order eggs or get chickens ? ? ?

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tskma

tskma

In the Brooder
Apr 28, 2015
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I am new to this and want to start raising my own chickens/guinea hens. should I get eggs and start from there or get chickens/keets and start from there? I am unsure if it is better to order an incubator and some eggs or just get the chickens and let them do their job. is it better to take eggs once they lay them or let them hatch them out? This is all very new to me. plus, I am having a very hard time finding any place to get ANYTHING around here. people are not as helpful/nice as I thought they would be in my local area. ;( I plan on helping others start once I get established. Thanks for any advice.

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If you have never incubated eggs before then it would be best to begin with chicks and keets, or started birds. Incubation can be tricky, and can even throw experienced hatchers some curve balls at times.
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided join our flock. I agree with keesmom. It is much more likely that things will go wrong in incubating eggs than in getting chicks/keets. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.
 
It's nice to have a natural incubator ie., a broody hen. But all hens do not go broody and want to hatch eggs. Broodiness has pretty much been bred out of the most prolific laying breeds because when they are broody they stop laying eggs. Some breeds that tend to go broody often are Silkies, Cochins and Buff Orpingtons.
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Here is my personal opinion on this: I wanted to start with eggs and hatch them out myself. I was ready to get the incubator and eggs when my grandma convinced me to start with chicks. Incubating for beginners is, really, not very smart. It's better to be experienced and know what you are doing. If you have had such experience, then go right ahead
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But I'm going to try and convince you to get chicks or adult chickens. It's much easier and way less stressful.
 
okay. Thank you for the reply. I will try to just get chicks then and not an incubator if I can help it. There is no one areound me to get chicks from I think. Rice Lake, Wisconsin I guess is like the twilight zone or something. lol.... Thank you once again for the information and replies.
 
Mountain Peeps said:
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Here is my personal opinion on this: I wanted to start with eggs and hatch them out myself. I was ready to get the incubator and eggs when my grandma convinced me to start with chicks. Incubating for beginners is, really, not very smart. It's better to be experienced and know what you are doing. If you have had such experience, then go right ahead
smile.png
But I'm going to try and convince you to get chicks or adult chickens. It's much easier and way less stressful.
Click to expand...
X 2 - plus, with purchasing chicks and/or started birds you will have the added advantage (depending on source) of purchasing sexed birds - with hatching you run a very good chance of winding up with 50/50 (or worse) males -- are you prepared to deal with a large number of male birds?
 

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