Incubators Anonymous

[JD4570]

Well tomorrow is lockdown for 20 RIRs and I,m already feeling withdrawals, sigh. I feel I must get more eggs but the girls aren't laying up to par and I'm short on cash, sigh.

I guess I could work a deal out with my neighbor for some Australorp eggs, if not I'll just lurk and sigh.

Bummer. I hope these withdrawals aren't as bad as when I quit smoking! The rest of you hatch on!

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
You betcha! I have my outside brooder set up for fall conditions, and I plan to HATCH ON!!

Can we see that? I am unsure how to handle chick around here in the fall/winter... might need to build something...

 

[Cattitude]

The floor is solid and there are two red heat lamps in the enclosed end. The chicks can choose their own comfort level this way; as they get feathers, they usually move farther away from the lamps. If the bulb goes out on one lamp, no one will freeze. The brooder is positioned so that it gets afternoon sun, and so that the prevailing wind skips over it. It's low enough that I can take a tarp or an old blanket and drape it over the roof on the open side, if the weather is expected to be really bad.

Picture of my outside brooder, from last year:

 

[Arielle]

THe rainy season is here now with cold NEw England winter looming. Hence I had stopped hatching as I brood in my country kitchen. I love the chicks but I really needed a break. Oh well, can't wait to see if the broody BO can pull off incubating! Didn't make it to the store to pick up fertilized eggs

, maybe to morrow at TJ as we're going that way in the afternoon. How do I convince DH to stop and buy eggs when the 'frig is full of eggs?!?!?

 

[CapricornFarm]

Tell him you have a craving. If he thinks you might be pregnant, anything you might buy will not assume any importance.

 

[DMRippy]

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I need details... What age to you put them out in the brooder how many do you keep in there and when do you move them to the next stage and what is that? Do you only give them a heat lamp the first winter or do you cut them off at a certain age? Did I forget something????

 

[Cattitude]

How old are they when I put them outside: Depends on the weather and the age of the chicks already in the brooder; if it's mild, and the other chicks are less than two weeks old, they go out a couple of days after hatching. If we're getting nasty wet or icy weather, I put a tarp over the open end to help hold the heat and transfer them at about a week, more or less. I move the older chicks to another (unlit) coop once they have their new feathers, unless there aren't many of them, in which case they stay in the brooder. Any older chick that starts picking gets moved immediately. Hmm, have I left anything out?

Thankfully, we don't usually have much frigid weather here. I consider an extended spell of wet, gloomy, just-above-freezing weather to be more of a problem than ice/snow.

 

[Cattitude]

Yes, I did forget something. The brooder is about 4 ft X 8 ft, measured along the outside of the floor. Right now I have about 35-40 chicks in mine. It's amazing how small a space they occupy when asleep. They have plenty of room to run around in the open area. I have two of the long chick feeders that I top off or refill twice a day, plus a hanging one-gallon waterer and a two-gallon waterer that, during cold weather, I move close enough to the lights not to freeze.

Something else will occur to me, I know.

 

[Arielle]

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DH would think I'm totally certifiable!! I'm beyond child bearing age!

 

[ki4got]

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DH would think I'm totally certifiable!! I'm beyond child bearing age!

hehe i've been 'spayed' so if i get pregnant, i'm rich. short n sweet about that. because either the doc didn't take out what he was supposed to, or it grew back... either way? i'm rich.