JUST ordered chicken eggs

[Lotsapaints]

My best looking ones would be from the November to March hatches. I've really just started doing this so when I hatch mine this fall I'll know when I weigh if they are slower and smaller right now I'm just doing some testing to make sure I'm traveling down the right path...trying to cull a few more. I didn't hatch out as many as you do only about 100 here learning as I go and finding out just what I have. My turkeys are the money makers I didn't raise many of those to keep only to eat it's the Marans that are the tough ones and I have no problem selling the Delawares or New Hampshires just trying to breed them up. That means hatching more than I did this year nobody wants roosters for breeding anyways I have an ethnic market for my cull cockerels ready to eat great incentive for breeding the ones that finish up fast. Picking out the good egg layers that were close to the standard wasn't easy either I appreciate the ALBC for giving the guidelines to use but butchering my birds has helped the most.

 

[stephanie1992]

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ive ordered live chicks before and always did well with thos, but ive never ordered eggs,first time. soo ill see how they do. hopfully they all do ok. ill keep everyone posted in the hatching ad icubation section

 

[saladin]

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Why are fall hatched chicks smaller and more difficult to raise? There are several reasons behind this:

1. If using hens, then the eggs are coming from birds that (1) are either just coming out of the moult or (2) haven't moulted yet thus the hens have been producing eggs for months. The moult takes a lot out of a bird, so does laying for months on end.
1a. If using pullet, then they have just begun to lay. It has been a basic recommendation through the years to wait until a pullet has benn in lay for 6 weeks before breeding them. Some of us will not even breed from pullets. I am one of those persons.
2. The cocks are not in their top condition as well: summer and now the moult.
3. The weather is going from warmer to cooler. By the time the chicks are fully feathered the weather is at the point of turning cold. The chicks have been in the brooder the whole time and are now out in the cold. This too is hard on young chicks that came from weaken birds to begin with.

Through the years I have hatched some great bird in the fall. The survivors are often quite tenacious, but they have been few and far between. You just get more bang for your buck if you'll start later.

 

[stephanie1992]

ok thanks for the info. they are all bantams, so if they do hatch im goin to try hard to keep them alive. should i slowly intruduce them to ther cold when they get there feathers so they dont get sicK?