Incubation vs buying baby chicks

KM2H

Songster
May 24, 2021
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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
 
Incubating eggs can be a challenge even if you have an amazingly expensive incubator.
There is always deaths incubating and your young kids could get upset by that.
I vote buy the chicks, open them privately and take out any dead ones before your kids see them, and then you can just enjoy them.
 
Incubating eggs can be a challenge even if you have an amazingly expensive incubator.
There is always deaths incubating and your young kids could get upset by that.
I vote buy the chicks, open them privately and take out any dead ones before your kids see them, and then you can just enjoy them.
Do you think buying from a hatchery is better, or buying from a local farm? I have to agree with you, I don't even own an incubator to begin with, I think I could care for baby chicks better than for an incubated egg. I have never done this before, I'm willing to put my very best effort into it. However, I am not sure I want to make things more complicated than they need to be.
 
Incubate or buy baby chicks that can do the job as nature intended?
Even if you buy chicks of a breed that often go broody you don't know if any that you have ever will. If you get lucky and they do go broody, it could easily be at a time not really convenient for you. The only way you can control if, let alone when, you hatch eggs is if you get an incubator.

I really like my broody hens but that doesn't mean they don't come with their own issues. I've had a snake eat the eggs out from under a broody hen. I had a hen break a thin-shelled egg and ruin all the eggs in that clutch. They may not always return to the correct nest. If you let them hatch with the flock you need to mark the eggs you want them to hatch and check under them daily to make sure no strange eggs have shown up. If you isolate a broody hen you need to feed, water, and clean.

To be fair, most of the time a broody hen is really easy and doesn't take much extra time, not bad at all, and you don't usually have a lot of drama. If things go reasonably well the hen does practically all the work and there is nothing cuter than a broody hen and her chicks. Most of the time you don't have issues with an incubator once you get it set up. They usually take very little time and effort. Whether in an incubator or under a broody hen all eggs don't always hatch. You can have issues with both. There can be a learning curve with both methods but once you figure it out neither the incubator or a broody hen is that much work most of the time. Caring for chicks in a brooder may take time but I really don't spend that much time doing that either. Some people spend a lot of time on that.

Why do you want to hatch chicks? What are your goals. You have to plan on a lot of the chicks to be boys, what will you do with those? If you hatch many and keep all the girls you will soon be overrun with girls. Hatching baby chicks is a lot of fun but what will you do with them? The answer to that would guide me in what to do. Do you get an incubator, get pullets that you hope someday go broody, or get chicks from a hatchery, feed store, or neighbors.

I hatch over 40 chicks a year because that's what I need for the freezer. I hatch about half with an incubator and, in a good year, half with broody hens. In addition to eating them I keep replacements to keep my flock young and eat some older ones. That suits my goals. I purposely bred broodiness into my flock so I would get broody hens.

What is best in my situation?
I don't know what's best for you. I don't know your goals or why you want to hatch how many chicks or how often. What is best for me is probably not the best for you because I think we have different goals. I'm not trying to convince you one way is better than others, more trying to give you things to think about. Good luck.
 
Hi. Given that the Plymouths don't go broody easily, and that you want more chickens, I would get a small incubator, I have a Brinsea, and it works brilliantly. Not a lot of work to turn the eggs twice a day, and fascinating to watch the eggs hatch. You say you have two small children, this will be a HUGE experience for them. My kids stayed up all night once the eggs pipped to watch the hatching. Once hatched, they will need a heat lamp and a brooder for 6 weeks, and chick crumbs to eat. It's a great way to make them tame, as you can pick the chicks up every day.
 
Hi. Given that the Plymouths don't go broody easily, and that you want more chickens, I would get a small incubator, I have a Brinsea, and it works brilliantly. Not a lot of work to turn the eggs twice a day, and fascinating to watch the eggs hatch. You say you have two small children, this will be a HUGE experience for them. My kids stayed up all night once the eggs pipped to watch the hatching. Once hatched, they will need a heat lamp and a brooder for 6 weeks, and chick crumbs to eat. It's a great way to make them tame, as you can pick the chicks up every day.
 
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.
 
I use large Rubbermaid storage containers and 125 watt heat lamp suspended above one side of the brooder. Make sure the lamps are secured for safety reasons. Put a thermometer under the heat lamp to make sure the brooder isn't too hot or too cold.
 

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