Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
W
HICH
C
OMES
F
IRST-
T
HE
C
HICKEN
O
R
T
HE
E
GG?
The next thing to decide is whether or not you want to start with baby chicks or whether you
would like to start with eggs. If you start with baby chicks, once your chicken coop is ready
to go, you may simply purchase the chicks and place them in; however, if you decide that
you want to start with eggs, you will need to obtain an incubator for the eggs to develop in,
make sure they have the proper temperatures, humidity, and so on, and then wait for them to
hatch.
Another aspect to consider when deciding whether to start with eggs or chicks is whether or
not you will be breeding chickens as well. Will you have a rooster? Will your rooster be in
with your general chicken population? Will you need the incubator on a regular basis? If the
answer is no to any of these questions, the best and most economical choice is to purchase
the baby chicks themselves. If you are simply looking to have eggs for breakfast every day,
it is advised against getting a rooster, again, for ease and convenience.
If you purchase a rooster and keep him in with your general chicken population when it
comes time to pull out the eggs each day, each egg will need to be candled to see if there is
a growing baby chick present, and if so, either will need to be placed back in the nest or be
placed in the incubator to later hatch. If your goal is simply to have eggs each day, it's best
to only have hens and then the eggs may simply be removed, cleaned, and consumed. This
is something that will be addressed a bit later on in this topic.
The benefits of purchasing baby chicks means that you are guaranteed that each one is viable
(alive) at the time of purchase (whether they stay that way depends on the care you provide).
With the purchase of eggs themselves, there is the risk that one or more of the eggs you have
purchased will become non-viable during transport or through the process of placing them
in the incubator itself. In addition, an incubator is going to be more costly to run, as the heat
lamps must be present at all times and the temperature perfectly controlled, bringing up the
electric bill itself.
Both options are perfectly feasible; however, with eggs, you run the risk of having to get
more than the amount of chickens you want and potentially ending up with more chickens
than your coop has room for if more than anticipated make it through the hatching process.
In starting with the chickens versus starting with the eggs, you know exactly how many you
are looking to have and you know for sure that you have exactly the right amount of space
for that number of chickens. In addition, should for some reason one of your chicks happen
to die, you may simply purchase a new chick ensuring again that you know exactly what you
are getting and do not have to guess with the number of eggs that will be needed in order to
get
X
amount of chickens.
