OK, gang, I'm on day 15 & haven't candled. It's too cold in that room (OLD windows - new ones ordred but had to put towels in the sills yesterday to keep the doggone wind out of my sewing room - doesn't everyone keep incubating eggs in their sewing room?
) & I'm afraid the temp difference wouldn't be good for them. Also afraid I'll drop them in the process. Have 15 cuckoo maran eggs in there. Wonder how many (if any) will hatch?
My temps have been as low as 99 & as high as 104.2 ambient temp (never did find a water weasel) but have been mostly ~102. Humidity has been in the mid 50%-mid 70% range. As high as 76% once & as low as 19% once.
So, do I stop turning at the beginning of day 18 or at the end of day 18? I know that they should start to pip on day 21 (-/+). I've never hatched a chick before, got birds @ the feed store that were over a week old. I've ordered "Quick Chick" & Grow Gel" from McMurray Hatchery to have on hand (assuming it gets here in time). Can someone give me a checklist of what to do once the chick is out of it's egg? When do I move it to the cage? Do I dip it's beak into plain water when I get it there? Do I offer food from the very first? Do I need chick grit from the very first, too? What's the optimum temp to have my little cage at? Temp in the laundry room is pretty constant, so hopefully, maintaining a good temp in the cage will be fairly easy.
I'm going to set up a wire cage in the laundry room w/a heat lamp on top (I used a white lamp & a red lamp on timers to simulate day/night before), wrap the walls w/cardboard to keep out the draft, lay fine shavings on the floor over newspaper (makes it easier to clean by just rolling up the whole dirty thing & laying fresh), put in my water & food & hope they do ok. Cats & dogs don't go down there & haven't seen any sign of rodents larger than a small mouse (which the dogs caught, not the cats
).
Any help/suggestions/info will be greatly appreciated. It's only 52` outside right now with a stiff cold breeze. Temps aren't going up significantly til sometime next May. When can I safely put my chicks in the barn? I'm going to be using a large-dog house w/a lift-up lid inside a stall in my horse barn for their winter quarters. I'll have to put chicken wire or hardware cloth over the tops (keep out the barn cats) & wherever a cat or possum or whatever can even think of squeezing thru. No fear of snakes in this weather. Haven't seen anything larger than a mouse in the barns, either, so don't think we have the larger version (God, I hope not! ick!).
Anyway, any info will be greatly appreciated! TIA
TammyD
Waterman, IL
My temps have been as low as 99 & as high as 104.2 ambient temp (never did find a water weasel) but have been mostly ~102. Humidity has been in the mid 50%-mid 70% range. As high as 76% once & as low as 19% once.
So, do I stop turning at the beginning of day 18 or at the end of day 18? I know that they should start to pip on day 21 (-/+). I've never hatched a chick before, got birds @ the feed store that were over a week old. I've ordered "Quick Chick" & Grow Gel" from McMurray Hatchery to have on hand (assuming it gets here in time). Can someone give me a checklist of what to do once the chick is out of it's egg? When do I move it to the cage? Do I dip it's beak into plain water when I get it there? Do I offer food from the very first? Do I need chick grit from the very first, too? What's the optimum temp to have my little cage at? Temp in the laundry room is pretty constant, so hopefully, maintaining a good temp in the cage will be fairly easy.
I'm going to set up a wire cage in the laundry room w/a heat lamp on top (I used a white lamp & a red lamp on timers to simulate day/night before), wrap the walls w/cardboard to keep out the draft, lay fine shavings on the floor over newspaper (makes it easier to clean by just rolling up the whole dirty thing & laying fresh), put in my water & food & hope they do ok. Cats & dogs don't go down there & haven't seen any sign of rodents larger than a small mouse (which the dogs caught, not the cats
Any help/suggestions/info will be greatly appreciated. It's only 52` outside right now with a stiff cold breeze. Temps aren't going up significantly til sometime next May. When can I safely put my chicks in the barn? I'm going to be using a large-dog house w/a lift-up lid inside a stall in my horse barn for their winter quarters. I'll have to put chicken wire or hardware cloth over the tops (keep out the barn cats) & wherever a cat or possum or whatever can even think of squeezing thru. No fear of snakes in this weather. Haven't seen anything larger than a mouse in the barns, either, so don't think we have the larger version (God, I hope not! ick!).
Anyway, any info will be greatly appreciated! TIA
TammyD
Waterman, IL
