ok so my chicks just hatched!!! i need to kno when to take them out of the incubator? what type of light to use in the brooder box?(ive heard ppl talk about a red light or something) what temp it should be? what bedding should be in the box and should i put rocks in there water??
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!
If you use shavings Id make sure not to use Cedar and use Pine~ lol I think Cedar is like somewhat poisonous to them S: And congrats on the new chicks! -Yoko :3
Now that you have the bare bones of it, please spend some time reading in the Raising Baby Chicks section. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=11
Too late now, but these are some things you should have been researching and finding out before you put eggs in the bator.
Don't take this unkindly, but what have you been doing the last 22 days or so? You should have figured out at least the basics before even starting them. UGCM
i did look up a lot of stuff. ive been on here like almost 24/7 since i put the eggs in the incubator. i just some how forgot.
Those are the kinds of things you should have set up and ready before the chicks start hatching.....not after.
put rocks or marbles in the water so they won't drown. Use a red heat light if you can, Walmarts sells an 85 watt one for reptiles that would work. You can use paper towels for the first few days to keep them from eating the pine shavings. Make sure they know how to drink. Keep them warm but be sure to have a large enough area so they can get away from the heat if they are too hot.