I love spring for lots of reasons. One of the highlights for me is when we begin hatching out baby birds. This year, my first chicks hatched a week ago Sunday, and I'll be hatching every week until sometime in June. It's hard to believe, but Dan and I hatched our first eggs years ago, in a little styrofoam incubator in the trailer I lived at before we were married and I moved to the farm! Ever since then, I've been hooked. After we got our first hatching season under our belt, we invested in a large, professional incubator. It has 3 trays that hold 66 eggs each, plus a drawer on the bottom for them to hatch out. I set one tray per week, and hatch 50-60 birds each week, all through the spring months. It's pretty low maintenance as the thermostat is electric, it automatically turns the eggs so they will develop properly, and there is a large bucket that feeds water into the humidity tray which only needs to be filled every couple weeks. The trickiest part is keeping track of when the eggs will hatch. Chickens take 21 days, while turkeys, ducks, guineas and peafowl take 28. So to know when which eggs will hatch takes good notes, and often I mark the outside of the shell with a marker so I know which batch needs attention by color coding! I do all the setting and record keeping, essentially running the incubator without any help. I have a system and it works best when I handle it myself.
It's funny how we see only omelets or baked goods or deviled eggs when we look at a carton of eggs, because this time of year when we see songbirds making nests, we think baby birds. The reality is that most chicken eggs will never hatch, because you don't need a rooster around for a hen to lay eggs, only if you'd like them to be fertile. Large egg producers don't keep any roosters around. Also, it's fascinating to me that eggs don't need to be put in the refrigerator. Most countries don't ever refrigerate eggs, so it's a bit insane how US government regulations state that farmers MUST or the eggs are considered unsafe to eat. Once they've been in the fridge, they have to be kept there or they will go bad. But when I collect eggs, especially this time of year, I keep them on the counter. Once an egg goes in the fridge, it gets chilled and odds are it will not hatch. But eggs on the counter are still tasty. In fact, if you buy farm-fresh eggs, you may know how hard it is to peel them once they've been hardboiled. Leaving them out for 10 days-2 weeks makes it much easier. Eggs can sit on the counter for about 6 weeks and still be safe to eat! And by not putting them in the fridge, I have the option of setting any or all of them to see them turn into adorable babies.
When you stop and think about it, every egg is a potential miracle. After weeks of simply being kept warm, a baby bird is alive and pecks its way out of the shell. They are curled up in there to perfectly take up all the room inside, each and every one ends up in the same position. Sometimes the shell is hard, or they get tired, and they just can't make it out of the egg. Most sources say to just toss them out, that if they are not strong enough to escape the shell, they won't be strong enough to live. I take the opposite approach and crack the shells open, say Hi! to the little guy, and put it back into the incubator drawer to dry off and figure out how its muscles work before I remove it to the brooder pen where there is food, water, and a heat lamp for warmth. Not all of them make it, but I find most actually do. I've saved dozens of chicks, maybe more, this way, and we've hatched out literally thousands of baby birds! Somehow, it's still a thrill to hear the incubator begin peeping as the birds begin to hatch. (The incubator lives in the pantry off of my kitchen, so I hear them as I go about my day.) Opening it up and seeing a drawer crowded with fluffy little chicks that didn't really exist the night before never, never grows old!
It's funny how we see only omelets or baked goods or deviled eggs when we look at a carton of eggs, because this time of year when we see songbirds making nests, we think baby birds. The reality is that most chicken eggs will never hatch, because you don't need a rooster around for a hen to lay eggs, only if you'd like them to be fertile. Large egg producers don't keep any roosters around. Also, it's fascinating to me that eggs don't need to be put in the refrigerator. Most countries don't ever refrigerate eggs, so it's a bit insane how US government regulations state that farmers MUST or the eggs are considered unsafe to eat. Once they've been in the fridge, they have to be kept there or they will go bad. But when I collect eggs, especially this time of year, I keep them on the counter. Once an egg goes in the fridge, it gets chilled and odds are it will not hatch. But eggs on the counter are still tasty. In fact, if you buy farm-fresh eggs, you may know how hard it is to peel them once they've been hardboiled. Leaving them out for 10 days-2 weeks makes it much easier. Eggs can sit on the counter for about 6 weeks and still be safe to eat! And by not putting them in the fridge, I have the option of setting any or all of them to see them turn into adorable babies.
When you stop and think about it, every egg is a potential miracle. After weeks of simply being kept warm, a baby bird is alive and pecks its way out of the shell. They are curled up in there to perfectly take up all the room inside, each and every one ends up in the same position. Sometimes the shell is hard, or they get tired, and they just can't make it out of the egg. Most sources say to just toss them out, that if they are not strong enough to escape the shell, they won't be strong enough to live. I take the opposite approach and crack the shells open, say Hi! to the little guy, and put it back into the incubator drawer to dry off and figure out how its muscles work before I remove it to the brooder pen where there is food, water, and a heat lamp for warmth. Not all of them make it, but I find most actually do. I've saved dozens of chicks, maybe more, this way, and we've hatched out literally thousands of baby birds! Somehow, it's still a thrill to hear the incubator begin peeping as the birds begin to hatch. (The incubator lives in the pantry off of my kitchen, so I hear them as I go about my day.) Opening it up and seeing a drawer crowded with fluffy little chicks that didn't really exist the night before never, never grows old!
Besides the pure fun & wonderment of hatching out new life and replacements for our farm flock, hatching season has come to be a nice source of income in the spring. Springtime, financially, is always rough on a farm. Farmers have lots and lots of expenses going out- seeds, greenhouse and garden supplies, parts for machinery maintenance & repair, irrigation supplies, and so on and so forth. And all this investment will pay off, but when you're talking about growing crops, it takes time. Chick sales are a nice way to have a little income coming in now. Besides the pure financial benefit, it also is another way to further one of the philosophical goals we have at the farm, raising heritage breed livestock and helping to preserve it for generations to come. These are breeds of birds and critters that do wonderfully on small family farms (or in the case of poultry, do great tended with loving care in backyards). Most fell out of favor, and became in literal danger of going extinct, because they don't do well in industrial factory farms. But by hatching out Bourbon Red turkey poults or Barred Rock chicks and offering them for sale to others, I can help increase the global population of these wonderful creatures, all the while having a great time and making a little money. It's a win-win-win in my book! Plus the folks buying the chicks can see a real family farm, ask questions, and don't have to buy a large number of chicks like you do when you order through a commercial hatchery.
If YOU are interested in adding some feathered friends to your family this year, feel free to contact us by phone at 814-755-3911 or via email at [email protected]. We have chicks on sale now for $3 each, turkeys will be available in the next week or so ($10 ea), and coming in mid-May, we will also have guinea keets available($5 ea)! You can also get more info on the farm website!
If YOU are interested in adding some feathered friends to your family this year, feel free to contact us by phone at 814-755-3911 or via email at [email protected]. We have chicks on sale now for $3 each, turkeys will be available in the next week or so ($10 ea), and coming in mid-May, we will also have guinea keets available($5 ea)! You can also get more info on the farm website!