sorry for all the chicken posts but just a question about incubating

china

china

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i cant decide wether to get an incubator or not, i have 3 pekin bantams and would like to hatch some but none of my hens are broody, and they were broody a few months back for a long time but dont want to go broody now
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i would quite like to do some silkies to, now iv done alot of research and can you honestly tell me, is it really that hard
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i know about turning them 3 times a day and when/ if they hatch that u leave them to fluff up, then u move them to where they are living, a box for example with a lamp. does it have to be a special heat lamp or any lamp.
is it 8 weeks old they can go to homes, i cant remember how old mine were when i got mine.
im abit confused about humidity and temperature, what to have it at as different websites say different things.
any more info please add, i want to make sure i know it all before spending alot of money.
choccy biccies if you get this far
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I love our hens and we've hatched a few egg clutches over the years.....but we ended up with so many cockerels we decided not to do it again! Unfortunately you can't choose the sex of the eggs, you have to wait and see what you get. Our hens are pets and I wouldn't dream of killing any of them, so the cockerels have to stay. And believe me when their crowing contests start at around 3am they aren't cute!
 
a question about cockerals to
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do they just crow because they are cockerals or do they crow when it gets light?? dumb question haha!!
 
Now thats a funny thing. One of my cockrels doesnt crow at all, the other does nothing BUT crow!
No its not that hard. I bought an incubator off Ebay for about £25 (just a forced air polybox) and have so far hatched lots of quail and a couple of clutches of chickens.
You do need to turn the eggs at least twice a day ( I do mine three times) and then stop turning on day 18, and they will hatch on day 21.
 
I have that one too
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It really is easy too.... I have hatched upwards of 30 quail now....... Joanne has hatched some of mine too
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We have had some low hatch rates and some very good ones.... it all depends on the fertility of the birds that are laying..... My quail are fairly elderly in Quail terms, so maybe that is why
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I also have silkies now.... as soon as they are laying I will hatch them
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You can sell them younger than 8 weeks but they will have to be cheaper as you cant tell the sex so well then.... but I was told £8 for young birds and £16 for point of lay
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Hope that helps
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I breed Silkies, i don't use an Incubator if i can help it as Silkies are naturally very broody.

Ive just hatched my last lot for this year. Incubators are very good in terms of reliability, however imo a good broody will have a better hatch rate than an Incubator. You need to read up about humidity, also as you've said they do need to be left for at least 24hrs not only to fluff up but to injest the yolk.

You will need a good heat lamp & brooder, you should set the lamp around 35 degrees c for the first week & go down by 2 or 5 degrees every week until normally 6 weeks, but it does depend.
I have my chicks under a heat lamp atm i had to take the broody away at 7 days. My chicks are 14 days old now & they have the temp around 26- 27 degrees. But i don't panic if it drops to 25 degrees as they can cope with that.

Chicks will also tell you if there to hot or cold if they sit around the edge away from the lamp there normally a bit warm, if they sit directly under there normally on the chilly side.

A word of warning about Silkies they are notoriously hard to sex, so if you sell at 8 weeks you will not know what sex your selling. Nor will the buyer at that age & yes they can crow like crazy during daylight hours.

Have you also thought about what Silkies you want to hatch LF or miniture Bearded or not?? Also they quality you breed depends on the price.
 
Dressagecrazy.... sorry to hijack the thread.... but what is the best way to tell the sex of silkies....??

I have a quartet, one of which is deffo a cockerel!! Two are very hen like, but the last one (a white one) is a bit ambiguous
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I have been told by the forum member who gave them to me that he is a boy, but then I have been told by a friend who used to breed them that she is a girl
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I think in my heart of hearts that the old owner is more than likely right.... but would love her to be wrong as we dont want to keep both cockerels if they start to fight, this would not be fair on either of them.

The white one.... Perryperry!! Is smaller than the other (same size as the hens) but is the same age.... he/she does not crow and I have only seen them square up to each other once.....

Any other pointers???

Thanks
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no iv not thought of what silkies i would want to do, i know i want to do pekin bantams and i might try some ducks if all goes well.
is there good and bad times of year to do them. i definatly want to use my hens when they go broody as i think its more natural but typically they arnt interested at the mo. i couldnt get them off the eggs at the begining of the year. and im half tempted to keep a cockeral so i dont have to buy eggs in but i keep my hens at home so if its noisey the neighbours might not like it
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although you would think there is a cockeral with the noise my hens make.
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and sorry for my dumbness but what is a brooder??
 
For silkies look for swept back hair on the head, if it has swept back hair it is usually a Cockerel.
Also you can feel for spurs but this isnt always reliable depends on age, i have an old Hen who has small spurs. when younger they do tend to sort there pecking order out quite a bit so that wont tell you if it's a cockerel.
I normally keep my cockerels together & ive never had a problem with fighting. I do have enough Hens though which helps.

I don't tend to hatch any later than the begining of August if using a broody as i don't want them hatching in cold temps.

I have Pekins also & they are very funny i only have 5 but i started keeping chickens because of Pekins. My Pekin hens are very noisy so i know what you mean cockerels are sometimes quieter than some hens lol. Pekins again are good brooders.
 
good luck with the incubator..cant advice on this but i also have pekins(3 hens and a cock)..my broody is sitting on her third lot this year, first lot successful,nxt lot,lost all chicks(posted eggs) and fingercrossed with this lot they'l survive
shes sitting on 3 of her own eggs and three differnt bred eggs

i hate the 21 day wait though...im only on day 3-4

my lovely young friendly black pekin cockeral is looking for a home otherwise im afraid he'l be going to the clouds
 
It is rather late in the year to start incubating eggs, as the chicks will need to be kept warm for a lot longer than spring-born chicks. You are likely to have higher mortality than when incubating in May.

The chicks need lots of care and warmth until they grow their adult feathers, replacing their down. They aren't properly waterproof in their down, so do make sure that they can get out of rain. They tend to get their full set of feathers at about 9-10 weeks, but they are still small at that stage so you would need to be extremely careful about introducing them to your existing hens.

I would recommend waiting until next spring and using one of your broodies. You, the hen and the chicks will all enjoy the experience.
 
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