[kegs]

We’ve got 4 hybrid POL chickens in the back garden that I bought in April that have been fully vaccinated.  I’ve now caught the bug and I’m going to attempt to incubate some eggs which are arriving on Thursday. (12 JA757 Hubbards, 3 Speckled Sussex, 3 Buff Sussex and 3 Faverolle).  The incubator holds 24 eggs and the freestanding coop (bought) and home made run (all set up in the front garden) is sufficient space for 12 chickens (although the Hubbards and any cockerels are for the table). 

I have a few queries and would really welcome any advice on the following points:

What ratio of eggs would be best to put in the incubator as I don’t want to end up with too many chicks that then have to be needlessly dispatched – but the eggs are being posted to me so I assume this will lower their efficacy?  Also, should I feed the chicks (assuming they successfully hatch) medicated chick crumb and then should I get them vaccinated against illnesses such as Mareks?  I’m concerned that as I’ll have two separate flocks is there a potential that they may pass diseases on to each other.  Is this likely?

My local vets advice was that the vaccine for Mareks is made from turkey pox so only provides cross protection and how well it works is apparently limited. He advised to treat with nothing as disease shouldn’t be a problem with so few birds and that Flightpath made by Aviguard is something that's quite broad spectrum and will help against salmonella.

Sorry for the long post but now that we’ve bought and built everything I’m really starting to panic, and I'm convinced that I'll do something wrong due to my inexperience!   

[Casey76]

If your incubator holds 24 eggs, stick them all in

For posted eggs be ready for about 50% failures. 

Your hubbards will only be around for about 10-12 weeks, at which point your others will not be fully grown, so your coop should be  OK for a short space of time.

After hatching you will need to separate the hubbards from the sussex and faverolles, as if they are being brought on specifically for the table, then they will need a different feed/regimen.

For the first week they can all eat chick crumbs ad lib, but after a week I would put the hubbards on a 12h/12h sleep wake cycle, and remove food for 12 hours each day, otherwise they may gorge and this leads to leg and heart problems.

After 8 weeks, the sussex/faverolles can go onto a normal growers, and the hubbards can go onto a grower for meat birds (I don't know what it is called in English, in France it is "poulet engrais").

Depending on their growth rate, the hubbards may be table ready by about 10 weeks, before first crow.  normally I wait until they start crowing, and the first one to crow is the first one to go.  As I'm only feeding myself, I only dispatch upon crow.  If you want to do a "batch" you may want to have a dispatching day when you slaughter all of them together.

If the Faverolles are salmon, then you will be able to tell the boys from the girls by about 2 weeks, as they will develop dark/black chest/wing feathers, the girls will remain pale/salmon coloured.  For the sussex you will be able to tell, quite reasonably, by 8 - 10 weeks, when they start to develop comb/wattles and pointy hackle feathers.

As for vaccinations - well vaccinating a very small number of birds can be quite expensive. Personally I've never observed any cross infections from vaccinated birds to non-vaccinated in my own flock, but that's not to say it can't or wont happen.  Also as a personal preference, I would prefer not to vaccinate the meat birds - but that is just me.

Good luck with your venture.  I love hatching, and once I get my current birds assessed I'm going to do a couple of late hatches, hopefully of birchen Marans, if my contact still has any eggs.