WHO IS EXPECTING APRIL CHICKS?????

[poodlechicks]

I got mine today, and all 4 were alive and well! They're adjusting well to the EcoGlow and have all started eating and drinking and running around, yay!

Nice! Pics, please?

 

[poodlechicks]

I got my tracking number for my 32 new little chirppies today. They are shipping form McMurray to Southeast Georgia. I do hope they arrive alive. My question is, it says three days. Does today count as one day, meaning they will be here Thursday morning? Or would it be Friday. Seeing how they probably hatched last night, Friday morning puts them here past the 72 hours from hatch post office deadline. I hope they all arrive okay...

Hope your chicks arrive well! Keep us posted!

 

[RHBRanch]

I have 25 Delawares coming May 13th. Scary that's a Friday! Plus I have 41 in the incubator now but not sure if they're all fertile eggs. Those are some purebred black australorps and a cross between buff orpington and black australorp. Due to start hatching April 16th.

 

[laurisa]

We got ours 3 days ago. They appear to be settling in quite well....LOL

 

[FlutterbyChicks]

Chick # 1 (Chickeny Junior, aka CJ):




Chick # 2 (not currently named):







Chick # 3 (possibly named Cleopatra, Cleo for short):







Chick # 4 (named Rosa):







All Together

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Adorable

 

[rottlady]

I have a dozen Barnevelder eggs in the in the incubator now and and a dozen Delaware and 4 Crested Cream legbar eggs arriving Thurs to add to that

 

[FlyWheel]

<Snip!>
I don't use a thermometer to gauge how to set the heating pad. I start out on 5 to 6 (because they are outside where temps fluctuate more than indoors) and watch the chicks. They let me know real quick if they are comfy or not. If it seems like they are too chilly, I just smoosh the frame down a little bit - they want that warmth right at their backs at first, just like under Momma Hen. They sleep all night long, they are confident, and they thrive. </Snip!>

I was reading the MHP thread* and an idea occurred to me (uh-oh!) As the MHP is basically a surrogate brooding hen would it really be necessary to reduce the temperature as the chicks grew? After all, a real brooding hen wouldn't turn down her body temperature as her babies grew, would she? The babies would just spend less and less time under her.



*I didn't read all 500 pages, just the first ten (by the end it had gotten somewhat OT anyway) .

 

[realsis]

I was reading the MHP thread* and an idea occurred to me (uh-oh!) As the MHP is basically a surrogate brooding hen would it really be necessary to reduce the temperature as the chicks grew? After all, a real brooding hen wouldn't turn down her body temperature as her babies grew, would she? The babies would just spend less and less time under her.



*I didn't read all 500 pages, just the first ten (by the end it had gotten somewhat OT anyway) .

well I'm not sure about the heating pad but I know that the Brinsea ecoglow brooder which is the same concept somewhat. it continues at the same temperature and you just raise or lower the unit to accommodate the chicks size. but the Brinsea uses radiant heat for warmth much like the sun.

 

[Blooie]

Nope, a Mama Hen doesn't need to turn her heat up and down. She also doesn't have night lights under her wings!

While the idea behind MHP is to mimic a broody hen, it can't do that 100% any more than an Eco Glow can. The reason I turn MHP down is for the same reason that folks who use heat lamps raise the height of their lamps weekly.... it's an artificial heat. As such, it can't replicate perfectly what Mom does, and it's a drier heat as well. So I just watch the chicks and when they are kinda of roosting half in and half out at the front of the cave I'll turn the heat down about halfway or raise the frame. Either way, they are content. I start mine at a higher temp than folks who brood indoors do because I start my chicks outside in the run, where I have more dramatic temperature changes during any given 24 hour period.