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Flowerbh said:
I wasn't going to do another hatch this year so late in the season, but my son is going to Fl and i asked him to pick me up some real rumpless, turfed Araucanas, some Croad Langshans and some Serama hatching eggs. Will add some of my own eggs from my new blue egg gene carrying rooster over my green egg layers.
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The season is a concern for me to. The nights are getting cooler and by the time my incubator chicks get ready to go out it will be chilly. How do you make that transition in cooler weather for your babies. I'm thinking positively here that we both will have good hatches. My Tolbunts will be going in to their own new coop as I do not want to over crowd my current coop.
 
OohLaLa said:
The season is a concern for me to. The nights are getting cooler and by the time my incubator chicks get ready to go out it will be chilly. How do you make that transition in cooler weather for your babies. I'm thinking positively here that we both will have good hatches. My Tolbunts will be going in to their own new coop as I do not want to over crowd my current coop.
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I have been keeping my babies in a huge (Mastiff size) crate during the colder weather with a heat lamp until they get enough feathers to keep themselves warm. (at least 2 months) Then I put the babies in the smaller coop that the older hens don't really care about. It is very protected from the weather. I did this last year and they were all ok. Eventually, they all mingle. The rooster sees to that!
 
Oh, I forgot to say that I also let the babies free range in a small fenced area during the day when they are 10 days old. Start with just a few hours when the sun is hitting that area, then increase the time. It helps "condition" them.
 
Flowerbh said:
Oh, I forgot to say that I also let the babies free range in a small fenced area during the day when they are 10 days old. Start with just a few hours when the sun is hitting that area, then increase the time. It helps "condition" them.
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Thanks for the tips. My basement is an unfinished country basement so I've turned a portion of it in to chicken central. My brooder is sky blue painted (because that is just so zen now isn't it lol) is 3'wx4'Lx31/2' high. I have an XL dog crate and a chicken playpen I built along with a supply station for feed, first aid, nutrients etc. It would not be a problem keeping babies for 2mths in that environment. I am waiting on building my 2nd coop until the hatch is done (don't want to count my chickens before they hatch....so thats where that saying comes from ...lol)
 
OohLaLa said:
Thanks for the tips. My basement is an unfinished country basement so I've turned a portion of it in to chicken central. My brooder is sky blue painted (because that is just so zen now isn't it lol) is 3'wx4'Lx31/2' high. I have an XL dog crate and a chicken playpen I built along with a supply station for feed, first aid, nutrients etc. It would not be a problem keeping babies for 2mths in that environment. I am waiting on building my 2nd coop until the hatch is done (don't want to count my chickens before they hatch....so thats where that saying comes from ...lol)
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Isn't that the truth!
 
Hello there it's Ms. OCD here. Okay I admit to reading and documenting everything chicken I can get a hold of. So here I am with eggs in my incubator for the first time and feeling an old feeling (I have 3 kids)...is everything okay...are they gong to be born (hatched) with all of their toes and straight (okay the straight part applies to the chicks not my babies-who are grown and almost grown up). I've been sniffing around my incubator keeping watch for a bad egg like my black lab when I'm cooking bacon on Sunday morning. I thought I detected something, back and forth should I candle again before day 19 when I lay them to rest for hatch or not. Excerpts of bad eggs exploding and killing the other chicks flashed across my thoughts, so I quickly plugged in my home made (from You Tube and it works like a dream) candling light box. Gingerly I checked each egg...thanks a lot Flowerbh, I was so nervous afraid I might drop one that I almost did...but deep breaths and steady fingers prevailed. I have stuffed animals and a mirror just in case Flowerbh lol, as a former girls scout I try to be prepared.

I started with 10 eggs.First candle at 5 days: 1 infertile & 1 blood ring, okay that's alright 8 still good. Candled today and so glad I did. Each egg had strong red veins except one, poor thing. No veins at all and a large swishy mass that move like liquid when I rotated the egg. It was not the "suggested" time for a 2ND candling (it's day 12), but I'm glad I did. Go with your instincts even if your new at something. Had I not checked that egg might have damaged the others if I had stuck my head in the sand and crossed my fingers instead of reading, checking and acting. So thanks to all who contribute here and on all the blogs, books and magazines. Your tips and sharing of experience helps people like me in their on going efforts to be good caretakers for or feathered friends.
 

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