Hatching Chicks

This year for the first time, I have decided to let mother hen incubate and hatch her own chicks. In the past I have bought new chicks every spring but every farmer in time will get to the point where they want their own. Last summer I made an attempt to built an incubator and hatch my own. I was worried about what my rooster might to do the babies. My design was working until I put them into their hatching container and my humidity or temperature must have been wrong and I lost the chicks.


So this year I am hoping my best momma hen Lucy will be up for the job. As of this morning she has collected 7 eggs and I was hoping maybe she would begin to "set" or incubate them today. But alas, she is out in the garden with her handsome rooster having a bath in the sun.

This is my barred rock laying an egg in the coop. She prefers to lay them on the floor of the coop...

I have two kinds of hens: a barred rock and a red Sussex. The eggs she is incubating will be a mix of both with a red sex-link rooster.

Meet my handsome rooster Foghorn ( I know now he is NOT a Leghorn). He isn't fenced in, that is actually the dog run. He likes to taunt my beagle.

This process would have been easier had I not lost so many hens in the fall to predators. Some raccoons figured out how to operate the chicken hatch and get inside and cleaned me out of a half dozen chickens one night and came for the rest the following day while they were free-range. I got myself a pellet gun and I don't have a raccoon problem any more ;). I know other farmers will kill or poison the raccoon but I found that a pellet to the butt of one, cleared them all away from my property indefinitely. I am a little weak when it comes to killing things so scaring them off was good for me.


Why Hatch Chicks?

If you are going to raise chickens, it makes sense to hatch your chicks at home too. It saves you money from purchasing them. There is also the benefit of knowing that the chick was raised by mother-hen herself. They are usually stronger and more healthy.
The negative side is that I used to buy ready-to-lay hens in the spring mostly. When you hatch your own, you will have little fluffy things eating up all your feed while not producing anything. If they are free-range they will find more food from the land and eat less from your budget though.
If you plan on hatching chicks, make plans ahead of time for the roosters. I would never suggest having more than one rooster on the farm. It causes fighting and chaos. Decide if you will sell/give them away or if you are willing to butcher them for meat. I am a little sensitive about killing things but I may try butchering my own this year.