20 years in the waiting, but chickens hatch this spring!

I have been wanting chickens for at least 20 years. We are finally in a place where we can do it, so I’ve been planning out how many, what housing, rotational pens, and all that jazz. My mother-in-law, who lives next door, is very excited for me to do this…to the point that she bought me an incubator for Christmas this year. I was planning on ordering chicks, but there is no way I’m going to disappoint her now. Hatching it is!

But while I’ve done lots of research here and in other places about how to raise and care for chickens, I skipped over the whole hatching part. My modus operandi when faced with something I don’t know about is to run and find a book, so I’ve got Gail Damerow’s Hatching and Brooding Your Own Chickens and I’m reading it furiously. What else should I know, friends? What other resources have been useful for you? Throw me a lifeline of books, articles, threads, videos!

YAY YAY YAY!

I ordered tiny chicks last spring, so I don't know about that hatching part, but it's going to be crazy, fun, funny, and surprising. You'll really enjoy the adventure. Good luck!

Chickens have brought great entertainment to my life, wish I had gotten them earlier!

My best advice is to heed all the jokes about chicken math and setup your systems to handle more chickens than you might expect. Best case scenario you will have spoiled chickens who have a bunch of space per bird.

Threads that I have found value in include...

Best Perennial Chicken Feed

Chicken Feed

Forage for chickens

Should I get chickens?

Adventures in incubation

Permies Poll: How do you view your chickens?

I am a fanboy of Sean out of Edible Acres and his chicken composting systems. Integrating chickens with compost creation is a fun function stacking that is rather forgiving. He has a bunch of videos but if you are not familiar this one is a decent jumping off point.

Where are you planning on getting the fertilized eggs? Any special bread in mind?

May Lotito wrote:Where are you planning on getting the fertilized eggs? Any special bread in mind?

This was going to be my question.

I asked Google and saw that Tractor Supply has eggs.

If there is no Tractor Supply my suggestion would be to ask at the local feed store.

I have seen eggs on both Amazon and eBay though I am not sure about having eggs shipped.

Hi Shawn,
That is very exciting. I had to get rid of my chickens about 3.5 years ago... and I'm waiting until I'm in a position to get them again. You give me hope :)

I am not an expert on hatching by any means, but I have done it several times with an incubator. Always with the cheap ones... I didn't have any fancy egg turners or digital anything. The incubator will come with instructions on how to keep the temp and humidity at the right levels. This is probably the most important. I VERY much agree with hatching more than you think you need, as some will probably not hatch.

I typically mark the eggs on either side with an x and o... or maybe a 1 and a 2. Just something to tell which side is which. Many online sources will say to turn them 3 to 6 times a day and also make sure you turn them left and then right and alternate... and all sorts of things. We never did those things, but it might make it better? We would turn them twice a day and didn't pay attention to which direction or anything like that. Don't turn them for the last 3 days. Let the chicks dry off completely in the incubator before moving them to the brooder. If it is late, and you leave them overnight, this should be fine. Remember that chicks can survive for a couple days with no food or water when they are first born... which is how the mail order chicks do it.

Everything after that is the same with mail order chicks as with chicks you hatched... so from what you have said, you have lots of info for the brooding and onward.  

Some of the hatcheries (McMurray and Cackle, for example) have fertilized eggs that they ship; I’m going to give that a try. I’m also keeping an eye on the bulletin board at the feed store and on Craigslist and FB Marketplace for local possibilities. I have a short list of breeds I’m looking for: Orpington (color immaterial), Plymouth Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red. They’re all heavy, dual-purpose breeds that have good egg production rates.

The incubator holds 12 eggs. Planning on two hatches; I figure with a conservative hatch rate of 50%, and a basic 50/50 sex ratio, this should get me about 6 layers, a rooster for future fertilized egg shenanigans, and some dinners!

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Shawn,
That is very exciting. I had to get rid of my chickens about 3.5 years ago... and I'm waiting until I'm in a position to get them again. You give me hope :)

I am not an expert on hatching by any means, but I have done it several times with an incubator. Always with the cheap ones... I didn't have any fancy egg turners or digital anything. The incubator will come with instructions on how to keep the temp and humidity at the right levels. This is probably the most important. I VERY much agree with hatching more than you think you need, as some will probably not hatch.

I typically mark the eggs on either side with an x and o... or maybe a 1 and a 2. Just something to tell which side is which. Many online sources will say to turn them 3 to 6 times a day and also make sure you turn them left and then right and alternate... and all sorts of things. We never did those things, but it might make it better? We would turn them twice a day and didn't pay attention to which direction or anything like that. Don't turn them for the last 3 days. Let the chicks dry off completely in the incubator before moving them to the brooder. If it is late, and you leave them overnight, this should be fine. Remember that chicks can survive for a couple days with no food or water when they are first born... which is how the mail order chicks do it.

Everything after that is the same with mail order chicks as with chicks you hatched... so from what you have said, you have lots of info for the brooding and onward.  

Thanks, Matt! The incubator has a turning function (as well as lockdown for the last three days), which I think will help. Marking them is a great idea to help make sure it’s working properly. When you were hatching, what was your general hatch rate? Is 50% a reasonable expectation?

Shawn Foster wrote:Thanks, Matt! The incubator has a turning function (as well as lockdown for the last three days), which I think will help. Marking them is a great idea to help make sure it’s working properly. When you were hatching, what was your general hatch rate? Is 50% a reasonable expectation?

In my limited experience the hatch rate was mostly due to fertility rate in the eggs I started with. I remember us hatching 24 eggs in an incubator and 3 did not hatch and 1 chick did not make it. So that would still be upwards of 80+ percent. I'm not saying hatching eggs is easy... but we have been doing it for long enough that if you follow the guidelines on an fertilized egg there is a good chance it will hatch.

On the other hand, when I let my hens hatch them out, I got closer to 40% hatch rate... but I also had 1 rooster for 28 hens and all of them were new mothers.

That gives me a general ballpark of between 40 and 80 percent. I can live with that. 😁 Just put in an order for 6 Buff Orpingtons and 6 Barred Rocks for the end of March, and I’m trying to decide on which breeds for the second batch for 21 days later. Ridiculously excited about having these tiny velociraptors on my little farm!

Hi, Shawn! Our incubator success rate, albeit with quail, rather than chickens, sucked. I can't help thinking it was either the cheapo incubator or human error, but, we gave up, and when we need to replace dwindling birds, we order day-old ones. The last two years, we lost every single duck and chicken egg to predators (snakes, chipmunks, & even chickens), mostly before they even hatched. So, in July, I ordered Buff Orps. Our best successes in egg production have been from those, Barred Rock, & Black Austrolorps. Our worst egg-eating chickens have been Golden Comets.

Congrats on starting your chicken journey! One issue we ran into when we hatched out our own is leg splaying when the chickens break out of the shell. We found some of that kitchen drawer liner material on the bottom of the incubator helps a lot. After that, just watch out for pasty butt and you'll be good to go.

Carla Burke wrote:Hi, Shawn! Our incubator success rate, albeit with quail, rather than chickens, sucked. I can't help thinking it was either the cheapo incubator or human error, but, we gave up, and when we need to replace dwindling birds, we order day-old ones. The last two years, we lost every single duck and chicken egg to predators (snakes, chipmunks, & even chickens), mostly before they even hatched. So, in July, I ordered Buff Orps. Our best successes in egg production have been from those, Barred Rock, & Black Austrolorps. Our worst egg-eating chickens have been Golden Comets.

Oh, I’m so sorry, Carla! What a nightmare!

I’m considering Black Austrolorps and Rhode Island Reds for the second hatching; they seem to fit in with my overall goals. More diversity means I get an opportunity to see which breeds are a good fit for us and our situation. How have the Buff Orpingtons worked out for you?

E Sager wrote:Congrats on starting your chicken journey! One issue we ran into when we hatched out our own is leg splaying when the chickens break out of the shell. We found some of that kitchen drawer liner material on the bottom of the incubator helps a lot. After that, just watch out for pasty butt and you'll be good to go.

Excellent tip, thank you! This is all a brand new world for me.

Shawn Foster wrote:Oh, I’m so sorry, Carla! What a nightmare!

I’m considering Black Austrolorps and Rhode Island Reds for the second hatching; they seem to fit in with my overall goals. More diversity means I get an opportunity to see which breeds are a good fit for us and our situation. How have the Buff Orpingtons worked out for you?

Thank you, Shawn. It was a rough couple years, for our chickens. But, through it, the Buffs have been the stand-out best, for us. Granted, we haven't eaten any of the birds, yet, but that's coming, in February. They're a great, dual purpose, good-size bird, lay nice big eggs, at a very nice production rate. They're affectionate with their humans, especially the hens, sometimes broody (2 - 3 out of 10/year have gone broody, for us), excellent moms who grieve, when their chicks or eggs are killed, are happy foster moms*, and very protective of them, but even tolerant of me picking them up. Three only downside has been if the cockerels are human-raised, or experience has been that they have a 50/50 chance of becoming aggressive. If the hens raise them, they've all been great.

Next favorite is the Austrolorps. They're less brood /mama-ish, less willing to foster, but still have good production of large eggs, and are equally as affectionate with their humans.

The Barred Rocks I've found right on part with the others, but the least broody of mine, and the most aloof. BUT,  they were also 100% hen raised, so that may also play a role. The BR rooster has been the best one I've had. He's protective of the girls, but he also tends to pick a favorite, and she gets to looking a little worse for the wear, but never horribly so.

I've not been a fan of the Golden Comets. They've had the smallest and fewest eggs, have eaten more than they've laid, and weren't friendly, at all.

Put in an order this morning for 6 Rhode Island Red and 6 Black Australorps. Brings me to a total of:
- 2 hatch batches (timed for 21 days apart)
- 4 breeds
- 24 eggs

First batch won’t ship until March 25th. Am I anxiously awaiting this? Oh my yes. Counting down the days as I dither over brooder options.

Does anyone know of a source for goose eggs? I’m hoping for one as a guard for the chickens, but the day-old hatchlings are outrageously expensive.

What do you do with eggs that don't hatch?

I put mine in the compost pile. I broke the shell first though.. so they would decompose more quickly.

Apparently you know within a few days if egg is viable to become a chick,  but could I feed one to the fox or will it be rotten from being kept in the hatcher?

Bever Branson wrote:Apparently you know within a few days if egg is viable to become a chick,  but could I feed one to the fox or will it be rotten from being kept in the hatcher?

If an egg is kept in an incubator and is not growing a chicken... it will be quite rotten by the end of the process. I wouldn't want to chance it on some animal, which is why I composted. However animals in the canine family can handle some pretty rank stuff... so maybe?

I'm asking if I can feed a 4-5 days old egg which has been warming in the hatcher.
  I won't be keeping NonViable eggs in the hatcher only those which are definitely growing a chick