Practical Poultry Magazine No.121 Dorking Buying Retour à l'édition précédente

Although the weather remains decidedly dicey most of you will, I’m sure, be looking forward to the arrival of spring. The prospects of less rain, higher temperatures and more sun are enticing ones; I’ve almost forgotten what it feels like not to wear heavy boots and waterproofs in and around the chicken pens! The coming of Easter, daffodils and the first grass cut of the season prompt chicken keepers across the land to start thinking about hatching eggs and rearing chicks. It’s an exciting time of year without doubt, but it’s also a time for showing a bit of restraint.
As a harbinger of better things to come, we’ve packed plenty of incubation and hatching-based content into this issue, especially to give those of you who need it a bit of a heads-up about what to expect. However, this coverage has also been liberally sprinkled with sensible
advice about the importance of realistic planning and practical preparation. It’s all too easy to get drawn in too far when it comes to breeding chicks; get too ambitious, too quickly and what seemed like
a great idea to start with can all too rapidly turn into an expensive and labour-intensive committment. So always be completely sure that you’re able to accommodate – and care for – the number of birds you’re hatching. Also, you should expect about half the hatch to be males which may cause problems, especially if you live in an urban area. Are you able to dispose of surplus male birds responsibly, as most aren’t that easy to sell or find homes for nowadays? Is your hen house adequate and your run large enough to accommodate the newcomers, and do you have the space to offer the youngsters the security of segregation early on? These are important questions which you need to be able to answer
positively before reaching for that incubator!