Large quantity of hatching eggs

[Tgpetbreeders]

Hi everyone I'm new on hear and relitvly new to keeping chickens I have just purchased a new incubator with quite a large capacity and I'm trying to find some one some where who can provide me with around 300 to 500 fertile eggs if any one has any suggestions or sites it would be a great help thanks.

 

[Chuck]

You might struggle a bit at this time of year as fertility is often reduced due to moulting and the days getting shorter.

Presumably you want eggs from hens that are good layers.

 

[Tgpetbreeders]

Yes I would like eggs from good layers. I know fertility is reduced at this time of year but I do love a challenge I will also be renting space out in this incubator to people who want their eggs incubating. I don't mind if I can just get around 100 a week for the time being. Low fertility rates are just something I have to accept at this time of year. Any info would still be helpfull thanks.

 

[Bertie & The Chooks]

Why do you want to hatch so many eggs and have the ratio of most of them being cockerels when there are hundreds of ex bats that need good homes and are all brilliant layers?

 

[Tgpetbreeders]

I dont intend on keeping any that hatch realy i will keep the odd one but the rest will be sold

 

[Katy-may]

What if you don't sell them? X

 

[Tgpetbreeders]

I already have buyers lined up for all the birds it's just getting the numbers of eggs. And I know all ex batts deserve a good home I personally cant stand battery hen conditions it should be banned, its horrible, a chicken should run free.

 

[Marigold]

I already have buyers lined up for all the birds it's just getting the numbers of eggs. .

If you got 100% hatch and rearing rate on just your first 100 eggs,(a bit unlikely, on your first attempt and at this time of year) you'd have on average 55 cockerels......
Would you go for autosexing breeds and dispose of them at hatch, or aim to rear and sell them? (costly, takes a lot of food and pen space...)
And then the next hatch of 300, with its 165 cockerels, would be piling up 'in the wings' (sorry about that one!)

(I do understand the urge to hatch - I'm hoping to get an inci at Christmas, but it'll only hold 8 hens eggs or 12 quail!)

 

[farmer warren]

you could try this guy on ebay, hes got more than 30 for sale according to his advert

[Link Removed]

 

[Tim]

I must admit, I don't think you'll find this number of eggs for sale.

It's certainly none of my business and I'm sure you know what you're doing - but I would have thought hatching and selling this number of birds, you'd have known exactly what you wanted for your customers??

Pure breeds just aren't kept in these numbers and are not producing at this time of year, hybrid layers are coming from large commercial hatcheries where they have worked for many years on the parent stock to ensure they produce the right kind of offspring - i.e. birds that produce sufficient eggs in a year.

They usually hatch these eggs themselves and sell day old chicks rather than eggs for 2 reasons: 1. Because only pullets are wanted to produce eggs but also 2. Since providing males as well as females gives away a full set of genes from their strains which would allow other breeders to cross into their lines and then compete with them.

 

[Tgpetbreeders]

i just managed to hatch around 45 chicks aa mix of cross breedes and morans all due to be sold in feb (but are available if any body is intrested) this was out of my old manual turn incubator they still havent finished hatching thgere are around 70 due out in total.

 

[chrismahon]

Some of our pedigrees are laying now after the moult, probably because it's so warm. But the cockerels show no interest in treading them at all. They do their stompy dance and when the hen squats they just walk away. So I would say in our case fertility is nil at the moment.

Pedigree hatching eggs are about £3 each plus postage, so to fill your hatcher Tg you will be spending a fortune. Utility breeds may be less. But it's all down to your market and from what we have experienced it is completely saturated -so many people selling hens and not enough people wanting them, certainly in this area. The coops at the local agricultural merchants, although cheap and fair quality, didn't sell at all last year. I often ask my customers about keeping hens and the answer is invariably " a friend lost all hers to a fox and she was devistated and I don't want to go through that." So I think bleak times for speciallist breeders in 2012. They will only be replacing natural losses rather than catering for new keepers.

So my advice TG, for what it's worth, is to think carefully before you go any further. It cost us £15 to take each hen to point of lay and we sold 4 of 24. We were £300 out of pocket, some of which was redeemed selling their eggs. But we had some very hasty building work to do to create space for them first -another £150. So this year we might get our money back - but all labour costs excluded!

 

[wojciech]

Johnsons Hatcheries in County Antrim in Ireland sell HEs as well as Day Old chicks from the different strains of hybrids and also Leghorns originating from the CZ Dominant breeders. These would give you the best stock for egg laying rather than the traditional breeds from small scale hobby breeders that you would get on this forum.