March Hatch-A-Long

[two j farm]

I usually check the weather, but being in WI is a huge gamble. We have a storm rolling in tomorrow with snow, potential ice and high winds

I live in Louisiana so we don't really get snow, when we do its no much.

 

[AngieMaesChix]

View attachment 1694460 Mary Poopins she’s sitting on my lap of course. That’s the reason for the extreme close up. I also have a buff and a silver penciled rock. Really awesome chickens. Good luck

I love Barred Rocks I spent a lot of time deciding what chickens I wanted this time as I will be also having a rooster and getting into the incubating hatching selling etc.. so I wanted to keep it to two or three favorite breeds with good bloodlines and all that..I have decided Barred Rock for sure so that’s where I’m starting...I’m considering Brahmas as another or Barred Cochins...my main things are a decent dual purpose bird and also lookers and friendliness..love the name Mary Poopins I am a huge Disney fan and that’s in my top 5!! Almost 41 kids grown n gone and I still gotta go see the new ones haha or sit at home n watch ones I already have...I’m a big child myself

 

[AngieMaesChix]

Put some water in this morning humidity had dropped to 39% ..I put what I did yesterday was too much..it’s at 56% now so gonna suck some out get it back to 40/45% then go ahead and set the eggs ..I been finding I have to add water to keep it there every idk 5 hrs or so to keep it there..I’m just worried about nighttime...night before last I added a bit got it to 45 % I think when went bed woke up was 30% I don’t want it going that low though I’ve read just don’t let it get below 25% ..my goal is 40/45%...then lockdown I’ll up it to 65/70%...I’m home everyday mainly so I’m just concerned about night while I’m sleeping it sipping down...

 

[two j farm]

Put some water in this morning humidity had dropped to 39% ..I put what I did yesterday was too much..it’s at 56% now so gonna suck some out get it back to 40/45% then go ahead and set the eggs ..I been finding I have to add water to keep it there every idk 5 hrs or so to keep it there..I’m just worried about nighttime...night before last I added a bit got it to 45 % I think when went bed woke up was 30% I don’t want it going that low though I’ve read just don’t let it get below 25% ..my goal is 40/45%...then lockdown I’ll up it to 65/70%...I’m home everyday mainly so I’m just concerned about night while I’m sleeping it sipping down...

You could try adding a wet paper towel or sponge before you got to bed. Maybe that will keep it up through the night.

 

[AngieMaesChix]

Yes I have considered that I just don’t want it to get too high either while I sleep especially since now I know I have at least one detached air cell...this is what I think I seen this is my first time I don’t have anyone here rn to take pics and don’t want to overhandle eggs..I’ll take pics when I candle next not sure if going to at 3 or wait till day 6...eggs 1,2,4,7,8,9 all look attached and good other than eggs 7 is slightly not much bigger air cell and 9 a tad bigger than that assuming their the oldest but I think okay ...egg 5 I think is attached and good but is pretty dark egg..eggs 3&6 are dark couldn’t see..egg is definitely not attached and moves wherever I understand this one will likely not hatch but worth a shot...soo here’s my issue...do I just put them all in egg carton and gently lift or just lean eggs and not actually turn or leave straight up and turn egg gently?? Should I put them in pointy end down of course and not touch for two days?? Seen that apt in my readings not to touch for two days then begin the leaning turning in carton? Will this affect the ones I believe are attached and good?? And then stop turning day 16 instead of 18 or??? Want you very experienced hatchers opinions on what you would do..still waiting for humidity to come down from putting too much water..sucked some out but hasn’t went down.. also I’ve seen some say keep humidity lower with detached cell but some are fine should I still keep at 40/45 or go with 35/40? I’m gonna be a pain especially this first time so I apologize in advance ..the one not attached is egg 10 I didn’t put the number up above..

 

[MeyerRay]

I have a titan brooder, they are similar to the brinsea eco glow but half the price. I paid about $79au not sure how that compares but it's very good although I find it gets too hot for the chicks if set low over them. Much safer than heatlamps and the chicks love it. I run staggered hatches so have a heatlamp in a plastic tub as well for when chicks are first out of the hatcher and too little to mix with the bigger chicks. Then they go into the bigger brooder cage with the titan until they are big enough to go into an unheated cage.

We ordered the titan brooder today, we were hoping to use it as soon as they hatch and dry in this house that my husband built (maybe put a box in it to keep them together because it iskind of big. We got some sawdust for the flooring. Would this work or will we find ouselves with squished chicks when thesecond round hatches? We will keep this little house inside our living room which runs about 19 celcius.
Thanks for your feedback!!
Meyer

 

[AngieMaesChix]

@MeyerRay can’t see the inside but looks pretty good to me!! My last one was huge really long the length of kitchen almost which was small but big for a brooder...it housed ducks just fine..bf is building a new one soon more like two or three haha but one to begin with last one got burned during move to new place..

 

[MeyerRay]

@MeyerRay can’t see the inside but looks pretty good to me!! My last one was huge really long the length of kitchen almost which was small but big for a brooder...it housed ducks just fine..bf is building a new one soon more like two or three haha but one to begin with last one got burned during move to new place..

I'm sorry to hear about the one that got burnt!
The little house is 1 meter long by 700 cm wide. We originally made it to separate the breeds while de-fertilizing (definitely not the right term) our hens from other roos in the flock. Now we have introduced the right roos in two of them and this third one came inside as a last-second brooder.

 

[Nekopan]

Houston, we have a pip!

 

[Peep_Show]

I have an old Brower brooder (stackable metal box with wafer heating element) that is a real Maytag-style workhorse still functioning after 30+ years and holds 50+ chicks, but it's a watt eater. So I switched over to the Brinsea mini-hotplate (heats 20 chicks for about 2 days in a Lowe's large moving box and then they outgrow it exponentially) before finally settling on the Premier Plate and this setup in the garage.

The pen proper is an add-on run to a prefab chicken hutch. The feeder gets raised as the chicks get bigger. If I need to go away on a trip, I substitute a multi-gallon waterer. If the weather is nice, I open the garage door for some direct sunshine on the birds. The bedding gets freshened, but not changed until the last of the chicks are sold about a month after introduction and then it's just lift up the pen and sweep it away.
I like this setup because it doesn't need as much feed/water/cleaning maintenance/attention as the Brower brooder and has a lot more room for chicks to run, jump, play and, well, be chicks..

Latest day-old hatch of 20 chicks just got put in. You can see a couple at the heatplate's edge.