It’s inevitable — every single year I get the urge to hatch chicks or ducklings, and every single time I decide to hatch them during the coldest months of the year. My logic is simple and honest — if I hatch in the Fall or Winter, then they will be laying by the time Spring and Summer come. But hatching during cold and unpredictable months can be a set up for heartache and failure. Between varying temperature’s indoors, the threat of loosing power during a snow storm, and having to keep chicks indoors until they are fully feathered – it’s a mess, to say the least.
Never-the-less, I always end up outweighing the pro’s to the con’s, and the hatching begins in October and normally ends in March — only to start back up again in the Spring and Summer. It’s never ending. My most recent hatch was just this fall, when I welcomed a new and ancient breed to our homestead — Icelandic Chickens.
Over the past two seasons I’ve learned quite a bit through trial and error, and ultimately, hatching through the Winter isn’t as scary as it once used to be. Here are some things you’ll need to consider and prepare for when taking on this commitment during the harsh Winter months.
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