Latest date?

[RazrRebel]

Whats the latest we can get by with setting eggs in Southwest Virginia? I'd like to really get a clutch set off this year as long as I have time. I know there are variables such as weather and coop size but what is the general consensus. Southwest Va. means right next to Ky. and West Va.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are you talking about a broody or an incubator? Not that it makes a lot of difference as far as "can it be done", but there are some requirements.

Winter is not the best of times for a broody to raise chicks, but they can do it. There are photos of a broody in the snow with her chicks. People think chicks are really delicate in the cold. They are not. They can handle cold pretty well. But they do need a place to warm up when they need to. A broody is that place. Her heater never has a power outage.

My brooder is in my coop. I keep one area of my brooder warm and let the rest cool off to ambient. Last fall, that ambient was in the mid 40's F. They would play all over that brooder and just go back to the heat when they wanted to warm up. I think allowing them a cold area to play in really helped them acclimate to the cold. I kept that one spot warm until they were 5 weeks old, then I moved them to the grow-out coop, which is draft free but well ventilated. My grow-out coop has no heat. At 5-1/2 weeks old, the overnight low got into the mid 20's F. In a well ventilated coop with good draft protection and no heat, they did fine at 5-1/2 weeks.

I think it was important that I allowed them to get used to the cold in the brooder and they were in well ventilated yet draft free areas. If you have the facilities, you can hatch and raise chicks any time of the year. Winter is rougher. The weather is more severe. Bad things are more likely to happen, whether bad storms or power outages. But it can be done.