New Chickens and Eggs* Need HELP

[schlitch]

What part of Mississippi are you in? I know there are a few in NE and Grenada area. I am in central Miss.

I'd enjoy that egg as breakfast and any others until spring. You can also order day old chicks from hatcheries as another option.

I've only been here about 2 months myself. My little ones are 6 weeks old today. Welcome to BYC!

 

[chickbea]

All of the below is provided you have fertile eggs to start with...
A hen will not start sitting and going broody until a few eggs have collected in the nest - two aren't enough. You can add some fake ones to the nest to encourage a hen to start sitting. Once she does, she should have privacy from the rest of the flock.
Also, it isn't neccesary for the hen to sit on the eggs all the time right from the start. The initial eggs laid go into a kind of stasis until there is a large enough clutch. That's how one hen can lay an egg a day, but still have all the chicks hatch within 24 hours of each other. It's another little chicken miracle! (As the hatch goes on she will spend increasing time on the nest until it is full time by the last couple of weeks.)
I live in Vermont, which is obviously very cold in the winter, and I had a hen hatch out a clutch this last January. In my opinion, if you are brand new to chickens, you are better off letting the hen do the work for you. More things can go wrong with an incubator, I think. Plus, watching a hen interact with the babies is too adorable for words!
I did heat my coop to about 45 degrees. Momma hen did the rest!

 

[bayouchica]

Hi & welcome to BYC

I'm in N.E La, nice to have ya. This is the best chicken forum around, lots of helpful folks.
You might want to wait till March to hatch chicks, cause ya never know about our wacky weather.

 

[lilsouthern228]

Quote:
im in gulfport. well we took the eggs out of the nest cause we figured she wasnt going to lay on them. its day 3 and she wasnt laying on them. well the woman i live with doesnt understand that if the eggs arent sat on then they "die" so she put them back in the nest. well NOW then hen decides to go broody. so we'll jus see what happens. lol
we did make an incubator, thanks to missprissy
=]