Just hatched chicks

[sometinychickens]

New here everyone! A friend gave us eggs to try hatching in our incubator. We have our first one just 12 hours ago. So precious. Others pecking out as I type this. How quickly do they go in a chicken coop?

 

[MichelleBelle]

Congrats on your successful hatch! (I'll warn you- hatching eggs in an incubator may be habit forming.) The answer depends in part on where you live. Right now where I live (midwest) the nights are below freezing, so I'm keeping my hatchlings indoors for 2-3 weeks before moving outdoors into their coop. I also provide heating lamps inside the coop so that they stay warm enough overnight.
Are your hatchlings the first members of your flock, or are there other chickens living in your coop?

 

[sometinychickens]

Congrats on your successful hatch! (I'll warn you- hatching eggs in an incubator may be habit forming.) The answer depends in part on where you live. Right now where I live (midwest) the nights are below freezing, so I'm keeping my hatchlings indoors for 2-3 weeks before moving outdoors into their coop. I also provide heating lamps inside the coop so that they stay warm enough overnight.
Are your hatchlings the first members of your flock, or are there other chickens living in your coop?

actually the coop is being built as we speak. No other chickens.

 

[MichelleBelle]

Well that's good- you'll avoid any integration issues with older chickens. So long as you provide a nice dry, warm place for them to avoid the elements, they'll be just fine in their coop as young as 2 weeks in my opinion. They might not be able to walk up a ramp to get in the upper levels of a coop that young, so you may need to put their heating lamp on the lowest level until they develop a bit more. Do you have some bedding to help insulate them during chilly fall/winter nights?

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC and congrats on your very first hatch!
What part of the world do you live in?

 

[sometinychickens]

Well that's good- you'll avoid any integration issues with older chickens. So long as you provide a nice dry, warm place for them to avoid the elements, they'll be just fine in their coop as young as 2 weeks in my opinion. They might not be able to walk up a ramp to get in the upper levels of a coop that young, so you may need to put their heating lamp on the lowest level until they develop a bit more. Do you have some bedding to help insulate them during chilly fall/winter nights?

oh yes.

 

[sometinychickens]

Welcome to BYC and congrats on your very first hatch!
What part of the world do you live in?

Southeast Unites States

 

[sometinychickens]

Chick # two hatched last night and when I opened the incubator she jumped right in my hand.

 

[H@tcher]

Chick # two hatched last night and when I opened the incubator she jumped right in my hand.

Make sure your humidity gets back up quickly. I don't open mine until the hatch is complete. The chicks will be ok in the bator for 2-3 days.

Congrats.

 

[Kiki]

Southeast Unites States

Thanks. Your weather should be fine for them to move out to the coop as soon as you finish building it.