Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[TryalBuffs]

Hi everyone,

 

We have kept chooks for many years, having recently moved onto a farm with a lot more outdoor and shed space we decided to start hatching eggs.

 

Been doing the research (BTW great source of info and personal experiences on here!!) Got a great deal on a Brinsea Eco 20 with turning cradle. Put in yesterday 6 buff sussex, 4 gold laced wyandotte and 2 blue laced wyandottes collected from Wernlas....hope it wasn't too much of a gamble going for relatively expensive Wernlas eggs for first time??!

 

We are planning on trying to stick to traditional/rare dual-purpose breeds as planning on eating the boys and selling on the girls (and trying not to expand our own flock too much!!!).

 

Had a question on space for chicks...we have a dry, draught-free room upstairs in one of the barns with a 2m x 1.5m enclosure. At the moment we have built in a removable partition to make a smaller space of about 0.5 x 1.5m inside and will be hanging a heat lamp in there. Do you think we need to make the space even smaller to begin with?? Will the number of chicks we are likely to sucessfully hatch from this first batch be lost in that space? Its nice to have plenty of room to expand if all goes well but worried its too much to begin with!

 

Also what about bedding while the chicks learn what to eat...the floor of the enclosure is old untreated floor boards - not a slippery surface. Obviously it all has been cleaned well as its an old farm barn. Should I wait until chicks start eating crumb before I put wood shavings down?

 

Now couting down the days....so excited...candling eggs at day 8 is the next big step I guess. I believe the lady at Wernlas candled the eggs before we bought them...I have notice other people on here use them...have you had good hatch rates from them?

 

Sorry for the long post!!!

 

Amy

[Redwing]

Hi Amy and welcome to the forum

 

I think I would be tempted to make that space smaller for the first few days after hatching, if the chicks stray too far from the heat they dont always make it back. A space big enough to get out of the heat but not too big is ideal, I'd say maybe 0.5 x 0.8 m. Once they know where the heat is and are strong they will be fine, a cardboard coral would be good enough as long as the cardboard isnt too close to the lamp! if your heat lamp is a very strong one with a wide coverage then go with your existing pem size

 

I find that J cloths make a perfect surface for the chicks for the first day, kitchen roll, offcuts of textured wallpaper and old towels are also good, newspaper is a little slippery though. As long as there are no gaps in the floorboards they would be ok if not the most hygenic option

[TryalBuffs]

Thanks for the advice Tasha...its great to have found a friendly forum to get these little gems of info!!!