Moving chicks from incubator to brooder, please help.

ben33127 · Post by **ben33127** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:11 pm

This is my second serious hatch and want to give the little guys all the chance to grow. I have a cpl of questions if someone please has the time and experience to answer:

1. How long can they stay in the incubator post hatch?
2. I have chick food and water in chick waterer and chick food pan, will they start eating without me assisting? It seems like they have no clue what they are..
3. Should I grind up the chick food for them, it looks like big crumbles for their small frames?

Thank you for any help!

Gooseman07 · Post by **Gooseman07** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 6:00 pm

1. Let their feathers dry

2. Create a little mound in front of the food tray. They will find the water if it isn't too far from the food. You may have a few that will not find it and die but that's all part of raising birds

3. If you bought them as crumbles, they should be fine.

Post by **kninebirddog** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 6:33 pm

Crush the crumbles for quail for the first few weeks.

birddog1968 · Post by **birddog1968** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 7:41 pm

I try to leave the incubator closed as long as possible....crashing the humidity to take a few birds out at a time can make it tougher or almost impossible for some of the other birds to hatch.

gotpointers · Post by **gotpointers** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 2:27 am

Place white paper towels on the floor of the brooder and pile the feed on it. They instinctively will peck and eat anything out of the ordinary. Same with the red base of the drinker. 90 degrees for first week then drop ten degrees every consecutive week. If the parents were healthy the chicks will be too.

gotpointers · Post by **gotpointers** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 2:44 am

Also a few seconds intermittently using the pulse button on the food processor will break it up a little finer. I always do that for the first two weeks.

Rockett · Post by **Rockett** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:51 am

I will leave mine in the incubator for a minimum of 24hrs, hatching is a big job for a little guy and they need the time to recover, they honestly don't need food or water for up to 48hrs. Every chick gets their beak dipped into the water so they know where it is, and if they don't find the food, I'll sit there for a bit and hand crumble it for them as it falls this seems to get their attention. Best of luck

DonF · Post by **DonF** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:00 am

I always wondered about that chick starter. Never could see them eating that stuff so I grind all mine in a coffee grinder. If you leave the chicks in the incubator 24hrs, you must take out the turner?

gotpointers · Post by **gotpointers** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:16 am

DonF wrote:I always wondered about that chick starter. Never could see them eating that stuff so I grind all mine in a coffee grinder. If you leave the chicks in the incubator 24hrs, you must take out the turner?

I stop turning them 48 hours before their due date and take out anything they may get caught under.

DonF · Post by **DonF** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:57 am

48 hrs, I'll remember that. Do you turn the eggs by hand them or let them be?

Post by **ezzy333** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 12:49 pm

We always started between 300 to a 1000 chicks a year and never had a problem. We bought the chicks from Michigan and they were shipped to us in boxes of a 100 each and we just dumped them on the floor near the brooder and the feed and water. Can't think of any we lost from not having feed or water. And we never ground up the crumbles. In later years we made feed for the state of IL and they were feeding 40,000 pheasant and quail chicks and I know they had no problem with the crumbles either. Maybe some companies made them bigger but................

Ezzy

ben33127 · Post by **ben33127** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 2:44 pm

Thanks everyone! I started out with 100 eggs and have had about 30 survive in the brooder…..From what I read thats not great or good but I am having a blast doing it.

Only about 50 chicks hatched not sure what happened the incubator I have keeps the humidity and heat at what I set it at so it could possibly be operator error.

What humidity to you set your incubator at the first 20 days? Then what do you raise it to the last 3 days?

Wildweeds · Post by **Wildweeds** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:56 pm

Surprises me not that your success with the foam incubator is what it is.One has to get the moon and stars all lined up just right to have much consistant sucess with those.I always fine ground the feed and dipped each chicks beak in the water(that contained electrolytes for poultry), I had the lights set at 100 and let the chicks find their comfort zone,you'll know they are happy campers when they bed down in a ring off the center of the light.If they are all in a ball directly under the light you need to lower it.Round corners in the brooder,and lukewarm water on the refills go along way to preventing the stacking that kills alot of chicks.

gotpointers · Post by **gotpointers** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:01 am

I'd advise checking the eggs that didn't hatch to see what development they had if any. You may not have had good fertile eggs to begin with. Also see what the time span was between the start of incubation and the mass hatch. This will help you fine tune your temperature. Goal is to have them hatch at exactly the right day. Healthy strong chicks come from healthy parents and correct incubation times. Thermometers are always off and where and how they are placed in the incubator compounds the problems. Timespan is the way to go.

birddog1968 · Post by **birddog1968** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:37 am

I used to get above 75 to 80 percent with the foam ones....but because of the Small volume of air in them you have to watch them more closely and not open them. Auto turners are a must.

big_fish · Post by **big_fish** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 4:21 am

I have a little giant foam incubator with a Turner and quail rails. I didn't add the fan in mine and last year I had 80-85 % hatch rate we did about 300 quail (Bob whites and tennis reds) the Reds seem a little more hardy.

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