Brooders and Incubation

I have incubated eggs with an incubator, then put the chicks in a homemade brooder. It worked ok, but NOTHING works better than a chicken as an incubator and brooder! Now, there are differences in the breeds. The finer boned, flightly breeds like Leghorns as a rule do not ever become broody. The dual purpose egg/meat birds many times do well. The best brooders in the chicken world are Japanese Silkies, at least in my experience. Those hens will hatch out just about anything, with the limiting factor being their size. I always had Silkie bantams, but even they would and did hatch out pheasants and turkeys!

I have never had a big poultry operation going on here, and found it easiest to write the date an egg was laid with a pencil on the eggs I was saving up to hatch. That way, I could use the freshest eggs to incubate, though they should be viable for up to 10 days or so if they weren't kept too hot or too cold.

A mother chicken ( or guinea, turkey, etc.) will find a spot to lay her eggs, and then let the eggs accumulate while she goes about her other business until she is happy with the amount that are in the clutch. Then she begins to set on them. This way, they all hatch at once. I think owls are one of the only birds that begin incubation when they lay their first egg, and the result is a nest of owlets of different ages. Works well for the owls, who have partners to help them...not so much for a bird who basically on her own when it comes to raising the children! Other bird species may have the different hatching dates as well, but I am only aware of owls.

I always found it fascinating when I held a fertile egg in my hand. I would think that today, it could be a fried egg or omelet. Or, add proper heat and moisture for 21 days, and it could be a little chick running around, eating and drinking. God is AMAZING!