Information re: Hatching Eggs

For the first time hatching anything I personally recommend you do it with a broody

Hatching at this time of year can be hard work as the babies will need heat for longer and wont be able to outside as soon

A good book to look through is Katie Thears guide to incubation and rearing


Sarah

For your first time hatching I 'd leave it until late Feb or early March to hatch which means starting incubation end of the first week in Feb or later.

If your hens don't go broody, and many hybrids don't as well as some pure breeds, you will need to incubate.  Brinsea Octagon incubators are very good I've had lots of success using these.  R Com also have a good name and are fully automatic including humidity control. Neither is cheap and the model will depend on the number of eggs you want to hatch but I'd say not to get the 3 egg R com which is really a demo type incubator for schools rather than a hobbist.  I'd definitely steer clear of second hand equipment as hygeine is essential and you can never tell how much use they've had and they still seem to command high prices.  It's not worth the risk unless you have seen it and trust the seller.

Don't be tempted to cut cost by dispensing with automatic turning.  You can turn by hand but unless you are very disiplined you are sure to forget one day and that could be the end of that batch.  There's no need to have expensive humidity control for chx and the Brinsea crude humidifier seems to be Ok.

Once your chx have hatched you will need a brooder with a source of heat which you will need to reduce steadily over the next few weeks to harden them off for outside conditions.  I made my brooder using some scrap white melamine fitted wardrobe doors in the form of an octagon.  You need to make 16 wood triangular fillets with an angle of 135deg.  You need to predrill the wall sections identically to fix the fillets using 2 screws in each corner of the wall panels so you can break it down and re-errect it without worrying about which fillet fits in which corner all parts shoul be interchangable.  You can buy cheap slot together brooders or use card board boxes but remember it's going to have to house them for 5 to 6 weeks and it needs to be in a protected outhouse where they will be safe from, predators such as birds, cats and rats etc.  15inch sides are a reasonable wall height but you will need to cover with a net or mesh panel as they become quite active at around 3 - 4 weeks.  You can use an electric hen or an infra red lamp, which I use.  Preferably one which emits little visible light.  The size of your brooder and heat source will depend on the number of chicks you want to raise.  They need enough room to allow them to move away from the heat source to regulate their temperature.

You will need to feed them on chick crumbs (I recommend medicated for cocci) initially and ween them on to growers by 6 weeks and layers by 16 - 18 weeks.  Read your Katie Thear.  It's not too difficult to be very successful and have good yields but remember there will be cocks as well as hens and you need to decide whether you will cull excess

Once hatched you don't need much room but once they get a little older I think it's best to allow more space than a cardboard or plastic box as they may be too cramped and develop boredom behavioural habits.

Aim to have them outside at 5 -6 weeks.

Our brooders are made out of sheets of hardboard, screwed together into an oval shape so there are no corners for the chicks to crowd into and suffocate, but in an emergency I did make one out of big cardboard box sides stapled together in a rough oval which actually lasted the chicks 5 weeks before they managed to destroy the cardboard completely!!!! 

Then I've got the smaller ones made out of those big plastic storage boxes with a mesh top, and an old double kitchen wall cupboard, which was an idea I filched from Foxy I think it was, which Brian put legs on and made a nice grill for the top so they can't get out.
photo attached, but at the time it didn't have rounded off corners!!

If you are thinking of rearing only a few chicks at a time, I also use on the small brooders, just a 40 or 60w red bulb and the shade was £5 from Wilko's (thanks Chickenlady for that idea!)  It certainly kept up to 12 chicks warm in the storage boxes until they had space in the big brooder.

Excellent advice from both of you. I am tempted by the incubators which automatically turn the eggs - and I didn't realise that there shouldn't be corners in the brood box due to suffocation - although that makes total sense now that I think about it. But it doesn't have to be too expensive a business, does it?

Thanks!

Just noticed you said you have 15 hens so the first piece of equipment you will need is a cock who needs to be at least 25weeks old!  If he chases the hens about when let out in the morning he's probably got the right idea.

If you don't want to breed from your hens (I'm not sure if they are hybrids or pure breeds?) you can buy hatching eggs which should preferably not be more than 4 -8 days old and kept well since lay (ie at approx 15deg C and turned each day) the fresher the better.  Buy from a reputable breeder whose stock you can inspect for general good health. If they don't look active and alert and have clean noses and bums don't buy the eggs.  Also I'd advise not to use ebay unless you have a recommendation (not the seller feedback which just tells you about delivery usually).  There are many diseases which can be passed through hatching eggs and some which don't show (ie have long incubation periods) for 20 weeks or more.  So good feedback which is only a few days or weeks old might be misleading.

Eliminating corners in a brooder is very important if you are rearing dozens but usually if you are only brooding 10 or less the chances of suffocation are slim but obviously this is something you will need to assess for yourself.  Another danger is drownding when very young so make sure your drinker is safe.   Some people use marbles in a shallow dish but this has the disadvantage of being easy to foul.  You need to keep raising their feeders and drinkers as they get bigger so they are above their vents to reduce the risk of being fouled.  As they get bigger their drinkers and feeders need to be very stable as they can easily knock them over if they climb on them.  Best to get properly designed ones at the start that will see them through the first 5 weeks rather than improvise with coffee jar lids etc which will only last a few days before being too flimsy and easily tipped up.  

As the chicks get larger they will need to be given room to move around and things to clamber about on and explore so they don't become bored.
Best of Luck

You will have cockerels if you hatch eggs and you will more than likely have to dispatch them as no one will want them. I hatched my first this year using a cheap £30 incy turned eggs first thing in am, 6PM and just b4 going bed and enjoyed the process results 11 out of 12 hatched last one pipped but failed (my fault removed lid causing loss in humidity) total cost less than £50. BTW 6 cocks 5 hens, 5dinners 1 alarm clock set at 6.30 am