The Chick Edition
Hatching? Let's get you ready... Incubator vs Broody 21 Days and counting! Advice from one Chick'ma to another Are you a dude or a chick?
In this edition of the newsletter we will cover all aspects of hatching and rearing chicks. If 2018 will be the first year you will attempt hatching I hope the information within aids you and prepares you for what it's all about. For those who are a dab hand at the old hatching, I hope you learn something new! When considering hatching chickens there is more to think about than Do I get the chickens first or the eggs?, In both cases you need to consider the responsibilities that come with chickens and with chicks. Here are some questions to ask yourself before googling the likes of cute chicks or unusual chickens : Am I allowed to keep chickens? Tenants need to be aware that chickens make noise even the hens, and so with that check with your local council to see if you live within an area that allows livestock. Get the OK with the landlord and in both rented and owned properties, check the deeds to the property to see if there is a clause against keeping chickens on your land. Do I have enough space? Very much like other small pets, there are a variety of sizes when it comes to poultry, one size does not fit all! If you are lucky to have a vast amount of land then the chicken world is your oyster, if however you are restricted when it comes to space have a look into bantam breeds. The smaller you go however the smaller the eggs. Can I keep cock birds? You cannot determine the sex of the chick from the egg, and you also cannot determine the ratio of males and females. This means that the odds are that you are going to hatch a cock bird and as we all know, they crow! Cock birds are surplus to requirements if you cannot keep them, do not intend to breed or do not wish to use them for the table. With this in mind you need to be able to either re-home your cock birds, which can be difficult unless pure bred, good quality birds or be able to cull unwanted offspring.
So we've just covered 3 very basic questions to ask yourself before you head into the world of chicks and if you're confident that you're all good to go... We shall too! Lets get you primed and prepped for what you'll need before you even have the eggs. So you're bringing new life into your home, quite literally as the majority of hatchers' keep their incubators and also their brooders within their homes. You should choose a specific part of your home for all the equipment you're going to need. Ideally somewhere with plenty of natural light, away from drafts and also heating elements such as radiators or fires. Keep away from appliances that make noise, give off heat or cold, or move for example your fridge/freezer or your washing machine. Depending on how many chicks you aim to rear matters to the size of housing you will be providing. Ideally you should have researched the breed you are hatching and able to assume the size they will be by the time they can leave the nest and live in the great outdoors which is when they are fully feathered usually between 6-8 weeks of age depending on the time of year. We use a variety of housing for our brooders. We have a couple of glass fronted vivariums which are typically for reptiles, but have excellent ventilation, all sides are solid and are practical for cleaning. We also use the large indoor rabbit cages that you can pick up easily from most pet stores and sometimes second hand online. These cages are perfect as they have a removable plastic tray as the bottom and a metal bar frame as the roof which is perfect for the hanging of heat lamps. Be wary however that in these types of brooders without the solid sides that depending on the location of your brooder and the time of year they can be drafty for your chicks if this seems to be an issue we have draped towels over the cage to help keep the heat inside. Heat lamps come in various sizes, colours and even material, usually Glass or Ceramic. We have used both and find that neither one is better nor worse than the other. You can find bulbs online, in pets stores and even on Ebay.
Creating the perfect environment for your chicks isn't all that hard once you have some where for them to grow. However, your shopping list isn't yet quite complete without these few basic touches: Bedding. You can use anything that is non slip or poses a choking hazard Most people opt for shavings, and as long as the flakes are dust free, not too small or full of splinters you can't really go wrong. People have been known to use puppy pads, newspaper and towels just to give you more ideas. Feeder. Chicks can survive in the incubator for 48 hours without food or water, this sounds cruel to those learning this information for the first time it is just nature, the chicks absorb the yolk sack within the egg and only leave the egg as the last morsel is absorbed (usually). Once you place them inside their new home however they're going to start pecking at everything with such curiosity that it would be beneficial for them to find something yummy to peck inside their feeder before they try the shavings. We supply a variety of feeders on our webstore, but one particular product is specially for chicks, a chick sized trough as such. Drinker. Chicks should have water available at all times when feed is available, this helps them to digest the feed and keeps them hydrated and full of energy which is essential for a happy healthy growth. You can find our drinkers if you click on the link below. If you are hatching small breeds, it may be worth putting marbles inside the water tray of your drinker as chicks snooze any where at any time, and it's not unheard of that they can drown in their own drinkers.
So you want to hatch some chicks? How are you going to do it? Well, there are only 2 options available to hatch you own. An incubator or a broody hen. In this section we will take a look at both options and weigh up the pros and cons, as everything has a good and a bad side! Hatching with an Incubator So the benefits to hatching with an incubator are that you are in control, quite literally! You are in control as to how many eggs you set in your incubator, whether it's 6 or 50+, depending on the capacity of your incubator and the size of the eggs you can hatch any number possible. You can hatch according to your own schedule. You'd like your eggs to hatch over the weekend no problem, take a look at the calendar and work it out. Spending a few cheeky nights away and don't want to miss the magic, work around it and make sure the eggs are still cooking whilst you're away. Simples! There are some negatives that come with all that power, don't be fooled into thinking that 21 days will fly by with very little effort and lets be honest, technology sometimes sucks. You will rely heavily on electricity and so you need to have a reliable source, some incubators cost more than others to run so do your research for the most economical incubator on the market. You will need to monitor the temperature and the humidity throughout the whole 21 days. If your incubator does not come with a temperature reader then you will need to buy a thermometer, preferably digital, in order to keep a track of how hot the oven is. The recommended temperature is 37.5 C. If you are running your incubator with humidity throughout, and not dry hatching as it is called, then you will need to make sure that your water is topped up to keep the humidity at a constant level. The humidity differs depending on the incubator, and it is always best to check the manufacturers instructions before hand. If you don't have what is known as an Automatic incubator then you will need to manually turn the eggs. This needs to be done at least 3 times a day, some even turn their eggs every couple of hours. If you are manually turning your eggs then you should mark the eggs so as to not forget which side you have turned.
As you are in control, you are also essentially mother hen. This means that once the chicks have hatched it is you that will be taking care of them and housing them. This is something you need to prepare for. Lets take a look at Broody Hens: When hatching using a broody there are really only 2 things that you will need: A hen desperate to be a mama and some eggs! Sounds reasonable right?! And guess what, the only thing you then have to do is put the eggs under the hen and wait around 21 days. Certainly sounds like the most ideal way to hatch you some chicks, well not always, here are some things you need to know if going down this route: Not all breeds of chicken go broody, infact some breeds like the Ancona are notorious for not ever wanting to be mamas. Some breeds who do go broody aren't natural born mothers, and some think they want kids but then half way through change their minds and are happy living the child free lifestyle. If your hen does go broody, let her sit for a couple of days on a pot egg. If she stays rooted to the egg then there is a pretty good chance she's in it for the long haul. If however she gets off the egg for long periods of time, to me that say's she's giving the parenthood thing a good think, but hasn't quite made up her mind. Brooding a clutch of eggs should be a nice relaxing time for a hen, with no distractions or stress. With this in mind it is always a good idea to separate your broody and her eggs away from the rest of the flock, this way she wont be hassled or bothered by anything or anyone. We supply cat carriers and dog crates which are the perfect environment for a brooding hen. Don't overload the poor love with too many eggs, if you've bought the eggs in then no more than 12 for large and bantam breeds. If a small bantam however you'll be pushing your luck with more than 8 depending on the size of the eggs. If the hen has laid her own, she will naturally stop laying when she feels she has enough eggs to sit on. If you have ever noticed an egg has come out from under your broody, don't be so quick to put it back under. The chances are that your expectant mother has tossed the egg out of the nest herself, there are various reasons she would do this, but more often than not it is due to being infertile or a bad egg. Mum knows best. As mentioned above not all broody hens make good mothers. It is not unheard of for hens to trample the chicks whilst they are hatching and even peck them. Keep a track of your due date and be ready for such instances where you may need to take the chicks away from the hen and place them in a brooder.
If however in 21 days you haven't had any cause for alarm, and your broody hen has welcomed her beloved babies into the world, I would call that a successful hatch. Be sure to provide your new mother and babies some chick crumb and fresh water and let nature take its course. We stock chick sized feeders and drinkers on our webstore. So there you have it, the pros and cons of hatching chicks in both an incubator and using a broody hen. I hope there is enough information for you to at least look at your options carefully and responsibly. In my opinion, we prefer the incubator. We haven't In 3 years ever had a successful broody hatch, and so our incubator runs from January until October every year. We enjoy being able to watch the chicks hatch and handle them from day 1, it also helps in the taming of the birds themselves. They grow knowing who their provider is and get to know you quite well. It is also quite an enjoyable way to hatch chickens for those with small children. As mentioned, here are the links to the products we supply that can help you on your hatching journey:
Most poultry takes around 21 days to hatch, you do have the occasional breed that can take a little less or a little longer but 21 days is the average. If you're thinking about hatching eggs then there are a couple of things you need to know and do before the countdown begins. Whether your incubator is brand new or an old faithful it is always best advised to sterilize your equipment before you use it. Your incubator can be a breeding ground for all kinds of bacteria and egg shells are porous. The best disinfectants to use we find is Vanodine V18 or Harkers Vykil, both of these products kill serious bacteria and diseases such as E.coli, Coccidiosis and Salmonella. It is best to use the freshest of eggs for hatching however if left within a cool place, eggs can still be hatched up to 2 weeks after lay. All eggs should be rested pointy end down for at least 24 hrs before going in the incubator. This is so the air sack is exactly where it needs to be and settles in place, this is crucial for a successful hatch. If the air sack is not in the correct place this can cause problems such as early death and under developed chicks. We use egg trays to rest our eggs before incubation. Click on the products to be taken to the Webstore.
Once your incubator is spanking clean and your eggs are resting, it is our best advise and also the advice of most manufacturers that you run your incubator for 24-48 hours before you add you eggs. This way you can check that: 1) Your incubator is running and maintaining the temperature and humidity needed in order to hatch your eggs. If you are having problems at this point this is the perfect time to figure out how to improve the conditions within the incubator. 2) That your thermometer is working. Whether your incubator has an internal thermometer or you are using a digital one of your own, this will be the best time to check that these are working before going forward. 3) That your automatic turner and humidity pump are in working order, there is nothing worse than shrink wrapped chicks that are stuck to one side of the shell. These are just as important as the temperature. If your incubator after 24-48 hours is in full working order then you are good to go my friend, you have the green light! Each incubator comes with their own trays and some with their own dividers, the way you arrange your eggs is important so to not have any loose or too tightly packed. Before you arrange your eggs into their tray(s) give each egg a thorough inspection, look out for any cracks, no matter how small. These cracks can cause an egg to go bad once in the incubator, if an egg does go bad during incubation then it can burst and expose all the other eggs to unwanted bacteria, and a smell that takes an age to go away! If you do come across a crack, we have in the past used nail varnish to seal the crack no matter how small. This has prevented bad eggs for us, but don't use to much as you are essentially hardening the shell that a tiny chick has to crack out of.
So, your incubator is clean, it runs as smooth as silk, your eggs are crack free and air sacks are in firm position prime for incubation. Right, let's get cracking! Day 1 10 So you've set your eggs into the incubator on day 1, you've made a note or created an alarm on your phone for some important days. Day 10 Candling. Day 18 - Candling and Lock down. Day 21 - Hatch day. For the next 10 days all you need to do is ensure that your incubator keeps up the correct temperature, that the humidity does not fluctuate too much and the eggs are being turned. If manually turning then you need to do this 3-5 times as day. Day 10 This day is important as on this day you get to witness the development of your chicks, and fingers crossed you have chicks growing. This process is called candling and it involves shinning a bright light under the egg to see if your egg is fertile, growing and hasn't suffered an early death. An unfertilized egg will appear to be bright white inside, clear of anything. A growing egg will be full with veins and a small mass of growth inside. An early death is recognized by a red blood ring that circles the inside the shell underneath the air sack.
Day 10-18 If you come across any that are infertile or unfortunately died at this stage then it is best to remove these eggs from your tray leave only the fertile and developing eggs. This is to ensure that once again eggs aren't able to go bad within the incubator. The removed eggs are not for consumption either, they have just spent 10 days within an incubator at 37.5c... It won't be pleasant, and so best to throw them in the bin! Until day 18, it is now just the same as before, maintaining the temperatures and humidity, as well as keeping up with the turning of the eggs. Day 18 This day is an important day and it is crucial you don't forget about it, the results can be unfortunate if ignored. On day 18, once again it is best to candle the eggs and only keep the ones that by now show be very dark and hard to see into the egg with the torch. This is a full egg, a little chick has consumed the space inside the shell so much you can only see the air sack. Once finished checking the eggs you need to turn off the turner on the incubator this is known as lock down. Make sure all of the eggs are lying down on the tray, and for the next 3-4 days try your very best to not open the incubator at all! This is it ladies and gents... The final countdown.
Day 19-21 As mentioned previously some breeds hatch sooner or later than others, in some cases your chicks still haven't come out of their shells by day 21 and just need a little more time. Throughout the entire hatching period it is important that you don't open your incubator, if you do you are letting out the heat and the humidity that they need to make the hatching process easy. You risk putting them in danger by fiddling, these guys know what they're doing. The first step of hatching is breaking into their air sack, this allows the chick to learn how to breathe oxygen within the comforts of shell. Once their lungs have become accustomed to breathing they will pip a little hole out of the shell. This pip may be the only signs of hatching for a few hours, this is OK As you can imagine, breaking out of an egg can be tiring and as long as they have pipped their shell then they can breath and rest accordingly. Once rested and ready for the out, the chicks will start to un-zip their egg shells, also known as zipping. This is when you can see the magic really happen, you will be able to sneak a peak as the chicks use their wings and their feet to exit the egg.
Day 19-21 The chick will eventually pop part of the egg off, usually exposing their heads and wings with their legs still within the bottom part of the shell. At this point they may choose to have a little rest once again, you will also notice that they will be quite vocal. This is entirely normal, they can hear each other and I like to think that they are all egging each other on to come out into the world. In my early days I used to encourage the first to pip by playing clips off youtube of hatching chicks, whether this did anything I couldn't tell you, but I felt like I played my part. Your chick will eventually kick off its shell nappy and flop itself into freedom, this is when they learn how to use their legs and wings in turn for balance. They will appear weak and drowsy, nap an awful lot and make a lot of noise when they are awake. This is all normal. The only thing that isn't normal and you should look out for an unabsorbed yolk sack. This is a concern, this means that your chick has hatched prematurely. Every chick needs to absorb their yolk sack, located under and between their legs, this provides them with all of the yummy nutrients they need to grow strong and healthy, it will also keep them full for 48 hours. If a chick has hatched like the one in the picture, you need to keep watch for other chicks pecking, the yolk sack becoming caught or being trampled. If these things occur, you need to make a choice whether to let nature take it's course or intervene. If you intervene, remember that opening the incubator risks the eggs still hatching.
After 21 days If after 21-22 days there are some eggs that are still within the pipping/zipping stage but the majority of your eggs have hatched, this is where I myself would remove the hatched chicks and place them in their new home the brooder. I would also then check the eggs that are still waiting to hatch, listen out for chirping inside the eggs, movement, and check the membrane, if the membrane is no longer soft but instead hard then the chick is now shrink wrapped. If still alive I would suggest that you gently dampen the membrane careful not to drown the chick inside and place back inside the incubator to see if this helps. If none of the eggs that remain show signs of life, then you can choose to wait another day or call it quits. The choice is for you to make, but these things do happen and not all eggs hatch. You should not remove any chicks from the incubator unless they have completely fluffed up and dried, are energetic and have begun to peck at their surroundings remember no longer than 48 hours after hatching. Off to the brooder they go, where they should have a non slippy surface to deter any leg/foot related injuries. Some feed and water placed as far away from their heat source as possible. The first 24 hours will be a test to see if they are happy with their new home, if they huddle under the heat lamp too often then the temperature isn't warm enough, if they spend far too much time away from the heat then it is indeed to warm. Keep an eye on them and adjust accordingly. Welcome to the world hatchlings!
So we've been hatching chicks for over 3 years now and our incubator only gets switched off for a few months at the end of the year. We are what you might call Hatch'aholics. So it is safe to say that we have learned quite a lot in that time and slipped into a routine that we find best suits us. Here are my tips for hatching chicks! Don't handle your chicks too much until a few days old. These little fluff balls need heat and a constant supply of feed and water, it is much better for them if you just watch them in their brooder for the first few days. Let them get used to your face and your voice first before you man handle them! Once they are settled with each other and their new home, handle them, let them get used to being touched and stroked. Our daughter is 7 and it is important that she handles the chicks as much as possible, children are fast and loud, the more the chicks get used to this the less skittish they will be when older. We also introduce our dog to the chicks, this is so she can smell them and as much as them, she can get used to them also. Place their water drinker on a saucer turned upside down, as long as they can reach the water tray they will be fine. Chicks can be messy! They spend most of their time sleeping, eating, drinking and pooping but they like to poop anywhere mainly the drinker!
Take as many cute photos of your hatchlings as you can. By week 1 they start to loose their fluffiness as they start to grow their feathers. As the weeks go on they will go bald in places and start to look like ugly little dinosaurs, so take as many pictures as you can as the whole process is nice to look back on, just like looking at pictures of your kids through the years. Be prepared! Not every chick is going to be big and strong, not every chick is going to grow at the same rate as all the others. There are things to watch out for, but really it is better to be prepared before it happens. We have a few breeds that are prone to Coxi (coccidiosis), but any chick can get it, so we add a little Harkers Coxoid into the drinking water in the hopes that we combat it before it appears. Poo pick as much as you can! These little cuties poop ALOT and they run and skit around the place all day, there wont be a surface that hasn't been plopped on so poop pick regularly to save them getting crusty bottoms and dirty feet. Chickens don't have teeth and so they don't chew their food, so we add a little grit to the feed to aid digestion in the gut this helps to prevent crop problems.
What sex are my chicks? It is something that can prove quite difficult with some breeds and very easy with others. There are breeds of chickens that are autosexing which means that you can tell from hatch from their markings as to what sex they are. But for most of the breeds it is a waiting game! Some breeds/colours of chickens can be sexed from hatch, we can sex our black/red ohiki and our black/red jittoko as soon as they pop out of the egg. This is because they have what I call eyeliner... Most breeds/colours however don't have any specific signs. The best way to gain an idea is to watch how they feather up, when they start to lose their down, their flufiness, males will feather up more slowly and be bald longer. Females tend to produce their tail feathers faster, this usually is more apparent by week 6. As chickens have their sex organs inside their vents, I would not suggest vent sexing unless you know how. Doing this wrong can lead to the chicken prolapsing, which although it can be fixed it also means that they are likely to prolapse possibly several times throughout their life span. If you have a keen eye you can give wing sexing a go, again this is not suitable for all breeds and can only be done at between day 1 & 2 of age.
The next edition of the newsletter will be our SPRING edition! Inside we will cover topics concerning the season, discuss up and coming shows and share with you our plans for 2018. Hatching Eggs are available to pre-order on the webstore