Starting over from scratch.

[45pro]

He'll everyone, new here. Let me start off by giving you all my background. I am a husband and father of 2 children. Last spring my wife and children decided they wanted to raise a few chickens. We got 3 chicks from our local TSC and they instantly fell in love with them and have played with them everyday. We just recently started getting eggs from them(past month or so) which was very rewarding. Fast forward to yesterday and a couple loose neighborhood dogs tore through my fence and killed all 3 of my wife and children's beloved chickens. Most people don't understand and think we are overreacting because they are just chickens but my wife and kids are devastated. Since then I've decided to turn my old shed into a coop and add a run with chicken wire and reinforce it with chain link fence.

This time around we decided to order eggs and an incubator and try again from the very beginning. The incubator we ordered is a...Smartxchoices 12 Digital Clear Egg Incubator Hatcher Automatic Egg Turning Temperature Control.
We also ordered 6 golden sebright bantam eggs that are coming from Wisconsin. We are in indiana and this is where my questions begin. How do the eggs survive the journey not in an incubator? After we get them how do we set up the incubator to keep the eggs alive (settings etc..)? And what should we know/expect during this process to insure we have a successful hatching? Any and all help is appreciated as I'm reading as much as possible in the mean time but I know you folks here could really help me out.

Pic of our previous chickens, Oreo, Marshmellow, and Rosie.

 

[45pro]

We have also ordered 4 new regular size day old chicks to get large eggs also. I know these bantam chickens will need to be kept separate until they grow larger but when they do can they coexist and live together or do I need to divide the shed and run up in 2 different sections?

 

[sylviethecochin]

I'd actually be less worried about letting them together when they're younger. Chicks don't fight. A small number of chicks (such as you're getting) won't pile up on each other and smoosh the smaller ones.

And so long as they're raised together, they should get along when they're older. I will note that our bantams and standards are separate flocks by choice, but they don't try to hurt each other when they do interact. Don't keep them in a crowded run, obviously, because bored, irritated hens go after the easiest target available.

 

[Lalo Moreno]

Good luck with your new chickens. I lost a chick to a cat and was devastated for a whole week. Then one day on my way to college I saw the same cat run over in the street lol. I guess the world served its justice!

 

[sylviethecochin]

More complicated question second:

How do the eggs survive the journey not in an incubator?

Eggs can be allowed to sit in the cold and not die. The hen, when she hatches eggs, lays them in a nest, one every day or two, until she has enough. Only then does she sit on the eggs, providing body heat so that the incubation process begins and the chick starts developing.

After we get them how do we set up the incubator to keep the eggs alive (settings etc..)?

You've seen the optimum temps for incubation, I'm sure. Keep it in a room in which the temp doesn't fluctuate. Also, get a second thermometer and check to make sure that the incubator's thermometer is accurate. If you have trouble, get a "heat sink" (a water bottle, a rock, a load of gravel) anything that will hold heat and help keep temperature steady inside the incubator. This also helps keep temp "average" throughout the incubator. If it's not forced air, there will be warm and cold spots within the incubator. You might want to drop that second thermometer with the eggs, just to make sure that the temperature is what it says it's supposed to be (because the eggs might be in a cooler or warmer spot.)

And what should we know/expect during this process to insure we have a successful hatching?

This site is less paranoia-inducing than the next one: http://www.extension.umn.edu/food/small-farms/livestock/poultry/hatching-and-brooding-small-numbers/

This site is going to make you nervous and paranoid, and I'm sorry, but it also highlights a lot of the common problems (and thus, the solutions) that happen when incubating.

http://extension.illinois.edu/eggs/res24-00.html

 

[45pro]

More complicated question second:

How do the eggs survive the journey not in an incubator?

Eggs can be allowed to sit in the cold and not die. The hen, when she hatches eggs, lays them in a nest, one every day or two, until she has enough. Only then does she sit on the eggs, providing body heat so that the incubation process begins and the chick starts developing.

After we get them how do we set up the incubator to keep the eggs alive (settings etc..)?

You've seen the optimum temps for incubation, I'm sure. Keep it in a room in which the temp doesn't fluctuate. Also, get a second thermometer and check to make sure that the incubator's thermometer is accurate. If you have trouble, get a "heat sink" (a water bottle, a rock, a load of gravel) anything that will hold heat and help keep temperature steady inside the incubator. This also helps keep temp "average" throughout the incubator. If it's not forced air, there will be warm and cold spots within the incubator. You might want to drop that second thermometer with the eggs, just to make sure that the temperature is what it says it's supposed to be (because the eggs might be in a cooler or warmer spot.)

And what should we know/expect during this process to insure we have a successful hatching?

This site is less paranoia-inducing than the next one: http://www.extension.umn.edu/food/small-farms/livestock/poultry/hatching-and-brooding-small-numbers/
http://www.extension.umn.edu/food/small-farms/livestock/poultry/hatching-and-brooding-small-numbers/
This site is going to make you nervous and paranoid, and I'm sorry, but it also highlights a lot of the common problems (and thus, the solutions) that happen when incubating.

http://extension.illinois.edu/eggs/res24-00.html

Thanks for the reply. I have some more reading to do it appears! As for the eggs survival when shipped, now that you have explained it, it makes a lot of sense.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Shipped eggs, especially at this time of year are subject to being exposed to temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less. If the egg temperature falls that low (40f) no egg will be viable and no chick will develop from that egg.

Then there is the problem of addled eggs which means that they have suffered hard and repeated shaking. Addling an egg is synonymous with abortion, so again no chick will be produced. Next at this time of year hens (and roosters to) have been in breeding mode for a long time. The birds' reserves of critical nutrients are very likely much depleted. This usually means that a chick fully develops but dies inside the eggshell because of the lack of these micronutrients.