INCUBATING w/FRIENDS! w/Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs No problem!

[Saris]

. Is that yours in your avitar? Maybe it is his mixed blood.

Hybrid vigor for the win! He's half Cream Legbar half mystery momma (all I know is she laid brown eggs) His chicks are all huge too, 3 weeks old on monday and some of the boys in there are definitely noticable. I'll post pics next week.

It's 16 square feet without the center partition, and I was told it would hold approximately 66 large fowl chicks up to 8 weeks. I haven't done the math, so I can't say for certain. It'll hold more than I'll have in it for quite some time. If not, it's an easy expansion. It took all of two days (off and on in my spare time) to build it, and I can build you one if you like. The cost of materials isn't that bad, but I must warn you... the shipping is going to be a major buzz kill!!!  

PS: I have a kiddie pool just behind the brooder... lol!!!

Maybe a set of plans? My husband is the crafty one and he could probably wing it like he did our coop, but we're already planning a coop remodel in the spring so a brooder that already has the kinks worked out would be awesome.

Will eggs from yesterday be OK that are unwashed on the counter, but were on there sides not on point if I put them so now?

Oh yeah!

 

[daxigait]

As long as they were not refrigerator cold for too long, they will be fine.  I've had eggs develop that were frozen just short of the cracking point.  Not recommended, but possible.

I just took the dozen in the car to church in case I needed an extra dozen for one of my customers. It was in the forties outside so they were in the car around 4-5 hours.

 

[WalnutHill]

The shaking from the ride in the car is more of a threat than a couple hours of chill. They should still be fine, though.

 

[Cynthia12]

Do you have any of Sarah's eggs in there right now or all they all Lisa's? Can't wait to see what you get, especially with those Marans! If you get a splash, I'm going to have to give them another go!

I don't have any of Sarahs, just Lisa's. I am hoping that she will still have fertile eggs for the NYD hatch a long. Planning on some of hers, and some of Brians, and some of Brandy's. Between the three, I should get some fertile ones. The SG's in right now are Brians..did you see the photos of his two that hatched this fall? Oh, my, goodness! Little paints! One a SG.

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

Make sure you pick up some bricks. I raise my feeder and waterer up on pavers or half bricks as soon as they start kicking the shavings around so you don't have to clean them out as often.

I have bricks handy, or I can hang them on adjustable chains in the brooder (it's 2' high inside). I'll be keeping both of them at chick's back height. I also have 10 drip-free (horizontal) water nipples that I'm going to use to make waterers so I won't have to worry about shavings, droppings, or wet bedding.

 

[ChickaLong]

Blink your eyes and you are pages behind here. I like it.

 

[Ur-ur-ur-urrr]

Are you using heat lamp, or heating pad for brooding? Check this out: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

I have an 11" x 16" Sweeter Heater (top of pic), which is supposed to be good for 32-36 chicks. It's hanging high right now, but I'll drop it down in time for the chicks.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Hey. Guys I'm new to the group and new to raising chickens, I've successfully hatched about 20 or so chicks, I have a styrofoam incubator with turner from tractor supply, it holds about 42 eggs, I keep the temp at 99 and keep a close eye on it , my problem is I'm having only about 7-12 birds hatch successfully, And then i break the rest of the eggs when all said and done and like 30 have well developed chicks in them that never came out, and I don't understand why???????? Is it. Because I leave them sitting in my egg turner during hatching ? I unplug it 3 days befor hatching any help would be appreciated

Welcome to BYC ! @ez7979

sorry about your hatches, it can get very frustrating. I agree with everything Walnut said below! fan or no fan? temps are way important! 99 is TOO low! are you using additional thermometers and hygrometers and calibrating them also? Also wondering how you run humidity? do you fill the wells in the bottom? Again, welcome to byc and welcome to the thread!

It's best to remove the eggs from the turner and lay them on the wire for hatching. The primary reason is that the turners are a hazard that newborns don't need to try to navigate, but the turner isn't causing your poor hatch rate.

Have you verified temperatures at the top of the egg throughout incubation with a calibrated thermometer? Is your incubator a still air or a forced air incubator? 99 is a little too low, ideally you want 100F if the incubator has a fan, and a bit higher if it doesn't.

There isn't much more frustrating than having chicks so close to life, then dying in the shell. I'm sure we can help you work through the issues.

x2

 

[chicken hawk 33]

HELLO

 

[CrazyChickLady7]

Waiting for pullets to lay is horrible! In a good way though. Kind of like little kids waiting for Santa.