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[RRRisnewtochickens]

Hello everyone

 

I'm hoping you lovely people can help me out (lots!). My lovely (!) other half came home last with 4 chicken eggs for us to incubate and hatch. Its something we've always wanted to do, and even more so now we have young children, but I wasn't expecting him to turn up with them in his hand and us have nothing ready for them! I am a complete and utter novice at this, I've been frantically reading different websites since last night but as usual everyone says something different. This seems to be the best UK based forum so I'm pinning high hopes on you all to point me in the right direction!

 

I need advice on all areas, firstly and most importantly, incubation, the do's and dont's, whats the best incubator? I've seen some sites where people have made their own, is this really possible? What do I do with them whilst they are in there? Turning? Once they are hatched what do we do? What do we need? I read things about brooders but I'm not entirely sure about them, do we def need one? What do they eat when small? When big? How long do they stay in the brooder for? I could go on for ages asking questions!

 

If anyone can help me out here, I'd really REALLY appreciate it!

 

Massive thanks, Ria

[Egluntyne]

Crikey! You'll have to be fairly quick about getting those eggs into an incubator!

 

The one that has received some promising reports lately is the Suro.

 

I have a Brinsea Octagon 10, which is fine for my purposes.

 

Some useful guidelines **here**

[Redwing]

Hi and welcome

 

Do you know how old the eggs are?

 

They will last 10 days or so if they are stored carefully, after 10 days you can still 'set' (incubate) them but fertility declines rapidly after 10 days so they'll be less chance of them hatching

 

Until you are able to set them place them in an egg box or tray, pointy end downwards and rest one end of the box on something about an inch high (a good book will be fine) , alternate the ends a few times a day so that the eggs are being moved - this helps the inside not settle against one side of the egg shell during storage.

 

Four eggs arent that many, one or two may bve infertle and if three hatch at best then one or two will be boys, if you want to get X amount if girls out of the hatch consider adding a few more, worst case senario will be that you hatch one lonely chick - this has happened to me twice now out of six eggs

 

ok. incubators, there are two different types, automatic and manual

 

A manual incubator is where you set the eggs on their side, write a cross and a circle on opposite sides of the egg and then turn from cross to circle at least three times a day by rocking them (ie dont turn them through a full 360 degrees as the 'securing bonds' inside get twisted)

 

An automatic incubator turns the eggs for you, some incubators have the eggs on end (always point end down) and rock the eggs on a cradle, others you lay the eggs down flat and a roller moves them.

 

You can spend as much or as little on an incubator as you like, of the small ones the Brinsea Mini seems to have good reviews, if you wont be around to turn the eggs then an automatic is a better choice but they are more expensive

 

Eggs need turning an odd number of times a day, three is fine, 5 is great, I work full time and when I used to have a manual incubator I used to turn before work, after work and before bed and had good results

 

At day 18 the eggs all need to be laid down and turning stops, add a non slip mat to the incubator to prevent the chicks doing the splits on a slippy floor - this is called splayed leg and is not good!

 

the eggs hatch at or around day 21. The day you set the eggs is day zero

 

When the eggs hatch the chicks stay in the incubator until they are completely dry

 

They then move to a brooder which can be as simple as a plastic crate with a wire lid, cardboard box or indorr rabbit cage. A heat lamp or electric hen is needed to keep them warm

 

As they get older you will be able to tell which are cockerels, you'll need to have a plan for these, I cannot stress that enough!!

 

The heat gets reduced as the chicks get older so that they 'harden off' they can progress to a fox proof shed or garage as they get older (the amount of dust they produce is astonishing ) they could go straight in to a garage or shed if their heat lamp or electric hen is warm enough

 

The chicks can go outside at about 8 weeks old

 

They cannot mix with older chickens until they are 18 weeks old or so

 

Bear in mind they will need progressively bigger housing

 

 

 

The main points to consider before you go ahead are housing and what to do with cockerels

 

I'm off for a lie down

[RRRisnewtochickens]

Thank you so much for such a detailed response, its exactly what I needed!

 

The main thing holding me back right now is what to do with cockerels, we certainly dont live somewhere where they would be accepted!! What do you usually do with yours? Its literally the one thing stopping me buying the incubator. We've sorted what we could use as a brooder, even sorted out the bigger housing for outside and how to arrange the garden. We've only got until the weekend really until the eggs are no good. The were laid on Monday.

[Daphne]

I love the way Redwing specifies a 'good' book to put the eggs on

Perhaps the whole response could be a sticky - its full of experienced top tips for novices?

 

Re cockerals - the choices are quite tough and I think you should be prepared to take the toughest decision before you finally decide to hatch. Remember, there will always another time to hatch - once maybe you are in a different location or have got your head round the possible outcomes.

 

a) keep one or possibly two for breeding - but remember they tend to fight particularly once at 'maturity'; it can be bloody and/or to the death. Most cockerals are (very) noisy. Neighbours unlikely to be impressed at stupid o'clock in the morning when one starts the others off crowing.

b) sell them - but "Ooops, word censored!"ody will be interested unless they are top top quality for breeding

c) FTGH - depending on breed/quality/colour/luck, you may be able to give one/some away

d) give to a petting zoo/city farm etc - but not many of these around/already full

e) give to a chicken sanctuary of some sort - but really this is hardly fair, you are passing the problem onto them

f) give to a reptile/bird of prey etc keeper - as feed

g) keep them yourself and fatten for the table - depending on the breed of course!

h) give them to a professional despatcher (thinking butcher/farmer) - pay for despatch and get them back (but actually there aren't many of these types about either!)

 

I've run out of options, but you get the picture. There is always an oversupply of cockerals, particularly at this time of year going into the summer. Well done for taking a responsible attitude to the whole business.

[RRRisnewtochickens]

How old are the chicks by the time you can tell they are cockerels? I'm not sure if I could watch something grow for however long and then know that its going to be "despatched" or similar.

 

I'm also really stuck about the incubator! I've found a few online, and some on ebay but what sort of shop sells them? I need one by the weekend and ideally to go and buy it tomorrow but I've not a clue where to look.

[Daphne]

Depends on breed - some are autosexing which means you can tell girls from boys at hatch, implying you cull the chick. Some you can make educated guesses (good ones) at a few weeks up to 8-10 weeks. Some slow growing breeds can hide their sex quite successfully until they are around 16-20 weeks.

 

You can buy incubators online; this is probably your best bet. I don't think any/many places such as Scats or feedmerchants sell them, but possibly some large scale hybrid breeders and/or larger chicken suppliers might.

 

Please remember it is very very easy to get hold of hatching eggs. However, hatching really isn't something to be undertaken lightly. Its not always easy (plenty of stories about dud hatching rates and/or hatching problems resulting in having to cull) and the perennial problem of cockerals is a serious one. As a guide people say you'll get 50/50 boys & girls - but this is a very rough approximation - you might get 100% boys.

[RRRisnewtochickens]

After almost completely giving up last night as I dont think I could cull any of the chicks, at any age (despite regularly feeding chicks to my ferrets, though I guess this is slightly different), I rang around practically everyone I know and now have 4 farm homes willing to take in any cockerels that we have. I'm very pleased about this and wont have to worry about the cockerel side of things at all so thats a relief.

 

So now I just need to sort my incubator out! I think I'm going to have to buy online which means these eggs will be no good unfortunately, which is such a shame as they were the reason we are here now! But in hindsight it could be a wise thing as it gives me a bit longer to do more research and such like, and be more prepared.

 

So, we will have chicks but just not yet. I'm very excited now, especially as I've got more time to prepare and I know that no matter what hatches it will have a good home.

 

Thank you to everyone for your advice, no doubt I'll be asking lots more questions!