cold weather question

[cameron]

I came back Saturday from a week long hunting trip in west texas to find that while I was gone, a pair of my tipplers and a pair of my dutch highflyers were sitting on eggs.

If they hatch these eggs, do I need to run a drop light out to their box for heat?

If so, the box they are in is 4x4x4...would a 75w bulb be sufficient to warm the box enough to reduce the chances of the cold killing the youngins before they get their feathers in?

Thank yall

Cameron

 

[yardbird tx]

As long as the chicks don't get kicked out of the nest they will be fine without supplemental heat. The hen and cock will protect the chicks form the cold. The only time I have ever lost a chick to the cold is when it got kicked out of the nest by accident.

 

[Lofty Dreams]

It should be I use a heater, but I have chickens

 

[puredelite]

It is actually best to separate the cocks and hens in the winter to allow them a little break. Then in the spring pair them up to your choosing and just watch them go! They will lay eggs and raise babies almost non-stop all summer. Maybe has to do with my climate here but I don't have much success in getting eggs to hatch in winter. Maybe has to do with it being 5 degrees a couple of mornings ago...

 

[cameron]

Normally I would separate them but I fly them all together, and since the last time any of them were on eggs was early september, there's really not much for them to take a break from!

 

[Sumatra503]

I leave my pairs together all winter and just take the eggs if i don't want them hatching. No room for another loft here.

Last year I left for a week and came home to a setting pair of Komorners. I decided to just leave them and they were fine. Even with snow on the ground in January.

 

[arherp]

If you want to let her hatch them, you *can* put a light on them. Don't put it directly over the nest though. I usually put a light on my favorite pair in the winter anyway, they enjoy "basking" in it sometimes.