Fertile eggs available in a rainbow of colors: $20 first dozen and $15 each additional dozen; let me know the breed(s) want. My adult birds are separated by breed.
$125 for 10 dozen of the mix-and-match variety that is available (I will take into account your preferences, but you will get a little of everything).
What I do to boost the hatch rate:
- Collect eggs twice daily.
- Store eggs unwashed in a cool location with the narrow end of the egg down.
- When possible, keep more than one rooster of each breed.
- Candle the eggs to ensure there are no cracks.
- Begin collecting your eggs when you order them to ensure freshness.
If you want a certain number of chicks, it is best to buy chicks. There are several things that can go wrong in the incubation process. With broody hens, you can go either way: give her recently hatched chicks or let her sit on the nest and hatch them herself.
However, it is magical to watch the miracle of life as your chicks develop in the incubator. Early in the process, you can see the movement of life inside the egg when you candle it. I have included a few pictures below, though it is hard to do it justice with a camera.
The rainbow At about 5 days, you can see the red dot where the chick is forming and veins along the inside of the shell. See the black dot? In person, you can see it move around inside the egg. This egg was fertile, but the chick did not develop. See the red ring? This chick is getting close to hatching. See how no light penetrates the top of the egg? Good think I candled this one! It is cracked, and a chick would never develop. If you look closely when you cook a fertile egg, you will see a bulls-eye, which shows that it has been fertilized. I drew the black circles to show you what to look for.