Out of curiosity and the desire for knowledge....

[speckledhen]

I don't want anymore hatchery birds. The breeds and/or quality of birds I want can't be found at a hatchery anyway. I have a policy against buying started birds from anywhere, so that leaves hatching eggs.

 

[BorderKelpie]

I kind of got caught up in the excitment from here. I purchased day olds (they'll be here June), but I wanted to play with chicks NOW.
I found an ad for what sounds like some awsome eggs from a breeder here and ordered some. I then purchased an incubator, talked a friend out of some eggs and am borrowing a roo for my hens (they're getting older and they're pets - thought it'd be fun to have some of their little ones to continue the fun we've had with them. The eggs I have in there now were supposed to just be for practice, but my DD has named a few already. It's been more fun than I thought it would be.

 

[bethandjoeync]

we aren't hatching our own yet, but will considering once we get the feathered ones down pat first lol. but our reason would be to save some money on buying the actual day olds from hatcheries or feedstores. and also we would know what the parents look like, so would have an idea of what the offspring would be. we plan to process the roos that we get, so it's no biggie on the pullet/roo ratio. but we are hoping to start hatching our own later this year, we will read as much as we can and figure out which bater will work best for us and our needs. and too, it will be a great learning tool for my 1st grader (he isn't home schooled but there is always room for learning)

 

[Up-the-Creek]

I myself bought an incubator and used it twice. Both times did not turn out very well. My take on it, especially since I have children, it's not worth it. Just last night I lost a newly hatched chick, all I could do was watch it die. I see it as it suffered because of my neglect or lack of experience or knowledge or whatever you want to call it. I know it is "just a chicken", but to me it is a life that would not be here if i hadn't decided to "play" with the incubator. Some people may think I need to get a grip, but it is hard to explain to your children why they didn't hatch or why the newly hatched chick just died. To me,life is a life,regardless if its a chicken,dog,or cat,etc.,...I have chickens, they came from a hatchery and they are fine. They lay eggs, that is what we wanted. If you want to breed to improve a line or you have some need to populate the world with chickens, then incubating I'm sure is the way to go. I would highly advise if you want to incubate chicks, don't go cheap. You truly get what you pay for in this case. This is my experience with it and just my opinion. I am not bashing nobody for using incubators. When I need more chickens, I will buy locally or from a hatchery. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[Mesa]

I got into hatching because I can hatch better birds than what I can get from a hatchery; less heath issues. I can get the breeds/colors I want, and I dont have to order in quantities of 25. I homeschool so we use it as a science project as well. The kids loved it! It doesnt save us any money but maybe in the long run it will. Hopefully soon I'll have my own flock of breeders and then I can hatch out new birds to replace my older birds as needed.

 

[YeOleBroodie]

I do it because I enjoy knowing where my babies are coming from. How the parents have been raised and on what.
I can select from my birds what I want to produce in the youngsters.

Secondly people have seen the babies and wanted to buy them. So I have to say, I now enjoy providing good healthy babies to many.
I also enjoy the chance to further educate them on chickens raised a more natural way.

My broody girls and I, come in a close tie as to whom I prefer.
Besides they deserve time off from all their hard work, so thats where I come in.

 

[LoveMyBirds]

I'm doing it because I'm wondering about the economy. In case things get worse I'll have something to eat...Maybe..

Unless my neighbors make a chicken run on me...

 

[AngieChick]

It's an amazing thing, incubating and hatching out an egg. There are emotional ups and downs, to be sure. However, the magic of candling and egg at 7 days and seeing a tiny dot amongst the little veins, then at 10 days and seeing a bigger dot boogying around in there, at 14 days the embryo taking up over half of the available "wet" space (and seeing the occasional beak opening and closing) and then placing the completely dark inside egg into the hatcher at 18 days, hoping to see a chick pip out after 3 more days makes it all worth it. Nature is absolutely incredible, and incubating gives you the opportunity to witness it in a very unique way.

We homeschool, so I could say it's to benefit the education of my son, but really it's because I can't resist the experience.

Of course there are the other reasons, like getting breeds that you wouldn't otherwise have access to, etc. But really, it's that I am in love with and in awe of the entire process. Probably the Bio-nerd in me.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Those are some great replies. I get the whole science nerd fascination so don't feel like a goof otherwise you could call me a goof too. lol

Lots of different reasons too. Just as a follow up why do you choose a bator over having the hen take care of it? I think there will be varying answers to this as well especially for those who don't get chicks from hatcheries anymore.

 

[walkswithdog]

With my first flock I never used an incubator only broodies. You spend a lot of time waiting for them to go broody, if they ever do and it's never on a predictable schedule. And broodies make mistakes.

So I use an incubator now to increase the flock, since I don't have to wait for any of them to go broody. Also if they abandon an incubation I have something I can do to rescue the hatch. And I can hatch from breeders with better birds than mine without having to bring in started birds.

Broodies aren't entirely predictable or reliable. Incubation increases the odds. And the extra birds produced have value for food and sales of eggs and spare birds. In this economy that's important.

I enjoy both facets, hens with chicks peeping out from under them and watching an incubator full of eggs hatch as something that I did.