Hands on hatching and help

[PD-Riverman]

Oh boy id be worried that one would get smothered.. I had that happen in one of my brooder one time with just 3. I felt so awful...

That tray has a lot in it but I have had the 4 trays with more chicks than the one in the pic----no one gets smothered.

 

[SlikerFarm]

My chicken eggs are starting to hatch! This lil guy made this hole about 10 hours ago now and there's been no significant change. Should I be worried?

 

[Pyxis]

My chicken eggs are starting to hatch! This lil guy made this hole about 10 hours ago now and there's been no significant change. Should I be worried?

Congrats! I'd give him 24 hours from the time of pipping before you intervene.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

My chicken eggs are starting to hatch! This lil guy made this hole about 10 hours ago now and there's been no significant change. Should I be worried?

Nope. They often take upwards of 24 hours to go from pip to zip. I don't mess with them until 18 hours in and then I check their position and usually leave them until 24 hours. That looks like it's pretty much centered in the middle of the egg?

 

[SlikerFarm]

Yes, it's pretty much center. Thanks, guys! This is my second harch, so I'm still learning. At least I can go to bed without worry!

 

[Blooie]

Big day for the little Silkies tomorrow. Supervised visitation with the flock! Their heating pad has been turned down to 2 for a couple of days and they don't even seem to notice. So tomorrow I'll let all the Bigs and the Littles outside, close the run, and open the portal doors on the brooder pen. After they've had a little time to explore and learn where the portal doors so they can escape any unwanted attentions of others, the run door will be opened and the Tiny's will be able to get as adventurous as they want.

If this follows the usual pattern, the older chicks will head immediately to the brooder, but they've gotten so big they won't fit through portals. Frankly I'm a little more concerned about them than I am about the adults - the adults been through this process many times before so they usually just look, peck if a chick gets too close, then ignore them. But the older chicks (Yokel and Wilbur, my first ever home hatched chicks, and the other 6 we bought to keep them company are about 8 weeks old and Sluff, the NN hiding in an Australorp shell, is around 5 weeks. The Silkies and the other 8 from MPC, are 3 weeks. Boy, time flies!! I want to have full integration in another 4 or 5 days to simplify chicken care when Ken, Katie and I leave town for 10 days next week. Should be no problem...never have had an integration issue doing it this way. Wish us luck!

 

[SlikerFarm]

Big day for the little Silkies tomorrow.  Supervised visitation with the flock!  Their heating pad has been turned down to 2 for a couple of days and they don't even seem to notice.  So tomorrow I'll let all the Bigs and the Littles outside, close the run, and open the portal doors on the brooder pen.  After they've had a little time to explore and learn where the portal doors so they can escape any unwanted attentions of others, the run door will be opened and the Tiny's will be able to get as adventurous as they want.

If this follows the usual pattern, the older chicks will head immediately to the brooder, but they've gotten so big they won't fit through portals.  Frankly I'm a little more concerned about them than I am about the adults - the adults been through this process many times before so they usually just look, peck if a chick gets too close, then ignore them.  But the older chicks (Yokel and Wilbur, my first ever home hatched chicks, and the other 6 we bought to keep them company are about 8 weeks old and Sluff, the NN hiding in an Australorp shell, is around 5 weeks. The Silkies and the other 8 from MPC, are 3 weeks. Boy, time flies!!  I want to have full integration in another 4 or 5 days to simplify chicken care when Ken, Katie and I leave town for 10 days next week.  Should be no problem...never have had an integration issue doing it this way.  Wish us luck!

Good luck! I hope everything goes smoothly!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yes, it's pretty much center. Thanks, guys! This is my second harch, so I'm still learning. At least I can go to bed without worry!

I have noticed that quite a few, including one of my own centered pipped chicks end up being Malposition #5 chicks... so don't be surprised if you end up finding toes above the beak at the pip hole tomorrow...lol It'll probley be perfectly positioned, just don't be surprised.

Big day for the little Silkies tomorrow. Supervised visitation with the flock! Their heating pad has been turned down to 2 for a couple of days and they don't even seem to notice. So tomorrow I'll let all the Bigs and the Littles outside, close the run, and open the portal doors on the brooder pen. After they've had a little time to explore and learn where the portal doors so they can escape any unwanted attentions of others, the run door will be opened and the Tiny's will be able to get as adventurous as they want.

If this follows the usual pattern, the older chicks will head immediately to the brooder, but they've gotten so big they won't fit through portals. Frankly I'm a little more concerned about them than I am about the adults - the adults been through this process many times before so they usually just look, peck if a chick gets too close, then ignore them. But the older chicks (Yokel and Wilbur, my first ever home hatched chicks, and the other 6 we bought to keep them company are about 8 weeks old and Sluff, the NN hiding in an Australorp shell, is around 5 weeks. The Silkies and the other 8 from MPC, are 3 weeks. Boy, time flies!! I want to have full integration in another 4 or 5 days to simplify chicken care when Ken, Katie and I leave town for 10 days next week. Should be no problem...never have had an integration issue doing it this way. Wish us luck!

Good luck!!! I have sucky experiences with integrating...lol I have some witchy hens when it comes to newbies.

 

[audy5000g]

Big day for the little Silkies tomorrow.  Supervised visitation with the flock!  Their heating pad has been turned down to 2 for a couple of days and they don't even seem to notice.  So tomorrow I'll let all the Bigs and the Littles outside, close the run, and open the portal doors on the brooder pen.  After they've had a little time to explore and learn where the portal doors so they can escape any unwanted attentions of others, the run door will be opened and the Tiny's will be able to get as adventurous as they want.

If this follows the usual pattern, the older chicks will head immediately to the brooder, but they've gotten so big they won't fit through portals.  Frankly I'm a little more concerned about them than I am about the adults - the adults been through this process many times before so they usually just look, peck if a chick gets too close, then ignore them.  But the older chicks (Yokel and Wilbur, my first ever home hatched chicks, and the other 6 we bought to keep them company are about 8 weeks old and Sluff, the NN hiding in an Australorp shell, is around 5 weeks. The Silkies and the other 8 from MPC, are 3 weeks. Boy, time flies!!  I want to have full integration in another 4 or 5 days to simplify chicken care when Ken, Katie and I leave town for 10 days next week.  Should be no problem...never have had an integration issue doing it this way.  Wish us luck!

Can I see pictures of how you do this? I don't understand portal door? Sounds cool.

 

[Blooie]

Can I see pictures of how you do this? I don't understand portal door? Sounds cool.

I use the system that @azygous showed in this thread: It's just a couple of chick sized doors that stay shut when they are very little, then opened to allow them to mingle. The big birds can't fit through the door.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1069595/introducing-chicks-to-adults#post_16276224 Photos and her explanation are about halfway down.

I brood my chicks outdoors in pen within the run, in full sight of the adults and older chicks at all times. Until I gleefully stole azygous' portal system this season, all I did to start integration was to prop open the main door the brooder so it was wide enough for the babies to run back into, but narrow enough so the older birds couldn't follow them. I also have a huge - and I mean HUGE - hollow log in the the run with the hollow side down, and if the chicks can't get back to the brooder for some reason they learn very quickly to duck under there where the adults can't reach them. Now with the combination of the portal doors and the log, I have very few concerns. I do supervise them well at first so I can nip any aggression in the bud and/or move chicks out of harm's way, but so far out of 4 different batches of chicks raised this way I've never had to do a thing except sit in my lawn chair and enjoy the show.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors