Are all of your chicks hatched? Put either a baby blanket or shavings covered with lots of paper towels in the brooder. We hatched out our eggs with a broody hen, so I'm not sure exactly what to do for an incubator/brooder.
However, I do know that the brooder should be about 90 degrees. If they are clustering under the lamp, then they are too cold. If they are staying far away from the lamp, then they are too hot. If they are just everywhere, then they are probably fine, but you will want to keep an eye on the temperature in case there is a draft or something.
Yes. Put marbles or rocks in their waterer. We used a quail waterer with ours, so it was too small for them to drown themselves in. A normal chicken waterer would need marbles put in the water; they have an attraction to water for the first few days.
I had to bring two of our chicks into the house and put them in a makeshift brooder. We used three or four desktop lamps to warm them. These worked for the short time that the chicks were in there, but I would not use them long term. They did not seem to have the right amount of heat. If you do a search on BYC for the type of light to use, I think there are a lot of threads that talk about that.
Listen for loud cheeping. If they are uncomfortable or hurt or hungry/thirsty they will let you know.
You will have to teach them how to drink. I taught them by letting them drink droplets off my finger, then leading them over to the waterer until I saw them drink for themselves. I've also read that you can dip their beaks in water to teach them how to drink.
Ours flopped around for a while after they hatched. They slept a lot. After a few hours, they began to stand up and crawl around, while still falling asleep every minute or so.
Congratulations on your chicks!
