Buying fertile eggs vs. buying day old chicks?

[TcherDawn]

I am new and this is my first post. I was wondering the advantages of buying fertile eggs vs. day old baby chicks? I know one financial disadvantage is having to buy an incubator, but I was wondering why people choose to incubate their own eggs vs ordering baby chicks? I think I only want a few hens for pets and eggs, and I have a chick-n-hutch with run ready. I have two young sons 7 and 3 who would probably think hatching eggs would be nice. I would need very docile hens because of having little ones around. I was looking at Meyer hatchery in Ohio who ships fertile eggs of specific breeds. Anyone with thoughts or experience on this would be welcome for this new egg on the verge of chicken ownership. I still have some time before ordering because we have a couple feet of snow still on the ground and placement of any chicken housing will be impossible for the moment. Thanks for the help.
Dawn

 

[baldie]

I have 2 boys also. 10 and 4 years old. They love hatching eggs!! I originally bought one day old chicks, but now I would only hatch my own.

 

[what was i thinking]

i think the boys would love hatching eggs. by ordering chicks you can get one sex. when hatching, you get what ever comes out. if you hatch at this house you get, roos.

another thing to consider is to get eggs from someone here on byc. i don't know the prices from the hatcheries, but the members here offer some pretty good deals. i would offer you some just for shipping... they are mixed breeds, but for your first try, you might not want to spend to much. it took me two batches to get one chick.
you will love this site.

everyone will help you with which ever way you choose to go.

 

[TcherDawn]

Well big DUH on my part. I wasn't thinking of the not being able to tell male vs female thing of the fertile eggs. I guess if I wanted some eventual egg laying then roosters would not be a good bet eh?

I was just looking at all these pictures on this board of just hatching eggs and falling in love with the tenacious little critters! Some more informed thought is now going on thanks to you!

 

[deenamr]

I have seven hens and 1 roo now. I am looking forward to hatching eggs in the spring in my incubator but worry about what I am going to do with all the roos. I am assuming it is pretty much a 50/50 hen/roo hatch rate. I am going to start putting my own eggs in the incubator until I get it down well enough to start spending money on hatching eggs. BTW - mypetchicken.com will sell and ship very small quantites (as few as 3) of chicks based on where you are located and shipping time.

Good luck with whichever way you decide to go.

 

[Lollipop]

OK Dawn, the straught skinny on your delema is chicks are the more cost effective method. Eggs are almost as much initially and, due to many variables, not the least of which is rough handling in the mail, hatchability is iffy. When ordering chicks you can specify sex and the choices of breed seem to be better. After you raise your chicks you can set a hen and hatch your own eggs for your young`uns. I`ve done both and will not order eggs again. Just too uncertain.

 

[Katy]

I like and enjoy the hatching part of raising them. Buying hatching eggs was the only way to get some of the breeds I wanted to raise since they weren't available from hatcheries. If you're only wanting a few then it's probably easier to get some day-olds from a feed store....of course we all know that unless you're limited by an ordinance where you live, it's impossible to have just a few chickens!!!

 

[patandchickens]

You wouldn't wanna buy eggs from a *hatchery* though. They offer that so that teachers and so forth who just want to get some eggs with no hassle or looking around will have a source (I am sure that before Meyer and MM offered hatching eggs, they probably would get bugged a lot

).

Buy eggs from a *person*, if you want to go that route. Or if you want hatchery type birds just order day old chicks fromthe hatchery

Have fun (p.s. there are threads on here about *building* your own incubator... <eg>),

Pat

 

[TcherDawn]

I am not limited by any ordinance and have almost two open acres here in central NH. So I may be in possible "chicken addiction" trouble.

 

[birdlover]

Somebody already mentioned www.mypetchicken.com If you go there, they have a little survey you can take to see which breed is best for your specifications. Good luck and have fun!!!!

P.S. I just went over to that site and discovered the most wonderful chicken picture gallery! If you go there, check that out, too. It's awesome!!