Winter brooding question: keep ~a dozen chicks in the incubator or buy a brooder?

[hatchbloom]

Hi all! I’ll have about a dozen chicks hatching. The incubator has heat and ventilation. With winter temps and a cool room, is it safe/practical to brood them in the incubator for a while, or should I move to a brooder right away?

 

[nuthatched]

They can stay in the incubator for a day or two, but the brooder is preferred

 

[Ridgerunner]

How big is that incubator? They are going to grow pretty fast, will a dozen chicks soon outgrow it?

How easy is it to clean that incubator? Chicks poop a lot, that poop needs to be managed.

If your incubator has a fan, ventilation should be adequate.

You can lower the temperature in the incubator but probably not a lot. There is some personal preference in this one. And it is often misunderstood. As they age chicks can handle lower temperatures. That does not mean they have to have much lower temperatures, just that they can handle lower temperatures. Incubation temperatures are real close to overheating them after they grow for a few weeks, right on that border or risk. They will feather out faster if they are exposed to lower temperatures.

I keep one area warm enough for them but let the rest of the brooder cool off as it will. After a few days they spend a lot of time in cooler areas. I think they are healthier and more robust if they are exposed to some cooler areas. I don't know how much of that is science and how much personal preference.

I think it will soon get crowded which can lead to behavioral problems. It is probably be pretty hard to keep clean and dry. You can certainly try it but I'd want another option handy. You might need it fairly soon.

 

[Debbie292d]

Welcome to BYC!

Awe, hard to see but are those quail or just striped chicks?

You will run out of room in the incubator in about a week.

They'll need a brooder that's approximately 3-4 times larger than their current setup, with a source of heat at one end.

Here's our Learning Center with articles about raising chicks and also a section on incubators and brooders, that would give you brooder ideas.

 

[Susan Skylark]

High humidity, organic material and warmth are perfect conditions for raising bacteria and fungi and Protozoa, please don’t use your incubator as a brooder. A good brooder is warm and DRY, the dry part limits microbe (read pathogen) growth and keeps your chicks relatively healthy. Quail also grow at a ridiculous rate, they triple in size in a couple days and are fluttering at a week, they need way more space.