How long do you wait before moving chicks into the brooder?

[duckluck]

My six have all hatched, and I know you're supposed to wait till they dry before opening the incubator...so how long do you usually wait? I have the brooder warming up now...

 

[Kev]

Two answers. First, the brooder needs to be completely warmed up before putting "any age" chicks in it. I always have the brooder fully turned on and everything for at least a day or even two before expecting chicks- it's also to make sure the brooder is holding the right temps etc.. but is best to have it on at least 3-4 hours minium with testing the temperature. However with that you don't really know how well it holds during the coldest part of night or warmest part of day. What may seem ok at evening time could be too cold at midnight or too hot when sun is shining in room etc.


Chicks do not need to drink or eat for 24 hours after hatching anyways so it is best to leave them in hatcher overnight.

Got to say see way too many times pictures of just barely hatched and still wet/not fully dry chicks, including chicks that still can't lift their head or even stand yet placed in brooders. That gives me the shudders.. (that's not recommended at all)

 

[duckluck]

Well, I suppose I could leave them until tomorrow then...I woke up at 8am to peeping from the first three, but the last two aren't older than two hours.

This is an open sided cage-like brooder with a bulb in it, chicks will be on mesh...I know some people will likely go

at the idea of cage bar sides instead of solid ones, and I wasn't crazy about the look of this goody, which I believe is an antique, but the friend who loaned it to me has raised thousands of chicks and swears by it. She did say to let it heat for several hours though, so waiting is likely a good idea. She swore by the incubator she loaned me to get started with too and I can't argue with all six eggs hatching, so I guess I shall give this brooder a whirl. The room it is in is holding about a steady 70 degrees.

 

[PandoraTaylor]

Congratulations on Fuzzy Butts

 

[Kev]

Sounds like a good setup.

I'd say to watch out for the wire spacing however if the other person has raised "lots" in it, guess it should be okay. With the room being warm, wire cage will be fine anyways.

With wire floors, a common practice is to put something like rough paper towels or old rags without loose strings over the floor for the first few days then remove.. Not necessary to do this though, especially for chicken chicks.

 

[Suechick]

Congratulations!
I wait until mine have started to dry and can walk around pretty well. Sometimes that's 8 hours and sometimes it's 24. It just depends on the chick. I have found that they don't dry and fluff very quickly in the incubator because of the high humidity. I also worry about them getting good air circulation so, if there aren't any more going to hatch, I'd open up all the vents and let in a lot of nice fresh air.

 

[duckluck]

Haha! I thought of that! Opened up some vents last night to drop the humidity! I actually got a right answer on my own!

I left them wait overnight and moved them all into the brooder...thanks everyone who mentioned the thing about the temp! That took some troubleshooting because the wafer on it is in no way as sensitive as the one on the bator...I had to call the owner of it and there were some fine points she forgot to tell me about it. I wanted to get this handled last night though so we wouldn't be panicking here in the morning...temp this morning was at 92 degrees close to the bulb so it looks all good.

The chicks are all eating, drinking, and sleeping in various places in there, so it looks like we have survived the first 24 hours, at least with the first three hatched! Whoohoo!

My husband is amazed that we did this well with our first time, but then of course I had the owner of the equipment and all the eggs-perts on here guiding me along. And The Guide To Better Hatching. Thanks everyone!

The only problem I see so far is that that room is WARM! Sitting in there watching the chicks makes me sweat! It's 80 in there!

 

[Jess N Jeff]

Hey there!!! Congrates!!!!

I usually wait until they all hatch and are dried out and fuzzy. Usually this takes about 24 hours...sometimes a little longer depending on how many eggs you have in there. Everyone is different, but I like to keep them really warm and happy before I move them. Make sure your brooder is all set up and temps are good before you move them. Happy raising!!!!

 

[duckluck]

Thanks! I will only have them for a few days, however...just long enough to get them going before they go to their new (local) home. I don't raise chickens but am looking to get experience hatching because I want to hatch call ducks in spring, I have seven pairs. But I'm getting these started in the brooder too so I can learn some of what issues I may be facing with that and how we can cope with those so I won't make so many mistakes with the hard-to-hatch and expensive! call ducks.