hatching help!!!

[pinfeathers]

So my beloved guinea pig died yesterday however my niece was looking through the chicken book and has decided we should get baby chicken. So my question is can you hatch eggs in a bed of straw and a heat lamp in the cage?
Tia

 

[ChickenLoverGia]

First off, I am so sorry about your Guinea pig, I currently have some and I know what it is like to loose one.

So, for the chicks... If you have any other chickens, do Not put the chicks with them until they are old enough (when they are fully feathered). Also, I would recommend putting them on fleece or woodchips, straw is also fine but not a comfortable. Yes, you will definitely need a heat lamp very close. It should take exactly 21 days for them to hatch. When hatching eggs, it is best to hatch more that one or you will end up with a very lonely chick.

I hope this info helps you with your chicks! Good luck!

 

[Pyxis]

Not really, no. If you want to hatch eggs, you need an incubator. And then you need all the supplies to care for the chicks you hatch, a plan to get rid of all the roosters you hatch that you can't keep, and a coop and run outside to keep the chicks that you do decide to keep and raise in once they're older. You might already have the coop because it does seem that you do own other chickens, but then you're also going to have to deal with integrating the chicks into your existing flock.

A heat lamp is just not going to cut it. You need extremely stable temperatures for 21 days, which a heat lamp cannot provide, and you need specific humidity, which you cannot achieve in a cage.

 

[bobbi-j]

Not really, no. If you want to hatch eggs, you need an incubator. And then you need all the supplies to care for the chicks you hatch, a plan to get rid of all the roosters you hatch that you can't keep, and a coop and run outside to keep the chicks that you do decide to keep and raise in once they're older. You might already have the coop because it does seem that you do own other chickens, but then you're also going to have to deal with integrating the chicks into your existing flock.

A heat lamp is just not going to cut it. You need extremely stable temperatures for 21 days, which a heat lamp cannot provide, and you need specific humidity, which you cannot achieve in a cage.

This.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Not really, no. If you want to hatch eggs, you need an incubator. And then you need all the supplies to care for the chicks you hatch, a plan to get rid of all the roosters you hatch that you can't keep, and a coop and run outside to keep the chicks that you do decide to keep and raise in once they're older. You might already have the coop because it does seem that you do own other chickens, but then you're also going to have to deal with integrating the chicks into your existing flock.

A heat lamp is just not going to cut it. You need extremely stable temperatures for 21 days, which a heat lamp cannot provide, and you need specific humidity, which you cannot achieve in a cage.

Totally agree!

 

[bobbi-j]

First off, I am so sorry about your Guinea pig, I currently have some and I know what it is like to loose one.

So, for the chicks... If you have any other chickens, do Not put the chicks with them until they are old enough (when they are fully feathered). Also, I would recommend putting them on fleece or woodchips, straw is also fine but not a comfortable. Yes, you will definitely need a heat lamp very close. It should take exactly 21 days for them to hatch. When hatching eggs, it is best to hatch more that one or you will end up with a very lonely chick.

I hope this info helps you with your chicks! Good luck!

I respectfully disagree with some of your comments. A heat lamp "very close" will not properly incubate an egg. It will not provide enough consistent temperature, nor will it give the right humidity. Eggs can anywhere from 18 days to 23 or 24, depending on conditions. Under a hen, it's usually close to the 21 day range, but it can even vary when a hen is incubating them.

 

[pinfeathers]

Thanks guys I had been doing some research and had seen people with this kind of setup as I have never hatched before I was looking for advice

xxx