Natural care?

Sgsf

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Why are so many people using Incubators? Aren't the Hens suppose to care for their egg, by sitting on it?
 
Not everyone has broody chickens when they want chicks!! I have three laying hens, aged about 5 months and three incubatos that take a capacity of, um, 104 eggs between them....
 
(I'm new to chickens)

So your saying that hens don't have enough "coverage" to care for all the eggs?
 
What she is saying is that you can not just put eggs under a hen and expect them to set on them. They have to decide that they want to set on eggs which is then called a broody hen. She will set on the eggs all except maybe 30-45minutes a day at which time she will then get up to eat,drink and poo. I have 6 hens and 1 roo and not one of them has went broody in two years. The girls wanted babies and decided it would be a good learning experience. Most people do prefer a broody hen it is a lot less work, but you can 't get the quanity that some people want to hatch considering most bators hold 30 eggs vs. a broody hen set on 4-12 eggs. Plus I like the incubator route b/c I can decide when I want to hatch eggs not be depending on mother nature. I like to hatch in February/March so they are laying before fall when then amount of day light hours drastically reduces.
 
Many modern breeds of chickens don't go "broody" - that is part of what was sacrificed, behaviorally/genetically, when they were bred to be prolific layers. So...we have bred them such that they lay almost daily, and they don't raise their broods. Other times, it is a matter of convenience. If you want specific chicks to hatch at specific times, then an incubator is the only way to go.
 

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