New member and im an idiot

[Eden83_haaretz]

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Any higher of temperature and you probably would have cooked the eggs. Around 100 is best. Often times if the temperature runs high the chicks can hatch a day or two early and if it runs low a day or two late. Again good luck and have fun.
My latest hatch but I have a lot of birds.
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Those are a lot of chicks! How many chickens do you have?

 

[janiedoe]

Congratulations on the two that have hatched!
I have several broody hens too. Some of mine have poor hatching rates but they are willing to raise adoptees. That is a win for me.

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

I had/have a broody hen but none if her eggs hatched. Im gonna have to get rid of them soon.

Welcome . Also had a broody, actually 2 that didn't hatch a single egg. Luckily we had other chickens laying on eggs, one of them we were able to give her a newborn chick (that's now about a month old) and the other we gave her a few eggs that were already about two weeks along (that another broody had) and two hatched (she stepped on one and the other that hatched is kind of small, but it's been about four days and it's growing fine ). Realized kinda late that it's not that good of an idea to have lots of chickens go broody at almost three same time, we've had chicken fights, an injured chick... Never again that definitely made us feel so ignorant, wouldn't say stupid... Stupid is when you know something is wrong and do it anyway because you think that with limited experience you "know better".

 

[Chuckie chicken]

Welcome! If you got off social media, that's proof to me that you're not an idiot.

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[cmom]

Those are a lot of chicks! How many chickens do you have?

Currently with the chicks close to 500, but around half of the chicks will be males but I will grow them out and keep the best as my future breeders and sell the rest which will help offset the cost of the feed.

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

Currently with the chicks close to 500, but around half of the chicks will be males but I will grow them out and keep the best as my future breeders and sell the rest which will help offset the cost of the feed.

Wow... And How much space do you need for that many animals? Do you have them in a coop at night? Do they free range? Do you give them feed? Wow... How do you get them to lay where you need them to lay so you may get all the eggs? Do they have roosters? I'm just amazed, I knew that there were members with big flocks but wow 500 ... I imagine you have people that help out in their care? How small did you start and how long ago?

 

[cmom]

Something like a Little Giant? Hopefully you took all of the eggs out of the turner and laid they in the bottom on the screen. I have a couple I modified. I like circulated air better then still air. This thread may help you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/little-giant-incubator-tricks.601352/
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Yes! Exactly that. I have 2 out so far

Little Giants can be tricky. I have some and some older Hova-Bators. I have a cabinet incubator that I incubate in but I still use my styrofoams to hatch in. The link I posted should help. If I have a few eggs to hatch I will use one of the styrofoams.

This is a homemade incubator/hatcher I made out of a cooler. Original my cabinet incubator had wafer thermostats but I took them out and replaced them with an electronic one and put a wafer thermostat in my homemade incubator/hatcher. It works great.

 

[cmom]

Wow... And How much space do you need for that many animals? Do you have them in a coop at night? Do they free range? Do you give them feed? Wow... How do you get them to lay where you need them to lay so you may get all the eggs? Do they have roosters? I'm just amazed, I knew that there were members with big flocks but wow 500 ... I imagine you have people that help out in their care? How small did you start and how long ago?

I have several coops and pens. I have hanging feeders in the coops. I don't free range anymore due to losses from predators in the past. Around the first of every year I move birds around and use certain coops for breeding and later on after breeding season as bachelor coops for the males. I care for them all myself, no help but I have been doing it for a long time. I had my first flock around 50 years ago.
Here are a few pictures. I have a couple of other coops that aren't with these that I use for breeding or whatever I need them for. One is a chick/grow-out coop. These are the feeders I have in the coops. I go through around a half ton of feed a month. All of the coops have auto waterers.

Coops.

These are the outer coops.

These are rain/shade tables for the birds to get under.

These are my pens. I do have electric wires around all of the coops and pens, good heavy duty netting covering all of the pens and concrete under the gates all due to losses from predators in the past.

These are Brown and White Leghorns chicks. They think they're hiding.

These are White Leghorn chicks.

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to BYC, sending good hatching vibes your way.