First time hatching advice

[Shezadandy]

Day 21 just started and when i looked in the incubator I have 2 pipped eggs. 1 is a full impact, where the little bruiser knocked a chunk off the outside, exposing a large area of the membrane, the other is an impact mark like a bullet hitting metal. I carefully lifted the bruiser out and they are chirping wildly so defiantly eager the finish the job!

1. When I hatched ducklings I found that the first one out spurred the rest to get a move on. will chickens do this too?

2. Also, should I remove them from the turning racks and place them on the hatching floor. The pipping started in the past 8 hours while I slept.

The hatching floor is a suspended tight mesh floor above the water reservoir so identical conditions, but cant rotate the eggs.

what temperature should the chicks be in when they have hatched? my ducklings just had a beanbag hot water bottle as I didn't have any incubator/brooder. I have the incubator this time so can I theoretically alter the temp and humidity inside and use it as a brooder for a few days while they get stronger?

My house never drops below 18 degrees so they wont exactly freeze even if they have nothing! I just want them to be happy!

They should have been off the turning racks around day 18, so do take them all off and put them on the hatching floor. As for temperatures, it's been too long and I'm not sure enough to offer advice- but definitely get them to the hatching floor.

 

[oliverj102]

I moved them to the hatching floor shortly after my post.

My instruction book for the incubator never stated moving them but clearly they shouldn't hatch mid air!

The first pip one that cracked its shell 3 hours ago is already out and making a hell of a noise! Ive moved the shell off them and put it at the side, the chick is led on its back having a good chirp and all the eggs around them are wriggling! Oddly enough its a black chick... might change as it dries mind!

The hens where White Orpington, and the rooster a Buff Orpington, so it shouldnt be black haha!

Im checking onthem every 30 minutes or so to make sure they dont hatch and have egg shell that could hurt them but they seem to be taking care of it well... tho only my collected eggs are hatching.. none of the bought ones are...

Ill post pics once hatching is done

 

[aart]

what temperature should the chicks be in when they have hatched?

Do you have a brooder setup...with a heat source??
They can stay in the incubator for a day.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.


Or you could go with a heat plate, commercially made or DIY: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate

 

[oliverj102]

I dont have a brooder alas, all the ones I looked at had horrific reviews of the chicks dieing...

When I hatched my accidental ducklings I put them in a thick plastic box with scrunched up news paper for them to huddle round and sat one end next to a radiator. They seemed to do fine like that but I also had them cool faster as I wanted them to join the other ducks asap!

Im going to leave them in the incubator till all activity stops then calibrate it down to a brooder temperature and just keep a close eye on them for 48 hours until i can transfer them. Its very warm just now, even outside so they shouldn't be cold.

Ive just looked in on the chicks again and 2 are running round quite happily and are fluffy. 4 more have their beaks poking through the shells, they dont seem to be activly trying to break out yet but from my understanding, they mainly need the hole for breathing, then absorb the last of the yoke before finishing off the hatch. Their little beaks are opening and closing while chirping so they are active so ill assume they are building up energy. The first 2 must have just been energetic!

4 have no pips yet from my own eggs and none of the remaining 4 that I bought are pipping. Im contemplating contacting the breeder about them if more of my eggs hatch and none of their made it.. at £3 an egg its a rather expensive failure

 

[aart]

I dont have a brooder alas, all the ones I looked at had horrific reviews of the chicks dieing...

Do you have a link to where you saw these?
Can you not get a large cardboard bow and a poultry heat lamp?
Just an regular 100W incandescent light bulb will work.

Its very warm just now, even outside so they shouldn't be cold.

Like 98°F warm?
You risk them being unhealthy and/or dying if you don't keep them warm enough.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I would just like to point out that in nature, the mother hen would keep her babies warm for many weeks after hatching. She would not abandon them to the elements. Last year several of our hens went broody and hatched anywhere from two to four chicks, a total of eight. They ran to their respective mamas for comfort, warmth and protection till they were almost as big as their mothers - at least, the four survivors did. We apparently we lost the others to unseen predators such as hawks or snakes.

 

[oliverj102]

I wasn't meaning they would be fending for them selves after a week! Even my ducklings spent 3 weeks inside before daily trips outside to aclimatise.

3 more hatched yesterday and are now all fluffy and chirping. A 7th piped this morning so there is still hope for the rest. An 8th started hatching yesterday but i think something is wrong as it stopped progressing and hasnt moved in 12 hours. I dont want to open it in case it compromises the other hatchers, and helping them hatch can cause more harm too!

Our current layers came from a little old man who breeds them as a retirement hobby! (we call him the chicken man) He had about 80 chickens in a 20mx20m garden, it was rather crazy. But some where tiny! we bought ours at 8 weeks old and they stood 10 inches tall, but had been outside several weeks apparently. Something to do with feather development..

Im more concerned with them being too warm then too cold. I added a drown proof water container for the ones that have hatched first and some chick food but they are more interested it playing football with the other eggs currently..

I have cats so they HAVE to stay in sealed containers. My cats are well behaved but I wouldn't trust them around chicks if I wasn't right there! currently they just came to see what the noise was then left again

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I wasn't meaning they would be fending for them selves after a week! Even my ducklings spent 3 weeks inside before daily trips outside to aclimatise.

3 more hatched yesterday and are now all fluffy and chirping. A 7th piped this morning so there is still hope for the rest. An 8th started hatching yesterday but i think something is wrong as it stopped progressing and hasnt moved in 12 hours. I dont want to open it in case it compromises the other hatchers, and helping them hatch can cause more harm too!

Our current layers came from a little old man who breeds them as a retirement hobby! (we call him the chicken man) He had about 80 chickens in a 20mx20m garden, it was rather crazy. But some where tiny! we bought ours at 8 weeks old and they stood 10 inches tall, but had been outside several weeks apparently. Something to do with feather development..

Im more concerned with them being too warm then too cold. I added a drown proof water container for the ones that have hatched first and some chick food but they are more interested it playing football with the other eggs currently..

I have cats so they HAVE to stay in sealed containers. My cats are well behaved but I wouldn't trust them around chicks if I wasn't right there! currently they just came to see what the noise was then left again

Sorry, I misunderstood.

 

[karenerwin]

For a brooder you can use a plastic tote and rig a wire mesh lid for it. That should keep the cats out, let you see in and you can still put a heat lamp or bulb to help keep them warm enough.
At school when we hatch eggs in science class, we put the chicks in a big cardboard box, add an incandescent light bulb, and close the top flaps of the box. If you did something like that, I would suggest that you make a mesh screen lid or top instead of folding the flaps close. I think the mesh top would do better at keeping the cats out.
Good luck!

 

[Fishkeeper]

I don't at all suggest an incandescent light bulb as a heat source. 24-hour light can make the chicks aggressive and mess up their internal clocks. A red bulb is a bit better, but a brooding plate is ideal.