Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Where do you get eggs to hatch?

Getting or Buying Hatching Eggs
You can get them many different places.

  1. Collect them from your own birds
  2. Buy some from a friend with birds.
  3. Ebay (beware that you can get bad deals here as with buying anything else)-- http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=hatching+eggs&_sacat=See-All-Categories   
  4. Eggbid -I have never dealt with this site. http://www.eggbid.net/index.php 
  5. Backyardchickens.com forum- This is where I buy most of my hatching eggs.  I trust the sellers here the most.  http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=36
  6. There are some other fun games at BYC like the crazy egg chain (exchanging eggs with other BYC members)-http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=326027&p=112\
  7. There is also the monthly egg swap (you get a surprise of which eggs you get)- http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=413850
  8. Or buy them from a breeder. 
  9. My pet chicken-http://www.mypetchicken.com/catalog/Fertile-Hatching-Eggs-c39.aspx?gclid=CMqSjL-uqKwCFccbQgodIEn0Cg
    Things to Keep in Mind About Hatching Eggs:
    Fertility- One thing is to make sure they are fertile eggs.  The people you are getting the eggs from would need to have a rooster with their hens for this.  Hopefully sellers on websites will have already tried to hatch their eggs and know how fertile they are.  Look for sellers that mention good fertility and hatch rates.
    A note about shipped eggs; often when hatching eggs are shipped their hatch rate is not as good as non-shipped eggs.  This is because the air sacs get messed up with rough shipping.  Look for sellers that mention good packing to ship their eggs.  My favorite is the foam with holes drilled in it!
    Pullet eggs- When a young hen (pullet) first starts laying, her eggs will usually not be fertile.  Their reproductive systems are not on track yet.  Wait for about 1-2 months after point of lay to collect fertile eggs.
    Do not wash- you do not want to wash hatching eggs!  This washes the natural bloom off that the hen puts on them and can let bacteria in through the shell.  For this purpose, you want to use mostly clean eggs or they may not hatch and will be hard to candle.


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