4 season folks- when do you do your first bator batch of the year?

[Megs]

i stopped at the end of august, since my bantams pretty much stopped laying (i dont have lights in the coops so i excpeted they would and dont mind them having the winter off laying). i will start the bator up again once they resume laying in the spring

 

[pamperedpoultry]

Quote:
ha ha sure!! I'm thinkin of pulling mine back out, I've been letting the broodys do the work for a few months. I was hatching this time last year up until they stopped laying real well, I sold out of most of my chickens I hatched this spring thinking of doin it again. Its alot of work in the winter but it pays off.

 

[TreeHugger]

Right now I'm kicking myself for hatching out my last group in early September. It's getting down into the 40's at night & I've got a heat lamp on them still. I can see the light from the kitchen so I get up 2-3 times during the night to look out the window. They will die from the cold if anything happened to the heat lamp. This year I didn't hatch any out until mid april (easter). I always keep my chicks in the house for the first two weeks & then move them outside, but I hate the thought of them freezing to death if something happened to the heat lamp while I was sleeping or at work. I think you can hatch year around, it just depends on your set up & how much you want to worry about them turning into chick-sicles

I like ozark hen's brooder box to!

 

[pamperedpoultry]

Quote:
for a lil peace of mind, my light went out one night when it was in the 30s and I didnt find them until morning, they all had cuddled up and the bigger ones took the lil ones under their wings (it was sweet) all where cold but we got a new bulb and in a few mins they was back to normal..

 

[TennesseeTruly]

Hubby has set up the back porch of the second house on our property as a nursery. He spent this past weekend working on it, putting heat into it, in case I want to hatch all winter long. It's all insulated and he's putting up the inside walls to cover the insulation tomorrow. He's such a sweetheart!

Laurie

 

[pamperedpoultry]

Quote:
I'm soooo jealous!!I've been at my hubby for months to help me get my pens finished I've got at least 6 pens to build before winter..if it was a car he'd done had it rebuilt from ground up..LOL