The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[SoManyHats]

I've had the same issue this year with my beautiful ameraucauna roo and it wasn't even all that cold and our coop is well Insulated...??? I also had a silver polish hen and rooster that lost the ends of their toes to frost bite-I'm amazed at how resilient they are..!!!
I think next winter I'm going to try putting a heat lamp or 2 in the coop just for some extra warmth!

I've gone through two winters now with my open air coop on a ridge top in northern Virginia - single digit temps, windy, lots of snow. We have only had minor frost bite on the big-combed roos, who refuse to tuck their heads under their wings at night. As others have said, the key to frostbite prevention is more often ventilation than heat. When I hear "insulated" coop, I immediately think too closed up. Here are pictures of my coop and breeding pens. They stay open like this all year round. The other picture is of two of my BLRW who were roosting by the open side even though it was 26 degrees (F) and windy.

 

[Cynthia12]

SoMany..love your set up.

 

[angelobutter]

Please do a follow along thread. That is a wild looking bator

Thread created! no promises on how it will perform, it's my first time trying it out and they are shipped eggs but *fingers crossed*

 

[SoManyHats]

SoMany..love your set up.

Thanks! It's been great for our purposes. I'll have to come back and show you the shed turned brooding house when hubby gets it finished.

 

[Mama Bay]

Question for the veterans... I have 12 couple day old chicks coming on Friday and 29 eggs in the incubator due on 4/4. Hopefully I will get some out of this hatch (fingers crossed it's my first time

) Can I brood them together even though they'll be about a week apart?

 

[bamadude]

Question for the veterans... I have 12 couple day old chicks coming on Friday and 29 eggs in the incubator due on 4/4. Hopefully I will get some out of this hatch (fingers crossed it's my first time

) Can I brood them together even though they'll be about a week apart?

The first issue to address is biosecurity. I would totally brood the shipped chicks seperately for at least a month.
Then I would introduce 2 or 3 hatched chicks into the shipped chicks brooder. Watch them for about 9 days. If they are all healthy together...you should be ok to integrate them together

 

[chickwhispers]

Question for Marans hatchers: I can sort of see through on the candling but can't tell the difference between them and my regular non fertile eggs. How soon/long before you can see and know what you're looking at on Marans eggs?

Question for anyone : The Silkie eggs I got from my friend has one that looks like it's so close to hatching - (she found a few surprise chicks in her coop last week!) How long do I let it go in the bator and when will I know when to remove it? Humidity is only 50-60 right now.

 

[whamphascat]

just give them time some take longer do to temp going up and down a little

 

[Mama Bay]

The first issue to address is biosecurity. I would totally brood the shipped chicks seperately for at least a month.
Then I would introduce 2 or 3 hatched chicks into the shipped chicks brooder. Watch them for about 9 days. If they are all healthy together...you should be ok to integrate them together

Thanks! Off to make 2 brooders then

 

[ronott1]

Question for Marans hatchers: I can sort of see through on the candling but can't tell the difference between them and my regular non fertile eggs. How soon/long before you can see and know what you're looking at on Marans eggs?

Question for anyone : The Silkie eggs I got from my friend has one that looks like it's so close to hatching - (she found a few surprise chicks in her coop last week!) How long do I let it go in the bator and when will I know when to remove it? Humidity is only 50-60 right now.

Marans: look for increasing darkness inside the egg--after day 10. If they glow, they are likely duds.

Silkie with un known hatch date: wait until you see a pip and then move it to the hatcher.