5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[ronott1]

me and my 11 year old daughter just decided to try to make an incubator and have our male rir and our two females fertelize some eggs.Well that started on dec.14 and now we have action! egg has a chip out of it and now we hear peeping!!!

 

[MontanaDolphin]

It is a contact heater. It does not heat the brooder, only the chicks. There is no heat adjustment, just a height adjustment.

They work down to about 40 degrees for the first week or so. After that, the place where they are can be colder. If it is below 40, you need to add a small light for heat for the first week or so.

I have my brooder in my den...where the woodstove is (it's the only room in my house where the brooder will fit!). The den stays 75-88 degrees, depending on the stove...if we just reloaded it with wood, it's 75...an hour later 88 (I can't stand how hot it can get in there! But, it keeps down our electric bill!). So no, it's not below 40. So what do I do? Just adjust the height as they grow?

 

[abmaddox1981]

I finally got my duckies! Or as my son calls them, duck-a-lings, with extra emphasis on ck sound. Lol.
Here they are!

The flash is on in the first pic, off in the second.

 

[chickengirl1193]

once my chicks are completely feathered out would they survive these winter temps? as long as i acclimate them slowly. I'm just trying to figure out when I can move them outside and if I will be able to keep them warn enough. there is limited space in my house and I dont want the chicks to get crowded, or i can separate them so they have more room. I live in north Jersey on a mountain and we have been having really cold nights in the negatives

 

[ronott1]

I have my brooder in my den...where the woodstove is (it's the only room in my house where the brooder will fit!). The den stays 75-88 degrees, depending on the stove...if we just reloaded it with wood, it's 75...an hour later 88 (I can't stand how hot it can get in there! But, it keeps down our electric bill!). So no, it's not below 40. So what do I do? Just adjust the height as they grow?

Yes. Start at the lowest level and move it to the middle when they are too big to fit under the shelf. It is so easy use--no thermometers and etc. The chicks do very well under it. They become heat hardy very quickly.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

I'm going to post in emergencies as well, but hoping I'll get an answer here too...

Miracle just died. It was SUDDEN. I was sitting in the den and heard really loud peeping...went over to the brooder, and she was laying on her back peeping like crazy. I picked her up, she peeped once or twice more, and then died in my hand.

What in the world would have caused her to die so suddenly???? She was fine today...running around with her siblings, not acting abnormal....please give me some insight on what may have caused her death!!!

Edited to add...I felt her crop, it was empty. BUT I could feel hard stuff in her belly, felt like chick crumbles.

 

[ronott1]

once my chicks are completely feathered out would they survive these winter temps? as long as i acclimate them slowly. I'm just trying to figure out when I can move them outside and if I will be able to keep them warn enough. there is limited space in my house and I dont want the chicks to get crowded, or i can separate them so they have more room. I live in north Jersey on a mountain and we have been having really cold nights in the negatives

I do not know, since the record low here is 17 degrees.

From what I have read, chickens can go below zero but not too much more. they need a draft free place and some heat if it goes too low. Combs and wattles will get frostbite so big combed breeds are not recommended for cold places.

Many and a heat lamp at night and use heated water fountains.

 

[chickengirl1193]

I do not know, since the record low here is 17 degrees.

From what I have read, chickens can go below zero but not too much more. they need a draft free place and some heat if it goes too low. Combs and wattles will get frostbite so big combed breeds are not recommended for cold places.

Many and a heat lamp at night and use heated water fountains.

my older chickens survived minus ten the other night with no frostbite and without heat. but I'm curious if they will be ready to withstand that at only about a month.

@MontanaDolphin I'm sorry about your chick I hope someone can help... did she have pasty butt or get to hot?

 

[ronott1]

I'm going to post in emergencies as well, but hoping I'll get an answer here too...

Miracle just died. It was SUDDEN. I was sitting in the den and heard really loud peeping...went over to the brooder, and she was laying on her back peeping like crazy. I picked her up, she peeped once or twice more, and then died in my hand.

What in the world would have caused her to die so suddenly???? She was fine today...running around with her siblings, not acting abnormal....please give me some insight on what may have caused her death!!!

Edited to add...I felt her crop, it was empty. BUT I could feel hard stuff in her belly, felt like chick crumbles.

I am so sorry to hear that!

We have free necropsy service for flocks under 1000 here in CA. It could have been from an injury--Broken neck or even an organ failure.

 

[ronott1]

my older chickens survived minus ten the other night with no frostbite and without heat. but I'm curious if they will be ready to withstand that at only about a month.

@MontanaDolphin I'm sorry about your chick

I hope someone can help... did she have pasty butt or get to hot?

Generally it is 6 weeks or fully feathered for cold hardiness.

It is a breed and feathering ability of a breed to withstand the cold.

I have to have Breeds that can take long periods of 100 to 110 temps.