The Secret To Hatching Hens Not Roosters!

I found this great post at fresheggsdaily and had to pass it on.  By the way fresheggsdaily is a great resource for people with chickens or thinking about getting chickens. The information is interesting and proven to a degree.  The way you do it is by temperature control.  I have seen this on nature shows when it comes to crocodiles.  If their nests are a certain temperature more males than females will hatch.  I am definitely trying this out! Click on the pic below to go to the post. Also check out some of the incubators available from my amazon affiliate partner.  If you buy one I get a small commission that goes to support this blog. Enjoy!

baby chicks have arrived

Well our chicks have arrived at last!  We ordered them through Murray McMurray Hatchery, which in my humble opinion is one of the best hatcheries in America.  They have very high quality chicks and the good breeding shows.  So far we have only lost one chick which is pretty good because you can usually bet on a loss of 10%. Believe it or not they come in the standard mail and do just fine!

The kids just love them and are so excited to see their own chicks growing.

Mommy is looking forward to a ton of fresh eggs in a few months.

The Chickens Are Coming!

I love January.  It's when I get all my gardening and other fun magazines.  I page through them fantasizing about all the things I would like to do or grow in the next year. This week I got my Murray McMurray Hatchery Magazine for 2011.  This is in my opinion the finest Chicken Hatchery in the United States. 

The first year we raised chickens I ordered 50 chicks from them and raised the most beautiful, healthy birds we have ever done.  Not one chick died and we won all blue ribbons and best of show at fair that year!

This last year I bought my chicks from a feed store that used a local hatchery.  They are ok, but many of the chicks turned out to be a mislabeled variety called The Red Star and not the Rhode Island Reds like we wanted.  Red stars are excellent layers but just not very pretty to look at.

So even though we don't have to we are going to order 25 chicks from the hatchery so we can get what we really want.  We always get the heritage (meaning old varieties) multipurpose birds.  Not only are they generally more attractive than the commercial layer, but they also dress out nice and plump when they stop laying. 

So far the list includes:

Black Australorps: lovely big coal black birds that are unique because they also have black eyes.  Excellent layers of big brown eggs and will lay deep into winter.  White skinned which I prefer.

Buff Orpingtons:  Golden big birds that are excellent layers and gentle.  Very pretty and white skinned.



Rhode Island Reds:  I'm not fond of red chickens because when they first feather out the other chicks tend to pick them.  However my son loves them for some reason and you can stop picking by using red lights in the brooder.  They are also one of the best layers of big brown eggs.



Barred Rocks:  Excellent layers and setters (if only we could have roosters!) and they lay well. Very pretty with the black and white barring.  Developed in the united states these are a true American chicken.

Eldest daughter and Princess in Waiting have yet to pick what they want so I can expect more varieties than these.  I wish we could do ducks just because they are so fun but I think we would be pushing the city a bit far.  Right now I am getting 7 eggs a day from my 9 chickens.  Pretty good with it being the dead of winter and unseasonably cold this year.