6 Justifications for Feeding Your Hatching Addiction

I know you're sitting there dreaming about hatching, but if you're like me, you're glancing over your shoulder at your significant other, considering how to explain just why you needed to go buy eggs. Assuming you have one of those really great partners who enables your hatching addiction, this could be as simple as saying "I have to test the incubator out." Boom. Done.

But for those of us with the slightly more "responsible" partners who actually count how many birds are in the coop on a given day, we may need some good reasons to explain the small dent in the checkbook. Not to fear -- I've got experience in this area! Here's some lingo that's sure to sway your significant other.

6 Justifications for Feeding Your Hatching Addiction

Reason 1: There's a special breed you reallyreally need that's ONLY available as hatching eggs.

You just saw the eggs were available, say; you always wanted to add to your flock, and you didn't want to miss out on a chance to get them! Of course you had to order, and they are going to be here next week, and oh are you are so excited! Of course, any breed will work for this reason because all chickens are awesome. You know I'm right; just smile and admit you are chicken smitten!

(If you're looking for suggestions, take a look at Black Copper Marans, Show Quality Silkies, and Lavender Wyandottes are special favorites...)

Reason 2: It's the financially responsible thing to do

I mean, really! Heck, it's cheaper than a trip to the Bahamas, but it gives you just as much pleasure! You can still go to work and do all your normal stuff, but as a person suffering from a hatching addiction, you get just as excited and happy as you would on a trip as when you begin to see eggs develop, after all, and then later those hatchlings will lay more eggs... So really, it's an investment that will yield dividends galore. You would NEVER get that kind of return from that trip to the Bahamas, so it makes a lot more sense... Right?

Reason 3: Hatching beats the winter blues

And who wants to be depressed? Seriously?! Fewer daylight hours can, you know, make people sad. It must be the excitement and doing something a little out of our routine, but the entire incubation process brightens spirits. So obviously hatching is a good thing.

For many, My Pet Chicken "peeps" included, winter is the time when hatching is most fun. Outside it is dreary, wet and cold around most of the United States. This is the perfect time to pull out your trusty incubator and select some eggs to hatch for the *ahem* required yearly additions to your flock. It brings a bit of spring into your home and brightens up those long winter days.

Plus, even if you have a broody hen, frigid temps outdoors often prevent chicks from being able to develop. So you literally have no choice but to hatch indoors.

Reason 4: Hatching = quality family time

Your New Year's resolution was to spend more family time. What better way to do that then hatching eggs! Kids find hatching eggs mentally stimulating, and hatching generates family discussion that can help keep your littles engaged in something other than the latest video game.

(If you are the handy sort, you might even build your own chicken coop with your son or daughter, a memory and experience they will treasure forever. But I recommend you don't out-and-out ask your significant other for help with this. It'll have to be enough for now that you've convinced them that hatching more chicks is a good idea...)

Reason 5: The faster you hatch, the sooner you'll get more eggs.

Duh! Take hatching addiction out of the equation – this one is a simple no-brainer. Who could possibly argue this point? You obviously need more chicks if you want more eggs. Since it takes 6 months or more for most pullets to begin laying, the earlier in the year your pullets mature, the more eggs your hens will lay that first year. Anyone can understand this means you need to get hatching now.

Reason 6: That incubator needs testing.

It doesn't matter if that incubator is yours or your friend's that she got for Christmas. Of course it needs to be tested! That's just the responsible thing to do. It would be a sad waste to see it unplugged and unused in the corner. It's one of those gifts meant to give all year long.

(If your incubator is old, fear not. This argument works as well with an old incubator as a new one. Old incubators, well heck, they might not even work right anymore. Only one thing to do: test it!)

In furtherance of enabling your hatching addiction....

Now that I've provided justifications for your hatching addiction, it's time to consider which breeds and varieties will best scratch that itch.

Customers love those Fun & Funky (a.k.a. Chickens of Instagram) assortment. You never know what you're going to get! Frizzled; Silked; Naked Neck; Crested; Feather Footed... it's like unwrapping a gift as each egg hatches.

Black Copper Marans, Show Quality Silkies, and Chickens for Elitists are hard to resist, as stated earlier. The Intense Egg Colors and Olive Egger Assortment would make for some great color in next summer's egg basket (and customers pay more for a dozen cool-colored eggs than a dozen brown)!

See all our rare and hard-to-find hatching egg collections here. And before you get going, maybe check out the 6 Most Important Rules for Home Hatching, too, as a reminder/warm up!

What more do y'all need? Ready... Set... Let's get hatching!