Incubation and Brooding Questions!

[baileyvivian]

Hi, I am new to hatching my own chicks and I don't know if this is the right place to put this but I am getting my incubator soon and I have some un-answered questions about hatching.
1. Do you put the eggs in the incubator right after they have been laid or how long can I leave them?
2. I want to hatch a full incubator, can I stock up the eggs?
3. Can I build my brooder right into my existing coop with my hens?
4. How old can the chicks be when I put them in with my existing flock?
5. And last of all, a dumb question, how do the chicks become male and female?
Thanks!

 

[Slongest]

Hi, I am new to hatching my own chicks and I don't know if this is the right place to put this but I am getting my incubator soon and I have some un-answered questions about hatching.
1. Do you put the eggs in the incubator right after they have been laid or how long can I leave them?
2. I want to hatch a full incubator, can I stock up the eggs?
3. Can I build my brooder right into my existing coop with my hens?
4. How old can the chicks be when I put them in with my existing flock?
5. And last of all, a dumb question, how do the chicks become male and female?
Thanks!

1)You can keep them up to five days i wouldnt go any more than that i label mine and put them in as i get them. If you wait make sure you tip them from side to side a few times a day.
3)Yes but make sure its indoors away from draft and keep the chicks in the brooder with a heat lamp and do what you can to keep them close to 90 degrees after they hatch...
4)once they are fully feathered and again once they go out have somewhere they can avoid the draft when inside. heat lamps are a plus.
5) not sure what you mean by this but they are what they are when theyre hached.

 

[baileyvivian]

Thanks so much!!

 

[sumi]

Hi, I am new to hatching my own chicks and I don't know if this is the right place to put this but I am getting my incubator soon and I have some un-answered questions about hatching.
1. Do you put the eggs in the incubator right after they have been laid or how long can I leave them?
2. I want to hatch a full incubator, can I stock up the eggs?
3. Can I build my brooder right into my existing coop with my hens?
4. How old can the chicks be when I put them in with my existing flock?
5. And last of all, a dumb question, how do the chicks become male and female?
Thanks!

1. You can store them for up to 14 days, but after day 7 their chances of hatching drops significantly. Store the eggs on their sides or pointy end down and turn them at least once a day to keep the yolk centred. Don't wash the eggs before setting them as this will remove the protective bloom on the shell that keeps bacteria out.
2. I'm not sure what you mean? Store up the eggs until you have an incubator full? You can do that, yes.
3. Yes, you can do that. As long as you have an electricity supply to the coop for the heat lamp. Remember you will need at least 1.5 sqf space allowed in the brooder per chick, so they don't get crowded.
4. It will be better to keep the chicks separate from your existing flock until they are more or less fully grown. If you introduce chicks too young and without a broody hen to protect them the older chickens may injure or kill them.
5. Not a dumb question! As with most other species it's pre decided and happens at conception. Unfortunately we cannot influence the sex of chicks.

Here's a great article on incubation and hatching that I think will interest you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

 

[baileyvivian]

Thanks!