Blooie, we have 3 chickens (2 hens, 1 rooster) and have started incubating their eggs. Of the first 7 I put in the incubator, only 2 hatched. I had planned on brooding them in an uninsulated, detached garage, but it's in the 10s-20s here right now and with there being only 2 of them I was concerned they wouldn't be able to huddle enough for warmth, and might get too cold, even with a heat lamp. We are currently brooding them indoors (they're less than a week old).
I have a few more eggs in the incubator at the moment, as well as a batch of day-old chicks coming in from a hatchery in a week or two. If this were you, would you brood them all outdoors? Seeing the little freshly hatched chicks, they seem so fragile compared to those that you see in stores that are a couple of weeks old.
I saw your reply to someone else's comment saying that you'd start them outside from the beginning since the switch could be hard on them. Have you ever incubated eggs? I'm just curious how I would transition them from the nice warm incubator to outside temps. I've left my first batch in the incubator for 24-48 hours after hatch to ensure they'd thoroughly dried.
You mentioned it briefly in your article that traditionally hens would have hatched a clutch in the spring. This was another concern of mine. Neither of mine appear to be broody, so I wasn't sure if hens would hatch chicks in the middle of winter like this, and maybe I was setting the chicks up for failure from the beginning.
I have a few more eggs in the incubator at the moment, as well as a batch of day-old chicks coming in from a hatchery in a week or two. If this were you, would you brood them all outdoors? Seeing the little freshly hatched chicks, they seem so fragile compared to those that you see in stores that are a couple of weeks old.
I saw your reply to someone else's comment saying that you'd start them outside from the beginning since the switch could be hard on them. Have you ever incubated eggs? I'm just curious how I would transition them from the nice warm incubator to outside temps. I've left my first batch in the incubator for 24-48 hours after hatch to ensure they'd thoroughly dried.
You mentioned it briefly in your article that traditionally hens would have hatched a clutch in the spring. This was another concern of mine. Neither of mine appear to be broody, so I wasn't sure if hens would hatch chicks in the middle of winter like this, and maybe I was setting the chicks up for failure from the beginning.
Yep, I’ve hatched eggs here when early springtime temps are still dropping into the teens and twenties. That happens despite much of the the rest of the country enjoying more acceptable “chick season temps”. We can - and have - had snow here in June. All chicks get a couple of days indoors under Mama Heating Pad and then out they go. I want to make sure they are eating, drinking, and know how to use Mama Heating Pad to warm up. I don’t handle raising home-hatched chicks any differently than feed store or shipped chicks. Once the chicks are using Mama Heating Pad and aren’t showing shipping or hatching stress I put them outside under the outdoor Mama Heating Pad, set up and warmed and waiting for them in the outside brooder. Since they use it indoors, they automatically find it and transition right to it in the new setup. Sometimes I have to show them where it is when they first go out by tucking them under it hand holding my hand in front of it, but that only takes once. Even more remarkable, the chicks I hatched out here at home were Silkies - supposedly so delicate anyway
My friend @Ridgerunner raises all of his chicks outdoors from the start as well but he uses a heat lamp setup. It’s worked beautifully for him for years. He was raising incubator hatched chicks outdoors well before I was, with great success, so that’s another avenue you might explore. He has a lot of posts showing his setup.
Nobody puts chicks wet from hatching out there (except non-calendar-reading broodie hens) so once hatched they would spend at least a few days in an indoor brooder. You’d want to keep an eye on them for any hatching stress or issues anyway.
I hope this answers your questions.