tried the incubator - went with the hen

[Mrs. K]

Oh good grief, there is a great difference in reading something, and doing something. I incubated some chicks at school, I have never done the incubator before. And unbeknownst to me, the kids were not going to be at school today, when I set the chicks.

They were pipped this morning. Some peeped and then nothing, very slow, ugh, do I help? Did they shrink wrap? Good grief, one hatched.

I brought them home, and have had a broody hen for ten days. Stuck them and the chick under her, and will go look in the morning. Hope she knows more about this than I do!

Mrs K

 

[cavemanrich]

Let us know with some pix .. Its all back to nature now. I hope broody is a GOOD MOM.

 

[aart]

It can take 24 hours between pip and hatch.
Best of cLuck to you and your broody!

 

[Mrs. K]

The thing with the broody, you don't see the pip. The chicks just peak out. I rushed things, there were eggs with nothing, so I plugged in the incubator and had one more chick this morning.

I went down to the house this morning, and she had moved. There were 3 chicks in the nest, so I moved them next to her. And fairly soon I will add this chick. Several in the nest did not make it, and that was my fault, ugh! I should have covered the thing with a towel, and left them alone.

MK

 

[Mrs. K]

ok, this morning, the duds are hatching? Incubators are scary.

 

[aart]

How do yo know they were duds? Did you candle them?

Time...it takes Time...and Patience ....and Self Control.
Hatch can take 2-3-4 days total....they don't just all pop out at once...lol!!
Pip to hatch can be 24 hours.
Peep(internal pip) to hatch can be 36 hours.

 

[Mrs. K]

really, I like a hen to do all of this. We did get two chicks out of the incubator this morning. Mamma has 6 chicks now, running around quite lively. There is one still in the incubator, so we will see.
One seems to have a sore spot on his back, but he was lively and running all around, so hopefully that will heal up. My granddaughters and I took down feed and water. Mamma came over and called the chicks. Then she stood up and and kind of clucked. "Listen, she is laughing at them!"

Pretty fun.

Mrs K