hatching eggs in winter

[adamhartree]

hi, i am new to hen keeping and want to start keeping chickens on my allotment. i was thinking about hatching eggs.i want to hatch them in a incubator inside and then move them to a brooder box once hatched. how long do they need to stay in there before they can be moved outside into there housing. the only thing is the winter is obviosly coming now and once they go outside i have no way of heating the coop as it is at my allotment therefore no electricity to power the heat lamp.do you think it is a good idea to start hatching anytime soon or wait until next year now. any info would be great . i just cant wait to start keeping my own chickens now

[jessmorris]

I would wait until its warm again before hatching. Its also much easier under a hen than with an incubator!

[roitelet]

I would wait until spring. Young chicks need heat for quite a long time , I think.

[jessmorris]

Is it 8 weeks? nearly two months? They also need watching at least 2/3 times a day when they are tiny as they tend to get into scrapes and need rescuing, not very handy if they're on the allotment!

[Glutton4...]

I'm guessing egg fertility will be dropping off by now, especially as the days have shortened, and the temperature has plummeted.

[chris]

Also, be prepared to cope with the boys if you hatch.. can you deal with, or cull the majority of them if they're boys [next year].

[petal]

My advice would be to obtain 3 hybrid hens to start with and see how it goes. Raising chicks(successfully) is not really for beginners and i mean that in the kindest, nicest way as I prefer to put the animals welfare first. Unless you have a broody hen(like our nutty one that always goes broody no matter the weather...), chicks raised in winter are never a good idea- they need sun on their backs, fresh grass and warmth to make anything decent. Also as most might be cockerels you have to be prepared to cull and cook them- try some nice hybrid hens first and learn how to care for them before taking the massive leap into livestock rearing.

[RichmondHens]

Absolutely agree with Petal. If you have never kept hens before then this is the best way to start. As we are supposedly going to get the coldest winter for 300 years this year I would certainly not contemplate raising chicks now. And please please do not hatch unless you know what you will do with the surplus cockerels. I am extremely tired of people saying to me what do I do with all my cocks, or reading countless ads for "free cockerel to good home, not for the pot" etc etc.

[chris]

Is it going to be that cold? Bummocks, maybe I should get our boiler replaced now then :\

[RichmondHens]

I'm waiting for ours to be replaced Chris. Just getting by with a couple of woodburners at the moment which I only light late afternoon/evening. Downstairs is ok, upstairs is absolutely freezing! Plumber tells me he can come in 10 days' time. Fingers crossed the temperature doesn't plummet before then.

[its hilly]

I'll second and third Petal, RH and Chris.
If, and only if, you are quite happy to cull any surplus boys then hatch in Spring. Sadly you can hatch 6 eggs and get 5 cocks, so do think carefully. Now people round here know I have chickens I quite often get asked "oh, would you like our lovely (insert any breed here) cockeral, only we hatched some eggs and now don't know what to do with him"
I have hatched late in the year before I knew better, and realistically you need to have some way of keeping their coop around 5 degrees all winter. Mine were in a barn with a heat light at night, outside daytimes if they wanted, but the leghorns still couldn't cope with the cold days up here and had to be rehomed. And the others struggled, and were very behind in spring.

[petal]

True, its Hilly, cumbria has right brass monkey weather! Many experienced poultry breeders do of course, continually hatch throughout the year but they have heated barns- We started with 3 hybrids when returning to chickens 5 years ago(I was brought up on a smallholding so had the knowledge retained somewhere....) as a reminder of how to care for them. When my little girl showed excessive interest the empire started to build up from there.........

[baldrick]

or if you want your chooks from chicks get some day old auto sexing ones and keep them at home in the living room under a red fire bulb. They stink so you have to shift the poo a million times a day but they grow up really tame.With the cage ban looming tho there will be lots of ex batties being killed round Christmas who would love to not end up as soup.......................

[chris]

I've been thinking of hatching, next year but again my wife has raised a valid point.. Culling the boys is a waste of life, shed rather we wait until we move to a place with some decent land so we could keep any boys (to grow on for consumption).

Weather wise, where'd you hear it's going to be that cold RH? Eep.

[Snadger]

Best way is to be guided by nature i.e spring lambs etc!

Until chicks are fully feathered they can't stand the cold. Whats worse than just cold though is cold and damp weather, a recipe for chick deaths!