when to move chicks to incubator?

[mommy3]

Good Morning! I am the proud new mommy of 4 barred rock chicks! It started 24hours ago! I am shocked at how long it takes! 6 of the 8 eggs had cracks or small holes in them by 5:00pm yesterday- day 21 exactly! I was not prepared for one of them to take 14 1/2 hours to get out! It was the first egg cracked and had it's beak out the hole for 11 hours! I was so scared it would not hatch! We have two more with cracks and two with no cracks at all yet. still have my fingers crossed for those two. My question is should we wait 24 hours before putting them in the brooder? they are pecking at eachother a little bit- I am not in a hurry but my hubby keep saying we should put them in there to dry off- help! which is better? 10 pm last night our first chick hatched, 5:30 am, 6:00 am and 10:00 am today were the last 3. Would love some experienced advice. thank you all ahead of time!

can't believe we finally have babies!

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

I put mine in the brooder box when they are completely dried off and up walking around. They will continue to fluff up as the "goo" from hatching flakes off as they move around. In the brooder, use paper towels until they can get the hang of eating and drinking. If you use shavings from the start, sometimes they get confused and eat the shavings instead of food and have issues.

Congrats on your new babies!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Perfect advice.
It won't hurt them to be in the incy 2 or 3 days. I keep the light low if they start pecking each other.

 

[mommy3]

My only issue with the light is a lightbulb warms our homemade incubator and comes on and off as the temp changes. I have the red warming light for the bruder-but also read that I am supposed to have a bright light on for the first week. Is that true information? should the light just be on in the room? or shining right into brooder? I also have two eggs that have not cracked- should I leave them in the incubator a couple more days? Again- thanks for advice in advance! I just love this forum!! What did we do before the internet!!?? I don't know if I could have gotten the same info at the library Looks like definatley one more will be hatching in the next couple hours-so definately 5 out of 8- started with 12 eggs via the mail. We had two not fertile, 1 scrambled and one had a blood ring when we checked them about day 10. We got to see a little of everything- very cool and would love to do it again!

 

[clairabean]

The incubator is a perfect environment for them to dry off in. Snug and warm. Plus the chirping encourages the others to hatch. When they start playing soccer witht he unhatched eggs though is the limit. Out they go!

I use a clear light for my incubator and my brooder. I have never had problems.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote:
I use a white heat lamp the first week and switch to infrared and add a CFL turned on 16 hours a day in the brooder. Or you could just turn the room light on during the day.
Mine brood in an outbuilding with no room light.

And the library is only open late 3 nights a week and closed on Sunday.