I have a 35 egg styrofoam incubator. I am getting it ready to hatch a batch of eggs. I also have 3 digital thermometers. The three vary by a few degrees. I read the specification of a number of thermometers on line and most have a variance of plus or minus 2 degrees. That is a swing of 4...
I had a hen brood a few chick in the middle of a TN winter. Temp at night is 32 to 24. They are in an unheated hen house. I want to give them some high energy treats in addition to their starter food. Since I have extra eggs, I am going to fry (scramble) a few eggs in lots of oil and add...
This spring I need to add 6 to 12 Nesting Boxes in the chicken RUN area. I have a few nesting boxes in the coop, but this spring I will have more laying hens and I will need more nesting boxes. There is not room to put the boxes in the coop so they will need to go outside in the run area...
I have a brooding hen that has been setting for about 10 days. Today she choose to not set on the nest. I have the nest in a dog pen. The hen is off the nest and resting on a bar that I have across the pen. I watched her off and on for about 12 hours. She never sat on the nest during this...
First, I NEVER candle eggs -- I have studied how and I still I do not know how.
When I let a brooding hen hatch eggs I get a hatch rate of about 50%
When I incubate eggs I get a hatch rate of about 85%
Is this normal??? -- How does this compare with your hatch rates
My free-range flock is feed crack corn as a treat 2 or 4 times a week so they will come when I call them. When I have baby chicks I feed one bag of 20% or 28% protein starter feed until it is used up. When a hen goes brooding in the pass I throw some crack corn near her nest. However, I...
I have chickens and guineas free range on 8 acres with a number of mature trees. My neighbor has 10 acres of heavy wooded land next to my free range. The chickens and guineas are trained to come home to the coop at night. I am think about getting some peafowl eggs and hatching them next...
My 3 day old has both feet with curled toes. I make a splint/mitten for the feet. However, the mitten is to slick for the chick to walk. So I put the chick in the "cardboard hospital" with a lot of paper towels to keep him/her upright.
How long should the splint/mitten stay on????
During day 1 to 18 the humidity in my stryfoam Incubator has been in the 40% range (never lower than 30% and never higher than 60%). I have three meters that measure the humidity and all three read different %. I think my stryfoam Incubator says to raise the humidity to 80% the last three...
Quot from a different posting "..keep ur chicks in brooder at temperature 100 F nd vacinate them ...give starter feed nd multi vitamins for keep them healthy"
What type of multi-vitamins should I use? Can I crush up some human multi-vitamins and mix with the feed?
I have 3 brood hens setting in a 4 ft by 4 ft brood area. The eggs should hatch Monday. I hope to get about 20 chicks total from the 3 hatching. Will the three "family" broods live together in peace or will each hen try to protect her family and fight the other family chicks? Or as I hope...
I am a new "member" but have been reading posting for a while. My chickens free range - only been shut-up at night for protection.
I have two (given to me at different times) incubators and three brooding hens.
The brood hens are hatching Guinea keets plus a few chicks now. I placed...