Some tips on Raising Chicks/Ducklings

[Chickkidz]

If you want to raise chicks or ducklings you need to set up the incubator and wait till it hits 99 degrees. then place Xs on one side of the eggs. place the eggs with the X up and flip the eggs twice a day for 21 days. if you forget to flip the eggs once the chicks/ducklings will die. you will need to set reminders. once the chicks/ducklings are born you will need to set a cage up with fresh water the they cant get into and chick food. for chicks you need to use medicated chick feed and for ducklings you CAN NOT use medicated it could poison them. if you notice one of your chicks/ducklings isn't eating or drinking it could mean its not thriving you can either wait and make sure its comfortable or you could put it down. its very sad but every beginner needs to know what could happen.

I hope this is helpful to all beginners

this is one of my babies that was very close to dying but she survived
her name is either Marshmallow or Squirt i call her both sometimes!! LOL!!!!!

 

[Pyxis]

Good tips, but your incubation instructions are a little off The temperature should be 99.5 degrees, not 99, in a forced air incubator. In a still air, it actually needs to be 101.5 degrees measured at the top of the eggs. When hand turning, you actually want to turn at least three times a day, not two, and more times if possible, always aiming for an odd number so the egg rests on a different side each night. If you have an auto-turner you don't need to do this. If you forget to turn them once or twice, they're not going to die.

21 days is only for chicken eggs, duck eggs take 28 days to hatch (muscovies take 35 days).

You do not need to use medicated feed for chicks, unmedicated is fine. It just helps keep them from getting coccidiosis, so if you don't have a lot of cocci in your area or they won't be coming into contact with the ground until they're older, that's not necessary.

Meanwhile, ducklings can eat medicated feed, it won't kill them. The idea that they can't is a holdover from when the medication in the feed was arsenic based. Of course we don't do that any more, and feed is medicated with amprolium. This doesn't harm ducklings in the slightest.

Here are some articles for chick and duckling incubation and care that give a complete rundown and cover things I didn't talk about because they weren't mentioned in this post:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-just-21-days-from-egg-to-chicken

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-your-baby-chicks

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/duckling-care-and-the-ancona-breed

 

[Chickkidz]

ok, thanks for helping me out!!