SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!

[amomwithbirds]

Hi everyone,
I am so excited right now! I have 24 eggs in my incubator. This is my first time hatching. Yesterday was day 19. So I checked the water levels and put them on "lockdown". This morning I woke up to the sound of little chirps coming from the incubator. It looks like 8 are already starting to hatch! YAY!!!!
Just wanted to share and ask how long it usually takes for the chicks hatch completely?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hi everyone,
I am so excited right now! I have 24 eggs in my incubator. This is my first time hatching. Yesterday was day 19. So I checked the water levels and put them on "lockdown". This morning I woke up to the sound of little chirps coming from the incubator. It looks like 8 are already starting to hatch! YAY!!!!
Just wanted to share and ask how long it usually takes for the chicks hatch completely?

If there is no compelling reason don't open the bator until day 22 or 23. This will give all the peeps an equal chance to hatch, dry off, and recover from the stress of hatching. Also don't worry about feeding them much until 72 hours after hatching.

This way they are more at home with one another and there is less friction between chicks as the last hatched ones will better recognize their place in the pecking order so that the first hatched ones don't have to press an attack home with vigor to maintain their place. Chickens have no sense of kinship. Every bird in a flock is a friend or ally as well as an enemy or rival.

I know that there is little "scientific" basis for saying the above but it is my personal impression or observation after raising 1,000s of chicks, both chicks from hatcheries, and those that I have hatched under hens or in incubators.

 

[amomwithbirds]

UPDATE.......things are going great. I have not opened the incubator, just been looking through the windows. When I went to bed last night I had 4 chicks and woke up this morning to 10. The only thing that would make me happier is if one of my hens would have done this for me. But it has been a great experience for me and my daughter is soooooooo excited about the peeps. She got to see one break out and she was so fascinated by it. Can't wait to see if anymore hatch!

 

[Magic Birdie]

Aw, congrats! You're lucky... I've been waiting for my eggs, and they've been two days late with no movement so far.

 

[gander007]

UPDATE.......things are going great. I have not opened the incubator, just been looking through the windows. When I went to bed last night I had 4 chicks and woke up this morning to 10. The only thing that would make me happier is if one of my hens would have done this for me. But it has been a great experience for me and my daughter is soooooooo excited about the peeps. She got to see one break out and she was so fascinated by it. Can't wait to see if anymore hatch!

To be sharing this experience with your children wow

Hope you get a 100% hatch

Still waiting on my hen to finish I do believe it is 10 more days ..

 

[amomwithbirds]

We ended up with 9 healthy little chicks. My daughter loves them. We also added 5 chicks we got from a friend. I love the farm life!

 

[amomwithbirds]

Here they are. I also added 3 Wyandotte hens today. Yeah, I am a bit obsessed

 

[gander007]

Looks like you are ready to farm some chickens .....