Mumsnet Talk

and I mean for me, who has had chickens before but not from eggs

and how do you do it, I really really want to do it

and are eglus good?

eggy bump

<goes to google eglus>

dss3 thought the eglu I was looking at was a barbecue (from across the room)

and dp reckons they look like the lawreance llewelyn bowen (sp?) of coops

I think I quite like wooden ones...

We have an eglu/omlet type house for the school chickens. It is great and totally fox proof (we have the big, six chicken version with wheels so it can be moved around, with the extended run). We also have the winter cover on it to try to keep the wee things warm in this weather - they had their first experience of snow this morning.

The school hatched the chicks last easter and one of the teacher's dad made a light box for them so you must be able to find instructions online somewhere i would have thought.

thanks caurnie, I think day old hatchlings are probably my best bet

will need to research light boxes and feeding etc

not taking it on just now
need to finish the demolition and rebuild or parts of the house first

fireplace ois almost completely out now

Our chicks hatched last April. We hired an incubator and bought one of the autosexing breeds (cream legbars), and were able to return the cockerel to the farm.
We just used a cardboard box and a heat lamp after hatching.

awww I so will be buying either eggs or hatchlings in the next three months

We have an incubator that takes 7 eggs and is fully automatic. It turns the eggs, counts down the days and all you need to do is refill the little water pot in the middle every couple of days. we have had a good success rate of hatchlings. we then rig up a heat lamp in our kitchen and have a home made box for the chicks to go in. It has a deep plastic seed tray on the bottom that we line with paper, little water feeder and food bowl. DH has built a 4 sided high wooden structure that lifts on and off the chicks so when they need cleaning we just lift it off, hold the chicks change the paper and pop them back in again. after a couple of weeks we put a net on the top otherwise they fly all over the kitchen. hope this suggestion helps pm me for more info

oooh mummymeister, that is lots of great information, thankyou

are incubators expensive?

We have a brinsea mini advance. we have hatched almost a dozen broods in it so for us was worth the cost - just under £100. when you consider some rare breeds are £5 a hen it kind of makes the cost worth it. do you have any friends nearby that you could split the cost with/local junior school. it really is something to see them hatching and it is so easy.

Wish I could buy a rare breed for £5. Bog standard chickens are £10 these days. I sell buff Sussex for £60 each.

I've got an eglu cube and like it but I think the small ones are too small.

I've never used an incubator before but remember if you're hatching without a hen you'll need a brooder and heat source for rearing them as well.