When is the Earliest I Could Get My Hatching Eggs?

[yndotte]

Hi!

I'm new to chickens. I currently have none, but I am going to buy my first hatching eggs this year! It is really hard to wait very long, though, and I was wondering what is the earliest I could get my hatching eggs? I live in New England, so the winter is pretty cold... But I know that you keep the chicks (and before them, the eggs) inside for a while before putting them in a coop. So, what is the very earliest I could get my hatching eggs? Thanks for any help!

 

[easttxchick]

If you mean, buying hatching eggs and incubating them yourself, you can get them anytime. Shipping of the eggs in the cold can be a problem, however, and effect your hatch rate.
Be prepared, though, for having to brood them inside until you get a pretty decent warm up and they are fully feathered.
What breed/breeds are you planning on incubating?

 

[blefky]

I live in CT and I have a dozen in the incubator at the moment. I know people who've had eggs shipped this time of year and had successful hatches from them, but if you read the forum, there's also a possibility of frozen eggs, decreased viability, etc. I guess that just makes sense. I carried my eggs home myself. I think the thing to think about, maybe even more than the effect of the cold on shipping eggs, is whether you're set up and prepared to care for chicks in the cold. If you've never raised chicks before, you'll be amazed at how much dust they create - not "normal" dust, more like someone is cutting drywall in your house on a daily basis - it gets pretty bad. Last spring mine started out in a brooder in the living room, and finished off in the garage before heading to the coop. Clean up was not fun - that dust gets everywhere. You don't mention what your set up is for housing your birds. One thing that many people do is underestimate the time and effort involved in getting a coop and run set up for their birds. I know I did. If I had it to do over again, I would have researched even more than I did, and I would have my coop/run ready BEFORE my chicks came. One last thing. Spend a lot of time looking over the coop/run section of the forum. Lots of people, myself included, underestimate the amount of space required to keep happy/healthy birds. And coops are often sold with claims of holding many more birds than would be healthy. My first coop was 6 x 4, and was sold to hold 12 - 15 LF birds. Of course I soon learned, too late, that 4 square feet per bird is much healthier - especially in a cold weather area where the birds will spend much of the winter inside. I ordered a shed and spent much of the autumn converting it. Soooo..... the moral is get as much information before starting as you can. I love having a backyard flock, we give to them and they give back to us. I get a tremendous amount of enjoyment from them. It's great. And the learning process has been great too. Let us know what you decide to do, and how it turns out!

 

[yndotte]

Thanks for the quick replies!

I'm very glad that you can get them anytime, although I probably won't get them too soon, as we haven't built a coop yet. I'll be incubating Light Brahmas, Barred Rocks, Black Giants, Silver-Laced Wyandottes, and Black Austrolorps, and only two of each! I know this is a bit risky, because I might not hatch one of the breeds, or get only roosters of one particular breed, etc. but I'd rather have variety than high chances of all my breeds surviving. Wish me luck