My first batch is in the bator!

[Beccazon]

Being that I have not raised chicks other than last spring, I am not 100% sure what the best brooder plan is for this time of year here in Michigan. I welcome any ideas or opinions!

In spring here it is very cool and frosts often. Nights were between 30 and 50 degrees often. Days around 50-60ish. I built a space in the unheated mudroom and bedded it thoroughly with a heat lamp at one end of the 4'x8' space. That end was covered on very cold nights to contain the heat. Food and water were in the middle with a cool end for warmer days. Had no problems.

now of course we have the coop and run. I have a space allocated for a brooder area out there with the ability to use a lamp if needed. Whoever hatches will be 3 1/2 weeks at Halloween. The nights SHOULD be around 40 at that time. Days between that and 60...depending. The coop doors are opened during the day with no direct wind on that side but with 4 windows as well in the 10'x10' coop. Once feathered, they should adapt to that easily I assume??

 

[ScottyGill]

Yes ma'am! Idk how long an egg puts up with that heat before it explodes and I was so not excited about that idea! Lol so I was afraid to let them be for too long. Good to know they are ok for that long! So if I can stop myself (yah right) then I'll wait until the 30th and candle one last time. But I sure am enjoying learning how fast/slow they develop and such!

Haha, I promised myself I wouldn't candle too much but I had got a Brilliant powerful candler so it was fun to watch and I cut down my disappointment, or expectations, too and worry about if I was letting a chick suffocate. To be honest the first time when I couldn't see through my Marans eggs we could smell the eggs that had gone bad, it was really obvious.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

Your hens should still be fertile for a little while after the rooster has left, so you should be good on the fertility and it sounds like you already have a plan for brooding the little ones. I would go at least 5 weeks in the brooder. Mine usually start trying to jump out of it by then. Introduce them a little at a time to the outside temps. Good luck with your hatch.

 

[RustyBucketFarmGirl]

Hope the incubation going this far?!

 

[Beccazon]

Hope the incubation going this far?!

I am pleased to say I joined the September hatchalong (since they started in Sept) and since day 21 is Oct 3rd, the eggs are, as of an hour and a half ago, out of the turner and in lockdown! 4 are questionable...think they stopped developing. But very dark eggs so we will see. And just 15 min ago I peeked in and got to see my first two wobbling eggies!!

 

[Beccazon]

I did add 5 the day after I started and 5 more the 3rd day so...

Getting another pup early on the 3rd, a funeral viewing that night, my son's homecoming game friday evening and he is also on court. With possibly 3-4 maybe 5 days of hatching eggs this should be a hectic week

 

[RustyBucketFarmGirl]

I did add 5 the day after I started and 5 more the 3rd day so...

Getting another pup early on the 3rd, a funeral viewing that night, my son's homecoming game friday evening and he is also on court. With possibly 3-4 maybe 5 days of hatching eggs this should be a hectic week

That could be a little complicated. Did you mark the eggs that were added after you started? Which eggs did you use to determine lock down? Make sure you remove any eggs from the first group that downy hatch within a few days as they will likely explode if they are open n too long and not viable. And oh man is that a smell that is hard to get out of the incubator. Can’t wait to hear more about it!!

 

[Beccazon]

I had them separated but...oops. Lockdown I went by the first group since I was not educated enough to mark them by day, thinking I could keep them separate but I didn't pay attention to placement when I candled and I think I lost their arrangement. And yes I am aware now and kicking myself every minute for it! Ugh! I am hoping that they are all hatched or at least pipped by what would be the 24th day for group one. So...on the 6th, if there is not an external pip, I will carefully candle and see if there is internal pip. If not, think I'll have to let them count as a loss :/

 

[RustyBucketFarmGirl]

I am sure you are going to get a couple chicks! It is an amazing process. And the fact that chickens do it themselves is so intriguing. It seems so delicate in an incubator. But when they brood babies they get up to eat and get water at least once a day. Other chickens knock them off the nests. And yet a couple chicks manage to pop out. It’s just so cool. Chicken math is real though and a hatch makes it a whole new story. Lol

 

[RustyBucketFarmGirl]

Pips?