Hatching in the winter

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Hi - I have been looking for some guidence/general information on the hatching of eggs in winter i.e. is it a bad idea and if so why? I realise they will need the heatlamp possibly for longer but what about daylength and amount of light. Do I need to extend light with a lamp on a timer and if so can normal lightbulbs be used? and for how long - to simulate a spring day or even 12/12 hour light/dark? (I probably should have asked a couple of weeks agao as I got fed up trying to find Rhode Island Red eggs locally so bought 12 eggs, from 2 different sources, on line !?! they been in the incubator for 4 days now). Thank you.
 
I normally dont hatch over winter for two main reasons that I will detail below. :?

1. My girls don't lay and the eggs they do lay aren't good enough for me to set and it is too much work to keep them under the right conditions over the winter. Fertility also suffers as most of my cockerels are moulting / no longer treading the hens. The hens get a rest and the boys go together for the winter here. To get a hen to lay in winter, you would normally have to introduce artificial light (RIR's will lay for longer though because of the amount of eggs they lay in a year - which are greater than most breeds). Some breeders that advertise on ebay will add light over the winter months because they can get a good price for their eggs since there is less competition.

On a positive note, providing nature is still working as intended - cockerels fertilising the eggs, hens still laying, everything should be fine with the hatch. The main disadvantage is your chicks have the seasons against them - they can't really go out and graze grass due to the cold weather, and you have them inside for far longer although there are other disadvantages for layers:

2. Light doesn't just effect laying, but also sexual maturity in pullets. You don't want them laying too soon as this effects the size of their eggs as well as number of eggs. Pullets = 22 to 24 weeks old (the time they start to lay) and should be in decreasing daylight hours. By the time your chicks become pullets, they will be in increasing daylight hours. Increasing daylight hours usually triggers reproduction and will therfore speed up their sexual maturity...

Chickens that lay sooner will lay smaller eggs but also less of them and are more likely to suffer from prolapse. This is one of the main reasons not to hatch over the winter because you need to (ideally) keep them under artificial light for so long.

They should ideally be kept under decreasing light - so birds hatched between March and August should be OK but outside of this you would (ideally) keep pullets under 9-10 hour constant light, or decreasing light.

At some point you would need to syncronise with natural daylight hours so if you decrease daylight hours, make sure there is a point where they would be in time with nature and could then go out.

I hope this helps a little...
 
Hi,
I honestly don't know,I'm a very novice poultry keeper.So my suggestion probably isn't right.
The reasons for not hatching eggs over winter is because of winter weather.Obviously as well,hens and cockerels get to rest.
Once hatched,and out from under their extended time under heat,where are you planning on keeping them?
They are not going to start hatching until the 5th/6th Dec,then,they will need 8+ weeks under heat, which will take it to Feb,maybe longer.
If you've got a suitable barn/stable or shed for them to live in,and let them out on mild days once fully feathered (not for too long)and don't let them get wet,cold or too tired I would play it by hear.
Depending on where they are living,will depend on what heating you use.Eg.in a barn or stable,you would need a heat lamp,low enough down that they benefit from the warmth.I myself wouldn't actually try and imitate spring,I would increase daylight hours during the day(evening)only if I felt they could not eat enough if the day wasn't longer.
 
oops,Tim posted his reply whilst I was typing my thoughts-so,disregard mine.
I don't have the experience and knowledge that a lot of the other poultry keepers on here do have.
 
Lydia said:
oops,Tim posted his reply whilst I was typing my thoughts-so,disregard mine.
I don't have the experience and knowledge that a lot of the other poultry keepers on here do have.
Click to expand...

A view from more than one is always good Lydia ;) I always think lots of suggestions help to form a good view about something. I agree with what you say - winter is a tough time to raise chicks / growers but disagree with increasing daylight hours, this should be decreasing when they are pullets (in 22-26 weeks from hatch) because they shouldn't be encouraged to lay too soon because of the problems I already mentioned.

I have some young growers that I hatched as part of a new incubator test / review that I did and I have kept them under constant light for the first 4 weeks or so.. at some point soon I will need to put them under decreasing daylight hours with a view to reach a 'change-over' point in spring when they will be on the same number of daylight hours as natural light and reasonably mature. It's a pain lighting them like this but if I don't they will come into lay too early. :?
 
Have just hatched further white bearded silkies and a few pekins, but during the winter months they do become high maintenance. They will be kept in the rearing shed until February or as soon as it is nice enought outside. They are kept in a brooder for the first 4 weeks and then under heat lamps which are raised over the weeks to eventually with heat off during the day then no heat at all.

Sue
 
Being high maintenance is a good excuse to be with them in the rearing shed giving them extra cuddles though.As the adults(like your buff orpington rooster) that want cuddles will be in bed,can spend a few mins fussing babies before tea ;) .
 
Hi,

I read somewhere that its better to hatch smaller breeds- ie. pekins and other bantams in late spring/ early summer, as they will grow faster at this time of year - apparantly it encourages the bone structure to remain smaller (something to do with daylight hours?!?) And then the larger breeds i.e. orpingtons in winter so that they grow slowly and therefore bigger. Not sure how much truth is in this and it did refer to birds for showing rather than egg production.

Also reading around, I think that some people who show chickens hatch them in winter ( obv with lower fertility and hatch rates!) to make sure they are in optimum condition for the summer shows. I've hatched some chicks recently, with about 50 % hatch results, but as others have said- the chicks will need longer indoors than those hatched in spring- -

Nicky
 
I do try and hatch the latest Copper Black Maran eggs I have - this is because the hens that are still laying are the better layers so it is effectively selecting hens that lay the most eggs in a year. I also find I get the darkest brown eggs then too - but I haven't worked out why yet :?
 
I did a couple of very late hatchings---only as the eggs were much cheaper!!!!!!! I found fertility/hatching rate no different but did get a higher (Ifeel significantly so ) % of boys than spring/summer. I have heard this before but never really believed it as I cant understand why!!Luckily , with a no. of silkies I had broodies to take over when hatched -I wouldnt fancy all the winter brooding. Ros..
 
podstable said:
I did a couple of very late hatchings---only as the eggs were much cheaper!!!!!!! I found fertility/hatching rate no different but did get a higher (Ifeel significantly so ) % of boys than spring/summer. I have heard this before but never really believed it as I cant understand why!!Luckily , with a no. of silkies I had broodies to take over when hatched -I wouldnt fancy all the winter brooding. Ros..
Click to expand...


Hi Ros
Totally agree with the % of males at end of the year is highter than normal, had 6 lemon cuckoo eggs hatch end november, they were all cockerels!!
 
All the men that read this post will totally agree but here goes:

Maybe the male sperm in the winter is stronger than the female?
 
victorias poultry said:
All the men that read this post will totally agree but here goes:

Maybe the male sperm in the winter is stronger than the female?
Click to expand...

Of course... :lol:

No idea why really though....
 
victorias poultry said:
All the men that read this post will totally agree but here goes:

Maybe the male sperm in the winter is stronger than the female?
Click to expand...

Cobblers,females just have the sense not to be born at the wrong time of year so don't materialise :D .
 
Happy New Year and thank you for your advice :) Sadly academic as none of the eggs hatched. :( Two were cracked on arrival, two began 'leaking/seeping' so I realised they were off and the rest did nothing and had no sign of development inside. So whether they weren't fertile or it was the wrong time of year to have eggs sent through the post I don't know, maybe I'll learn with experience. Anyway, as our hens were still laying, I put another 9 in the incubator last week so I'll wait and see what happens with these. Thank you again though.
 
In general, this time of year is not the best for fertility. Spring is when the birds are most fertile.

Cracked eggs however are bad news and it sounds like they were possibly dropped /broken in transit.

Good luck with your second batch!
 
So sorry Marishal,it does sound like Tim was right,and they got damaged in transit.
Better luck with your own eggs.
 
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