Wow, I just had a conversation with DH last night about this very thing!!! I'd checked the MMM catalog on line and found a good # of the heavy egg layers I like are still available. But after talking it over, we decided to wait until Spring. They take a good 6 months to mature and I'm afraid I'll have to have a heat lamp available all winter for them, so we decided to wait. - Ellen

You might also consider buying pullets come early Spring, that way they'd be laying come summer. You might have to put up with having chickens in the house for a few weeks (rather than raising chicks in the house all winter), but then you'd have your eggs on time. :)

Velvet ~:>

Johanna,

In my experience chicks acclimate to the temperatures much faster than the books say. You are in zone 6 so I don't think you'd have much trouble if you got some chicks in early September. Get them on grass as soon as you can on nice days. I would think that by the time really cold weather arrives they will be able to handle it just fine and you will have lots of eggs to sell to the tourists in the Spring. Good luck.

David

Thanks, all. I was hoping for the "go for it!" response, I guess, and maybe I'll take David's suggestion and get started soon.

--Johanna

I've been tossing around the same idea, and wondered what people would say, since I've never tried rearing chicks in the fall before. I have an outlet in the chicken coop and infrared lamps on hand, so heat isn't the problem.

But the coyotes and other predators seem to be more of a problem in the fall/early winter than in the spring, and I wonder if younger birds are as likely to sound an alarm as mature birds? I usually keep a baby monitor on to listen for predators attempting break-ins in the fall, and the adult chickens were always an excellent natural alarm system. Can't remember how younger birds behaved because the monitor was never on in the spring or summer.

I too was thinking of getting some banties for fall but have not checked to see if any of the hatcheries are still shipping. Our falls are pretty warm so it would not be too much of a concern, and I feel like cold would be the only obstacle I would face. I say go for it! I think I will be...

I have a hen who has decided to set a clutch of 6 or 7 eggs; she started setting a couple of days ago. They should hatch early-mid September, doesn't get REALLY cold until end November, early December, so I'm thinking that they will make it through.

My chicks from the end of May are a reasonable size by now, so I'm crossing my fingers. I figure the hens are smarter than me, so if she thought it was too late, she wouldn't've started setting :^)

Somewhat related - are my chicks ever getting spoiled!! I have been taking in dandelion greens, which they loved. Now they're getting sweet corn cobs, and wind fall apples. Well, dandelions aren't worth a glance now.

I've got a duck setting on 3 chicken eggs for my Dad, who wants some chickens. The Rhode Island Reds are great egg layers, but they have not set. Since this duck is sterile (she's half moscovie and half mallard) she will never actually hatch out her own. So I'll use her as my incubator when it comes time to increase the chicken flock.

I'll have "clucks."

(tongue in cheek)
Kitty