HATCHING EGGS and CHICKS:
There is nothing more wonderful as watching a chick hatch from an egg , which just 21 days previously, was, well just an egg.
With small 'home' incubators becoming more affordable and fertile eggs more readily available, it's an experience many can achieve. An experience I would highly recommend.
My only advice is to do your research beforehand. Choose a breed that suits your requirements, do you want small friendly hens suitable for a young family, good layers who will provide you with many eggs, hens who may possibly go broody, do you have space for hens who prefer to free range or would you prefer birds who are happier in a smaller pen?
Look into the different incubators available, they come in many sizes and price range. My personal preference is Brinsea.
Ensure you have the equipment needed for the newly hatched chicks, they will need a heat source until fully feathered and more space as they grow. They will need, initially chick crumbs and at a later date growers feed.
Most importantly consider what you will do with any cockerels that hatch. At least 50% of the chicks will probably be male, possibly more. As nice as the thought of re homing is, there is not a huge demand for cockerels, so culling is a reality.
HATCHING EGGS : Artificial incubation.
Eggs received via the postal system.
If you have purchased your hatching eggs via the postal system unpack immediately on receipt and check carefully for any cracked or damaged eggs ( hopefully there won't be any but despite the best efforts of the sender to pack as carefully as possible accidents can and do happen). If there are any damaged eggs these need to be disposed of.
It is recommended to leave the eggs for 24 hours before setting them in the incubator ( which needs to have been turned on beforehand to warm up to the required temperature of 37.5 C)
Placing the eggs in a box, blunt end up in the same room as the incubator helps the air sac in the eggs to 'settle' and to bring the eggs up to room temperature.
After 24 hours the eggs can be set in the incubator following the model's guidelines, models vary on how the eggs are set.
There is nothing more wonderful as watching a chick hatch from an egg , which just 21 days previously, was, well just an egg.
With small 'home' incubators becoming more affordable and fertile eggs more readily available, it's an experience many can achieve. An experience I would highly recommend.
My only advice is to do your research beforehand. Choose a breed that suits your requirements, do you want small friendly hens suitable for a young family, good layers who will provide you with many eggs, hens who may possibly go broody, do you have space for hens who prefer to free range or would you prefer birds who are happier in a smaller pen?
Look into the different incubators available, they come in many sizes and price range. My personal preference is Brinsea.
Ensure you have the equipment needed for the newly hatched chicks, they will need a heat source until fully feathered and more space as they grow. They will need, initially chick crumbs and at a later date growers feed.
Most importantly consider what you will do with any cockerels that hatch. At least 50% of the chicks will probably be male, possibly more. As nice as the thought of re homing is, there is not a huge demand for cockerels, so culling is a reality.
HATCHING EGGS : Artificial incubation.
Eggs received via the postal system.
If you have purchased your hatching eggs via the postal system unpack immediately on receipt and check carefully for any cracked or damaged eggs ( hopefully there won't be any but despite the best efforts of the sender to pack as carefully as possible accidents can and do happen). If there are any damaged eggs these need to be disposed of.
It is recommended to leave the eggs for 24 hours before setting them in the incubator ( which needs to have been turned on beforehand to warm up to the required temperature of 37.5 C)
Placing the eggs in a box, blunt end up in the same room as the incubator helps the air sac in the eggs to 'settle' and to bring the eggs up to room temperature.
After 24 hours the eggs can be set in the incubator following the model's guidelines, models vary on how the eggs are set.
