New Member from VA - incubator question

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peterschick

peterschick

In the Brooder
6 Years
Jan 5, 2014
10
0
22
Hello! Very excited to be a part of this great forum!
I'm a newbie to the incubator thing. I grew up on a "hobby farm" and we just let the chickens do their thing when it came to hatching chicks. We just moved to the country this summer and got chickens in the fall. They weren't laying because of the time of the year... but we went through a cold spell so I got a lamp to keep them warm. Couldn't find a dark bulb - so used an incandescent... and oops - the hens started laying. The kids were so excited, that we let them put some in an old incubator that someone had given us a while back.

So we are at day 22. One chick has come out very nicely and looks great. The other pipped at the same time yesterday early morning, but is struggling. It's been 24 hours, and I've read the threads about not intervening unless absolutely necessary... so when is it absolutely necessary? (these are the only 2 eggs that candled properly).

The incubator had gotten down to 40% humidity - so I added some water and it spiked to 80%... I'm afraid to open it and don't have a fancy long nosed syringe to get the water out.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
 
Thanks! I checked this morning - the humidity dropped again to 40% (garr!) and the 2nd chick isn't moving... didn't get through the egg anymore overnight <sigh>. I took the first chick out and put him in the brooder and added some water, just in case.
 
2nd chick didn't make it... wasn't seeing movement - so I took it out of the incubator, wiggled its beak and it isn't moving...
hit.gif


We only have one chick - I'm wondering how it will do in socialization when we put it with the hens???
Any thoughts on when/how to put it with in the coop with our 3 hens is appreciated!
Should I bring one hen into the house to see if it will imprint?
 
Introducing new chickens to an exiting flock is always tricky, the new chick should be at least 60 days old before you try and then you will have to keep an eye on them for several days to make sure it is not being picked on too much. Introducing the new chick at night helps sometimes, also giving treats at the time of mixing can help keep the flocks mind off the newcomer until it can find its pecking order. Having obstacles where the newcomers can get out of view of the others helps too.
 
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to BYC!

If your humidity is dropping down to 40% during this time, they are probably shrink-wrapping. In other words, drying out. You can keep your humidity up with damp sponges in the incubator. Try to keep the humidity up around 70%.

Good luck with the hatch and enjoy BYC!
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about the second chick, the BYC Learning Center has articles on adding new chickens to flocks ie, https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock Unless you have a broody hen which would adopt the chick, you will need to keep it in the brooder and separate from the adults until it is larger, usually a minimum of 8 weeks or so, to integrate into the flock it is best if the new ones are close to the same size. You might want to see if you can find another chick or two about the same age, it is easier to integrate more than one at a time, and chickens are flock animals and are happier and are easier to raise if there is more than one.
 

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