[danfinn1]

My two are in their last year of laying and I do really enjoy having them so am keen to carry on.

Just looking for advice on say, having day old chicks, just a couple, to see them grow up and be our new supply of eggs. I bought our original three as pol birds, 18-20 weeks old.

Any advice other than don't do 

[grinling]

where abouts are you?
Day olds will need looking after as if you had an incubator.
You could try an autosex breed and just buy hens

[Mum2mj]

where abouts are you?
Day olds will need looking after as if you had an incubator.
You could try an autosex breed and just buy hens

Although my autosex chick (cream legbar) is worse than useless laying eggs. I think I've had 4 or 5 in a year and a half..

[danfinn1]

Birmingham UK

I guess if they are a lot of work then best just get some more pol and let the experienced people bring them up to 18 - 20 weeks.

I just remember my wife's children's nursery hatching out some eggs and we watched them from little yellow balls of fluff to nearly the size of a blackbird. The lady who brought them in offered a couple of birds to us but we were not setup to take them, unlike now.

[Sassy]

It is great to raise them but the danger of getting cockerels is great unless you can get an autosex breed. They would need to be under heat for up tp six weeks depending on outside temperature 

[Bev]

Hi,

I got three chicks once that were about a week old. The kids and I loved watching them grow, they feather up really quickly. We ended up with two cockerels and a hen, they were supposed to be Welsummers and a Rhode Island Red but only the Rhode Island Red came out the right breed!

I got my mate to dispatch one of the cockerels and we had a tearful day plucking him and eating him - I didn't want him to die in vain. The other cockerel started to attack us a few weeks later as he matured so he had to go too, it was much easier the second time round. He was very tasty and had a had a lovely life running about in the garden with my girls.

I have almost been tempted to do it again, I was going to if one of my hens went broody but it is a lot easier to go and get some pol pullets! I would definitely do it if there was a food shortage. I can't stand the way hens are treated in the farming industry so I think I could come to terms with eating my own.

Good luck if you go for it! Definitely be prepared for cockerels!

Bev