Welcome to Homestead BirdHatchery
Hatching up great experiences for children and families in the Cayman Islands!
What We Do
Homestead BirdHatchery offers hands on, safe and fun experiences for children, families and curious minded adults to get involved with supporting our local farmers in the Cayman Islands.
Farm visits
Identifying different breeds of chickens
Lifecycles of chickens, ducks and geese
Hatch eggs at home experiences
Hands on adventures at the farm with our hatchlings
Support local farmers and agriculture
Hatch at Home
All the materials to hatch at home with no experience required and full support throughout the adventure. Hatching at home is a private family experience with no long term commitment, as the hatchlings live on local farms where you and your family can visit.
Experience
Families gain real life experience setting up their incubator with their farm eggs that are all different colours and sizes - Within 21-25 days, the chicks hatch and families receive an E-Hatched certificate with the names of their hatchlings - Chicks are transported to the farm within 24-48 hours after hatch.
School Visits
Small classes have a wonderful hands on adventure meeting hatchlings, learning the science inside the egg and responsible animal stewardship - Each visit is tailored to the ages of each group and curated to support the learning goals of the class.
What came first?
The Chicken or The Egg or the Incubator
Eggs
Farm eggs are provided by The Backyard Farmer. Our at home hatcheries, offer a variety of different colours and sizes of chicken eggs. Families can select up to 12 chicken eggs in different colours to hatch at home.
These different colours and sizes are a great way to learn about the various breeds of chickens and their unique characteristics.
Development
Once a hatchery experience is set up, families have the opportunity to engage with at at home "ultrasound" where signs of life are visible and hatchers can learn about the developing chick inside their eggshell.
Hatchlings
The Hatchery experience is about 3 weeks, from setup to hatch. Typically, developing chicks will generally hatch during what we call a hatching window from day 19 - day 21. It's important to remember that not all chicks will hatch immediately, as they develop and prepare to hatch on their own, based on their environment. Because baby chicks are like "popcorn" and they don't all "pop" at the same time, we have seen baby chicks hatch on days 22-25.
Once the baby chicks hatch, we arrange a special opportunity for the hatchers to meet their hatchlings, name them and within 24 hours, all hatchlings are transferred to their farm home with food and water for their next adventure.
Farm Life - Tour The Backyard Farmer
Life After The Hatch
Each of our chicks and ducks are important to The Backyard Farmer.
After the hatch, it's important that we keep our hatchlings safe, warm and with access to food and water to help them grow.
If you would like to tour the farm, where the chickens and ducks will live as farm pets, egg layers or to help maintain the special breeds of chickens found on the farm, please book a farm visit directly with The Backyard Farmer HERE.