Pros and cons of hatching your own chicks versus just buying them?

[Cest La Vie]

Crow collars work to quiet, not eliminate, crowing sound. It can be tricky to get a proper fit — reducing sound without bothering the bird — and there is always the concern that the collar won’t break away properly if the rooster gets caught on something.

Oh no.. this scares me! Are there any benefits to having a rooster? I'm not really in it for fertile eggs as I don't plan on having more than 3-4 chickens but a part of me really wants a rooster.. just because they are so beautiful. Do they really protect their girls?

I have a set of Lavender Orpington eggs so if they do hatch, I'm hoping to have one (hopefully quiet) rooster.

 

[Sally PB]

Most people cannot give away their cockerels or roosters. No one needs them, no one wants them, a lot of people can't have them where they live.

A lot of unwanted males end up on someone's dinner table, even if it's not the original owner's. Very rarely do I read here of someone finding "a good home" for their boy.

 

[Brooks_]

Quick question! Do you find it hard to rehome cockerels?! The lady I got my eggs from said she had a really hard time.. even if they were free. ):

I really, really don't want to hurt these babies so I'm a bit worried.

Yes. That's why dinner is the fall back.

 

[WallyG74]

This is such an amazing answer! I love this so much and completely forgot that you can select certain traits you'd like! Let's say I had an Easter Egger that was laying small eggs, would I then breed it with a Minorca rooster or another breed that lays jumbo eggs? I'm not at this level yet but this is good to know for the future!

Also, I'm sorry to ask and I understand if you don't want to answer but as I am learning, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask you how you cull for cockerels? What is the best and most efficient way? Just in case my hatch ends up 100% cockerels and I have absolutely no one that would want them (I live in the suburbs of Los Angeles so chickens aren't common).

Thank you so much for your thorough answer!

I understand LA is a LOT different from rural MS. You may be able to reach outside your normal channels to find homes for the cockerels. I go to a local feed store instead of a big chain store. In the process of making casual conversation, I made a joke to the owner about getting rid of roosters and he gave me the number of a guy that will buy every one I have. He travels to auctions all over, buying and selling chickens. Some of the roosters may end up as dinner and some will go to live on a farm. You may not stumble into someone like that quite as easily as I did but it is possible. Don’t be shy and get the word out.

 

[JustaWeeAcre]

I hatched silkies for my first time a few weeks ago. I loved the whole process. I had 8 out of 12 eggs hatched (I was only promised 8 in total anyways but was given 4 extras)...
I would try to hatch the eggs anyways, I left all my eggs in until 10 days and check for viability then.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Re your example of crossing a hen laying a smaller egg with a rooster breed that lays jumbo size, yes your example is exactly how i've increased average egg sizes/weights. (I know my home-hatched roos Also hatched from good size eggs). It took several years/generations to get average egg size to xlarge, but i saw noticeable improvement each and every year. I simply chose the biggest (& most colorful) eggs to give to broodys to incubate. It's lots of fun selecting the eggs, & is hard to choose since so many are now big and pretty!

The reason i mentioned all the above is because you commented on your current four lav orp eggs in the incubator being 52 grams or less, & one being slightly mis-shapen. I understand your disappointment there, & that is exactly the situation you can avoid by choosing your own hatching eggs. How far along in incubation are they now? Hopefully they will all hatch. But even if they dont, the entire process takes at most 3 weeks. Meaning you can soon try again.

Btw i do have several lavender orpington hens. I Love them! They are extremely friendly, curious and sweet, & follow me around everwhere. And they are very beautiful too. Ive read some people say lav orps are "over-rated." I will say, mine dont lay as many eggs as most of my other breeds, but because of their positive attributes i dont mind. Love my lavender orpington girls. (My lavs are Much more friendly than my buffs.) I think you will love yours too!

 

[Coops Dad]

I enjoy hatching our eggs because it completes the circle, chicks are cute, you usually can't introduce any new illnesses or diseases, you start to recognize the momma and daddy's traits in the young'uns, you can cross for positive attributes or specific traits (Marans x EE = olive egger) and, finally, you get to eat the roosters.

My wife won't allow me to use her cookware for "those poor roosters, it's not their fault!" so my Smokey Joe BBQ/Grill has seen more than its share of scrawny carcasses. A recent visitor to the grill was big like his daddy and fat like his momma. Those are more of those positive attributes I was referring to earlier.

 

[Cest La Vie]

Re your example of crossing a hen laying a smaller egg with a rooster breed that lays jumbo size, yes your example is exactly how i've increased average egg sizes/weights. (I know my home-hatched roos Also hatched from good size eggs). It took several years/generations to get average egg size to xlarge, but i saw noticeable improvement each and every year. I simply chose the biggest (& most colorful) eggs to give to broodys to incubate. It's lots of fun selecting the eggs, & is hard to choose since so many are now big and pretty!

The reason i mentioned all the above is because you commented on your current four lav orp eggs in the incubator being 52 grams or less, & one being slightly mis-shapen. I understand your disappointment there, & that is exactly the situation you can avoid by choosing your own hatching eggs. How far along in incubation are they now? Hopefully they will all hatch. But even if they dont, the entire process takes at most 3 weeks. Meaning you can soon try again.

Btw i do have several lavender orpington hens. I Love them! They are extremely friendly, curious and sweet, & follow me around everwhere. And they are very beautiful too. Ive read some people say lav orps are "over-rated." I will say, mine dont lay as many eggs as most of my other breeds, but because of their positive attributes i dont mind. Love my lavender orpington girls. (My lavs are Much more friendly than my buffs.) I think you will love yours too!

How fascinating! This makes me want to try to cross different breeds later on to see if I can do what you did!

They were laid on 07/20 and incubated that same day. I'm sad to say that I believe the misshapen one is not fertilized ):

All the other 3 have that little red ring but I can't see it with the misshapen one. Should I leave it in for one more day or just call it quits?!

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

So your eggs are 3 days along now? When you say "little red ring", do you mean the small dark area that is the developing embryo? If they've only been incubating for 3 days, i definitely wouldnt give up on the mis-shapen egg yet. But my guess is the mis-shapen one came from an older hen. I have many hens 5 years and older. Each year by late summer, some start laying "wonky" mis-shapen eggs. (After every fall molt, when they resume laying early spring, their eggs look normal again.) But fertility does decrease as a hen grows older (roosters too), so yes the mis-shapen one may not develop. Wont hurt to give it a few more days, then you will know for sure.

 

[Floof]

Instead of spending the money on the incubator, you probably should have just ordered sexed pullets in the breed you wanted. I hatch my own but I also have a flock of about 40 and regularly hatch, sell, and process my own chickens. If you only want 3 or 4 layers and don't plan to grow your flock substantially then the incubator really doesn't pay for itself.