How to raise a chicken from an egg at home, when is the best time to hatch and care rules

Many homestead owners try to raise chickens on their own. It is not easy for people who have never done this, and therefore it is necessary to familiarize themselves in advance with how to raise a chicken from an egg.

What is better: to raise with a hen or in an incubator?

Before you start raising, you need to determine what is better: raising chickens in an incubator or with a hen.

Benefits of brooding

Some people do not want to raise birds in an incubator and therefore look for a broody hen so that the chicken can hatch new offspring on its own.

The main advantages of this method of incubation include the following:

• there is no need to constantly monitor the temperature inside the incubation structure;
• you don’t have to feed the little chicks yourself, since the hen does this herself;
• the chicken independently monitors the heating of the offspring and helps them hatch from the egg;
• the hen guards the young birds and protects them from any danger.

Incubation method

Most often, people breed new offspring of chickens in a brooder. The main advantages of using the incubation method when raising birds include:

• low cost of the structure in which the chicks will be raised;
• ease of use of the incubator;
• the possibility of breeding several dozen young individuals;
• low level of labor costs;
• raising chickens of any age.

Among the disadvantages of using incubators is that to ensure their operation it is necessary to ensure a continuous supply of electricity.

When is the best time to hatch chickens?

Before you start raising chickens, you need to determine when is the best time to hatch them. Young birds can be hatched at any time of the year. However, to avoid problems, it is recommended to do this in warm weather, when the air temperature does not drop below 10-15 degrees Celsius. Therefore, many poultry farmers advise hatching chicks in May or June.

When growing in an incubator, you can do this earlier - at the end of March or in April.

What to do immediately after the chicks hatch?

After the young chicks have hatched, it is necessary to begin drying them. If they appeared in the incubator, it means they will dry out on their own. When they appear under the hen, you will have to carefully remove them from the nest. This is done carefully so that the chicken does not notice and does not leave the laying site. All young chicks are placed under a lamp until they are dry.

When they are completely dry, they are placed back under the hen for further rearing.

What conditions do day-old chicks need?

To prevent day-old chicks from dying quickly, they must be properly cared for. Such birds must be reared at a suitable temperature. The temperature inside the incubator should not fall below twenty degrees Celsius. To ensure that keeping chickens is not accompanied by problems, additional heating lamps are installed.

In the first days you will have to feed the chicks yourself. To do this, use a pipette, with which you can feed and water them.

Light mode

Chicks are not kept in the dark and therefore reliable lighting should be arranged in advance. To improve lighting, special infrared bulbs are used. Their advantages include the following:

• ease of operation;
• low cost;
• reliability and long operating time, which is 4-5 thousand hours;
• calming effect on young chicks;
• ability to regulate operating power.

Nutritional Features

It is necessary to familiarize yourself with the feeding habits of chickens in advance in order to feed them correctly.

What to give in the first days of life

Feeding chickens in the first day of life is considered an important task that faces a person. If a poultry farmer wants to raise healthy chicks, he must know what to feed them. The easiest way is if the chicks hatch from eggs that are hatched in a hen. In this case, the person only needs to take care of feeding the chicken, since she will do the rest on her own.

If the chickens hatched in an incubator, you will have to give them food yourself. In the first days after birth, they are given plain water through a pipette.

Feeding day old chicks

The real feeding of the chicks begins a day after birth from the eggs. Feeding day-old chicks should be carried out as follows:

• first you need to prepare a special drinking bowl, with the help of which the chicks will drink fresh water;
• for manual feeding of birds, a pipette is prepared in advance;
• as complementary food you can use boiled yolk mixed with semolina or wheat cereal;
• During feeding, different types of grains cannot be mixed and therefore one type of grain is given at a time.

Weekly

It is easier to feed week-old chickens, since the feed for them can be prepared independently. To do this you will need the following components:

• two and a half cups of corn;
• spoon of vegetable oil;
• a third of a glass of wheat;
• 40 grams of fishmeal;
• three spoons of feed yeast.

All of the listed ingredients are mixed, after which the resulting mixture is fed to the chickens.

Period

Many people are interested in what they can feed chickens that have reached the age of one month. Such chicks are considered quite strong and therefore they are given the same food as ordinary chickens. However, there are some differences in the type of feed used.When feeding chickens, it is recommended to feed ground grains rather than whole grains. Also use the following during feeding:

• cottage cheese;
• compound feed;
• boiled vegetables;
• fresh grass;
• vitamins.

Chicken diseases

It is recommended to understand common chicken diseases in advance.

Symptoms and treatment

A common ailment of chicks is indigestion. It manifests itself if you feed them incorrectly. The main causes of indigestion are considered to be feeding with contaminated water and too rough feed. In this case, all birds will have to be treated with antibiotics and fed with cottage cheese and mixed feed.

Vaccination at home

Chicks are vaccinated in the first days of their life. Most often, they use products that are instilled into the eyes. Before administering the product, the chick's body must be carefully fixed, after which the vaccine is applied to the eyes using a pipette.

Diseases of broiler chickens

Common diseases of broiler chickens include the following:

1. Aspergillosis. This is a dangerous viral disease that affects the respiratory tract of chickens. Treatment is carried out with antiviral drugs.
2. Salmonellosis. The disease most often affects young individuals. Symptoms of salmonellosis include puffy eyes, indigestion, slow growth and loss of appetite.
3. Pullorosis. This disease manifests itself in both young and adult birds. The development of the disease is indicated by constant thirst in chickens, as well as poor appetite.

Conclusion

Some summer residents want to raise chickens on their own plot. Before you begin, you need to familiarize yourself with how to raise and feed small chicks.