Perhaps when you were in grade school you were lucky enough to hatch a chicken in your classroom from an egg. This approach to ordering your chicks is equally educational and can be an amazing experience for children.

The only difference between ordering live eggs and ordering live chicks is that you have the responsibility of incubating the eggs until your chicks hatch. Once they hatch, they go right into your brooder just as they would if they arrived as chicks in the mail.

The basic process for ordering fertile eggs look like this:

1. Decide on breed(s): Egg Layers, Meat Birds, Dual-purpose, Ornamental or Bantam
2. Decide on quantity: How many eggs per week? How much meat for your freezer?
3. Pick a hatchery: a local hatchery or one online
4. Pick a delivery date window: Traditionally spring when temperatures and humidity are moderate
5. Prepare your incubator: Forced-air or Still-air
6. Prepare your brooder: Home Brooder, Box Brooder or Area Brooder
7. Purchase your supplies: Chick Starter, Chick Feeders, Chick Waterers, etc.
8. Take delivery of your eggs
9. Immediately warm them in your incubator or under a broody hen
10. Once they hatch, move your chicks into your brooder

You may notice that hatching chicks from eggs gives you less control than ordering chicks. The biggest difference is that you can’t easily pick a preferred gender. So, you roll the dice and can expect approximately 50% female and 50% male.

Please think about the implications of ending up with only male chicks, which is always a possibility if you are ordering fertile eggs. If you goal is to raise hens for eggs, and you end up with only roosters, you may have a dilemma on your hands!

Also, the option of vaccination is left up to you to do on your own when you hatch your own eggs. The hatchery cannot vaccinate for Coccidiosis before a chick hatches.

We offer the following types of incubators and candlers in case you do not have a broody hen ready to hatch your eggs:

We offer several incubator options depending on the scale of your project.   Our most popular incubator has great window and circulates air. Price: $99.95   Our affordable thermal unit is popular in schools. Price: $49.95   This professional unit incubates and hatches 270 eggs. Price: $649.95

A candler is a good item to have on hand when you are incubating eggs so you can check progress.   This top-of-the-line egg candler offers best visibility into eggs. Price: $29.95   This candling light comes with 5' cord so you don't have to move eggs. Price: $19.95   This bright white LED flashlight is an affordable way to illuminate eggs. Price: $9.95

You may also want to read:

• How Many Chickens to Raise
• How to Order Live Chicks