it. During the day they are running around the brooder and only go under or on the heat if they get cold. Which right now is not often since it's summer and fairly warm in the room already. The BEST part about not using a lightbulb of some kind? They go to sleep in the evening and SLEEP ALL NIGHT! No cheeping in the night at all and they are all happy and well rested in the daytime.

 

[Pippin quail]

Oh I forgot to mention, I highly recommend getting an incubator one day and hatching chicks for the kids to have that learning experience. However, I would recommend waiting until the kids are a bit older. You said they are 1 and 3? I have a 9 year old, 7 year old, 5 year old and 2 going on 3 year old. I know all kids are different, but my little mischievous 2 year old got into the room I was incubating in and trying to be "helpful", rearranged all my eggs and put them back pointy side up... I was quite upset. I think she may have snuck in there another time as I came to check on the eggs and the door was slightly open and the lid to the incubator was also open a crack one day. I only had a 50% hatch rate and I can't help thinking that her tinkering with my eggs had something to do with it!
She also constantly tries to get into my brooder room and pick up the chicks, which she obviously shouldn't be doing without supervision.
Soooo long story short, hatching chicks with kids is an amazing learning experience (we have had a chick die, eggs not hatch and even one pip and not make it out of the shell... So definitely lessons in death too.) Which might also be better at a slightly older age, because my youngest thought it was neat when we buried the chick that died and thought it might be cool if another chick died so we could make another grave

Not sure if you can really see, but my brooder now has latches on the sides with a carabiner through it.. And she has figured out how to open those and both latches, they just slow her down so I know if I don't hear her for more than 30 seconds to go running in there and she's often poised about to open that lid. Nothing cuter than day old chicks though.

 

[MuellerJ]

Hello everyone,
I recently adopted a small flock of Barred Plymouth Rock. 6 hens and a rooster. They are converting me into the crazy chicken lady and so I would like to add a couple more. I have read that the hens don't go broody very often so I thought it would be a good idea to get some female baby chicks of a breed that can be good moms to do the job, then my husband suggested I get an incubator since our eggs are most likely fertilized.
I have two little children 1 and 3 so my hands are sort of full, add to it the chickens, two potbelly pigs and five sheep. What is best in my situation? Incubate or buy baby chicks that can do the job as nature intended? Thanks for any advice

i have found an incubator is good to have on hand. ( go bigger than you think and research them well) i have had hens set so good on eggs but then kill the babies once born. buff orphingtons are good moms. the joy of seeing a baby hatch never gets old! my kids love it!
The pros to buying is ordering pullets vs cockerals. hatching you don't know what you will get. and if it's mostly cockerals what to do with all of them. Have a plan in place. good luck!

 

[Pippin quail]

i have found an incubator is good to have on hand. ( go bigger than you think and research them well) i have had hens set so good on eggs but then kill the babies once born. buff orphingtons are good moms. the joy of seeing a baby hatch never gets old! my kids love it!
The pros to buying is ordering pullets vs cockerals. hatching you don't know what you will get. and if it's mostly cockerals what to do with all of them. Have a plan in place. good luck!

True about the cockerel issue. I have a flock of 15 chickens I hatched 12 weeks ago. 11 of the 15 have turned out to be cockerels. Which means we'll probably be butchering some chickens this year... I was hoping to wait until next year for meat chickens, and I feel like these ones are all too pretty to eat! The hardest thing is going to be deciding who to keep, I love them all since I've raised them from little eggs/chicks. This is the flock now and at a few days old.