Incubators Anonymous

[Cerenity]

1. If protected from extreme things like wind/rain/predators, your brooder & heat plate should be OK in a garage or barn or shed. It's best to listen to their sounds & watch behavior when figuring out if temp is in the correct range.

2. Vaccinations are usually for Marecks- given at hatcheries if requested. It's not cost effective to vaccinate handful of chicks, so most broody-raised chicks go un-vaccinated. Marecks is a neurological disease that can affect birds via dander exposure to other chickens carrying it. I believe they can catch it at any age.

Medicated feed is a preventative for cocci. Cocci can quickly spread to all the chicks making them sick, weak, lethargic, loose poops/ blood in poop. All the chicks can easily be treated with Corid if they contract it, but it could also kill chick if not caught in time and treated. It mostly affects chicks since they don't have as much immunity, so that's why some people choose to use medicated chick feed. There are pros & cons to everything & plenty of opinions.

There's no one, single "right" way to raise chickens, so like many things in life, you gather info and make a plan that best fits your needs.

Thanks for your thoughts! Do I need to do anything to the food on day one to make it palatable for them? Like water it down or try to feed it to them?

 

[Faraday40]

Thanks for your thoughts! Do I need to do anything to the food on day one to make it palatable for them? Like water it down or try to feed it to them?

I give dry chick crumbles. Whether it's medicated or not is up to you.

For most chicks, dry feed & water is fine. If chicks need a boost there are electrolyte/vitamin powders that can be added to the water. If chicks are especially small - like quail or seramas - you may need to grind up the crumbles a bit more. Keeping the feed, water, & bedding clean & dry is how most illnesses can be prevented. I actually use home-made waterers using chicken nipples to keep their water & cage cleaner.

The way to get a chick to eat & drink is to tap it with your finger..... or dip their beak into it. They're curious & mimic. Once one chick learns, all the others catch on. They can live off the yolk for a couple days, so if they don't catch on the 1st time, no worries.

If I have a weak or extra small chick, I may put some moistened food into a jar lid to encourage them to eat. It works. It's not ideal to do all the time because they step & poop in it, so I only put it in for a few min.

 

[Cerenity]

I give dry chick crumbles. Whether it's medicated or not is up to you.

For most chicks, dry feed & water is fine. If chicks need a boost there are electrolyte/vitamin powders that can be added to the water. If chicks are especially small - like quail or seramas - you may need to grind up the crumbles a bit more. Keeping the feed, water, & bedding clean & dry is how most illnesses can be prevented. I actually use home-made waterers using chicken nipples to keep their water & cage cleaner.

The way to get a chick to eat & drink is to tap it with your finger..... or dip their beak into it. They're curious & mimic. Once one chick learns, all the others catch on. They can live off the yolk for a couple days, so if they don't catch on the 1st time, no worries.

If I have a weak or extra small chick, I may put some moistened food into a jar lid to encourage them to eat. It works. It's not ideal to do all the time because they step & poop in it, so I only put it in for a few min.

Thank you for the tips! This is exactly what I was looking for. Hoping to candle the eggs later this week to see how many are developing.

 

[wolfwalker]

Whichever one of you are out there whispering in my ear stop it. LOL. after saying I had no more eggs to hatch this year and after these 2 incubators were finished i was going to clean them up and store them until spring I had this offer tonight.

it's almost like someone whispering out in the mental ether, 'come to the dark side! we have fertile eggs!"

So on Monday I now have 12 Isbar eggs shipping to me

Bad Ron

No _ookie

 

[Compost King]

I am currently selling off my chickens but due to my incubating addiction I am going to offer to hatch out eggs for people locally who do not have incubators.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I am currently selling off my chickens but due to my incubating addiction I am going to offer to hatch out eggs for people locally who do not have incubators.

I've tried that. I only managed to hatch for a few people that I know from the swaps. They didn't mind paying 50 cents per egg for a spot in the bator

I have turkey eggs due to hatch next week and more a few weeks later. Hopefully I'll be able to sell off the poults though. I had planned to raise them up but DH just got laid off so all expansion plans have to come to a stop for now and I have to do some reductions around here.

 

[Faraday40]

I am currently selling off my chickens but due to my incubating addiction I am going to offer to hatch out eggs for people locally who do not have incubators.

I've done this.
Main problem: Most people want to pay for your hatching services with chicks. .... and they're so cute .... a breed you don't have .... and all the other assorted reasons for keeping them.

 

[Compost King]

I am going to offer (for free) hatchings for people who already bought chickens from me. And for anyone who buys all the chickens I am trying to get rid of now before I put my house on the market.

 

[Pennys Mama]

Welcome everyone to incubators anonymous! Please introduce yourselves and tell us about your incubation addiction, how long you've been dealing with your addiction and what you are doing about it. I'll start!
Hi, my name is Jess and I'm a chronic incubator. I have a GQF 1202 cabinet bator with more eggs than I even know in it. I also have a hova bator with 30 eggs in lockdown in it. At the moment, I have 2 brooders full of peeping babies with more due to hatch soon. There are no signs of stopping either as I have over 60 eggs sitting on the counter, waiting to go in. At the moment, or flock consists of 26 adult chickens and 7 adult turkeys and we don't even eat eggs or meat anymore.

Wow, obviously you relapsed! Fell off the wagon, did ya?
I'm a newbie. I've got 5 goats, 8 ducks/drakes, 70+ chickens, 4 guineas, 12 Bobs, 18 Coturnix, 3 dogs, 85 eggs in my 2 bators (a GoodMother & Hovabator). I think I may be developing an addiction, it's a possibility, maybe, I'm not sure yet. I think it may be an illness, because I'm thinking that it's contagious!!! I should be quarantined!!!

 

[R2elk]

Wow, obviously you relapsed! Fell off the wagon, did ya?
I'm a newbie. I've got 5 goats, 8 ducks/drakes, 70+ chickens, 4 guineas, 12 Bobs, 18 Coturnix, 3 dogs, 85 eggs in my 2 bators (a GoodMother & Hovabator). I think I may be developing an addiction, it's a possibility, maybe, I'm not sure yet. I think it may be an illness, because I'm thinking that it's contagious!!! I should be quarantined!!!

Addictions are an illness. We are here to help feed your hatching addiction.