Why hatch over getting chicks?

[farmin'chick]

I like hatching them because I talk to the eggs every day, and cheer them on as they hatch. They come out knowing my voice, and they raise as the sweetest birds -- even my roos are sweet...MOSTLY!

 

[rirluvr]

Quote:
If you don't mind me asking where did you get those eggs for pure Araucanas?

 

[sian]

I like fussing over the eggs - its like a rite of passage to get a chick from an egg. I also start my vegetable garden from seeds starting in January. There's something so satisfying about taking an egg or seed and helping it become a living thing.

 

[SonshineCountry]

I will be setting my first eggs on Dec 11 so I will have new year babies. The reason I’m trying it is because I can.

 

[Farmer Brown]

We hatched eggs from our OEG bantams and it was a great experience. We had the egg donor go broody on one egg a week after we started incubating. She made it look so easy!

We spend all that time worrying about the temp. and humidity while she sits outside (in the coop) and then pop

Amazing!!!!

 

[walkswithdog]

The birds usually available as chicks are from hatcheries. Most hatcheries only sell production quality chicks. They are not meant to meet the breed standard, t hey're not being marketed as excellent examples of the species/breeds - they are approximations at best. If all you want is pets and egg layers. Then that is fine. If you want excellent examples of the way the breed is supposed to LOOK and BE, then a hatchery style production approximation - is not that.

When I want production quality chicks, I buy from hatcheries. When I don't, I buy eggs or grown/started birds from people breeding the quality that I DO want. For just my laying flock - I have bought hatchery chicks - from Ideal, and been delighted. When I wanted better Plymouth Barred Rocks, Blue and Black Rocks, Delawares and Silkies/Sizzles I went to breeders bettering their birds/stock.

I like hatching - it's rewarding. I like having an incubator - because broodies make mistakes and go crazy or missing or dead, unexpectedly - such is the nature of working with livestock. Broodies often refuse to just go broody because I want to hatch eggs, the incubator never refuses.

There are almost as many reasons to incubate as people who do. I started because broodies make mistakes. I kept it up, because I like the opportunity to bring in better blood at a relatively low cost compared to the price of shipping started or grown show birds. For the shipping of one show bird, I can hatch a dozen or more potential show birds from eggs. It moves me more quickly toward more stock and my goals. I want blue/black/splash silkies - no one locally has good show silkies in those colors. So I cannot buy chicks. I can however buy BBS Silkie eggs from people with show silkies with very little trouble.

From a hatchery bird perspective, no it isn't as "cost effective" but I'm not buying hatchery eggs or hatching hatchery quality stock. I also don't have a hen that can do over 300 eggs at a time if I'd like that. My incubator doesn't mind.

And... how about another and... lol, I CAN buy eggs from a hatchery - at about 1/3 or less the cost per egg of chicks, and lower shipping costs. And then hatch 200, keep what I want and sell the rest at profit. Since I would be hatching anyway - it means it pays for my habit/fix and birds, and then I make money as well.

It depends on many things, most certainly ones own wants and goals. And learning how to do it right - flat rocks... I've hatched well over 200 birds at this point. I built my own incubators after I didn't like the one I bought. I love the satisfaction of having learned not only to incubate, but to understand and build incubators. I'm refurbishing a nearly 600 egg redwood antique (1900's) incubator now and love it. I've already hatched about 60 chicks in it and am delighted.

I like learning new things, love a challenge, enjoy rehabilitating a useful and beautiful antique. I learned the air flow/ventilation and humidity requirements, I learned to wire the electrical and what thermostats work where, how and why. All truly neato stuff.

It's all good.

 

[Akane]

You can't get as many different breeds and quality of that breed in chicks as you can eggs. Hatchery chicks are not the same as good stock from a breeder. For some breeds it can be a gamble whether you get exactly what you wanted or not. Most individuals do not sell chicks so if you want quality or an uncommon breed/color of a breed then you have to get eggs.

Second reason. I live far from an airport in a northern climate. Most of the year it's risky to send chicks here. They will likely get chilled before they get here. Eggs can be sent safely most of the year except solidly freezing weather and a few really hot weeks in the summer. If purchased from someone who collects and packages well you should hatch at least half of them and occasionally get more like 80%. It's when you buy from random people off ebay or similar that you risk getting poorly packaged or old eggs that get too damaged in shipping to hatch. I also can't go to the post office to pick up chicks at 6 am. I work an odd schedule and get to bed at 3-4am and wake up at 11-12am. My chicks would sit at the post office screaming for an extra 5 or so hours. Neither chicks nor postal workers would be thrilled.

Third isn't entirely a reason to buy eggs over chicks but more of a reason why not. I already have an incubator. 2 actually. Of course I want to hatch my own eggs so whether I bought eggs or not I'd have one. If I have an incubator and I can get quality stock of an uncommon breed cheaply through eggs then why not?