I am (STILL) surprised so many hatch this late in the year

[jmc]

thanks, it just seems to be a tough thing having babies to deal with when the wind chill is 10 below--during the day time............
now in the south or far west, i could see it i guess, since their winters aren't like ours..........

 

[sager:)silkies]

or im doning my last hatch now to some are due this wensday others due halloween by the time winter comes there all featherd up plus i have a heat lamp in my coop for all my birds so they do quite fine they hudle to so ya and when its -20 outside my coop is still above freezing

 

[Melissa Rose]

Down here in South Texas - Winter is really a mild summer so hatching and raising them is even easier then during the heat wave of summer itself!

 

[joneus]

Glad to see that the OP is from MA. I'm in Southern CT and I've been dying to hatch out some more eggs to fill out my flock- but had reservations because winter is coming & I dont want a bunch of chicks in my house for 4mos (no matter how cute they are!).

Maybe they'll be okay in the garage until they're physically big enough to go into the coop?

 

[joneus]

Quote:
So I guess the question is whether or not people in the mid-west hatch through the winter as well. As nasty as a New England winter can be (even down here in southern New England), Mid-west winters make ours look like a tropical vacation. I reckon if they do it, we should be okay too.

(sorry- I dont mean to be an enabler or anything, LOL!)

 

[honfor500]

Im out here in Northern California and I have a hen on eggs right now. Im guessing this will be her last clutch of eggs though because all my other hens have stopped laying for the year. Oh and my broodys take there chicks out to free range with the rest of the flock at about 3 to 4 weeks old, and so far the chicks have grown up to be healthy happy birds.

 

[jmc]

Quote:
CA just a bit diff. from MA in winter................last winter was no tropical vacation!

 

[Rosaleen]

I just hatched 7 adorable bantam cochins. They're in a brooder in the house for the next four weeks, then they go into a larger brooder in the barn. After a total of eight weeks, they go into their own coop in the barn. We get very snowy and cold winters in Vermont. Sometimes I think chickens are better prepared for the cold than we are.

 

[HeatherLynn]

I will tell you the reason we can do it is we have a heated greenhouse for my moms tropical plants. Once the chicks are a bit older and of course messier they have a mini coop set up in the greenhouse. I have kept chicks in the house for 16 weeks when I first started. UGGGG I spent more time cleaning than anything else. I could not handle any mess or smell. They probably got fresh bedding at least 3 times a day. Which is why we no longer do that and just put them in the greenhouse.

 

[cmom]

I just recently fired up my incubator but I live in Florida. I put it on vacation for the summer as it was so hot. I had sprinklers and wading pools for my older birds as well as shade. I have a coop dedicated for chicks which is insulated for when we do get cold weather and I have a heater out there as well as heat lamps.