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[poachedegg]

We are just starting off on our 1st hatching journey! Incubator coming tomorrow, collecting eggs tomorrow, hopefully setting them Friday and was just wondering where you keep your chicks after hatching?

 

I like the idea of them being in the house so they are part of everyday life, however I have read they are very messy and smelly, so would the garage be better?

 

For experienced hatchers, any tips that you have picked up purely through experience that you care to share?!

 

We are using a Brinsea mini 7 incubator and setting 6 Silver laced Wyandottes eggs.

[Redwing]

Did you get your dotte eggs from Cheshire Poultry? They will be very nice if so

 

I have a brooder in my kitchen and last year raised batches in that but they do make huge amounts of mess and are dusty

 

I try to have them indoors while I verify that they are all healthy and eating and drinking, then they go out to the shed

 

I use J cloths and wood pellet cat litter to line the kitchen brooder as its less messy, I used to use Aubiose or shavings (and still will if I run out of the cat litter) but they chuck quite a bit out of the brooder and I darent use the storage heater in my kitchen anymore as its potentially full of bedding

[Daphne]

Mine is in my study which is a bit fatal to production workwise My incy is in here too so its easy to transfer them across. I don't have a suitable outdoor building but if I did then ideally I'd keep them in for a week (just to make sure they are OK) in smaller brooders until they progress to my larger pen brooding space and then move them into a shed or garage, assuming the weather isn't too bad. They are messy/dusty/noisy/naughty

 

My top tips are to keep an eye on them - after about a week they seem to be able to do something they shouldn't as soon as your back is turned, double check you've got the lamp/electric hen on when its meant to be, put a lid (I use weldmesh) over the brooder as they can flap upwards very soon (like 2 weeks), top up the water frequently (even when its raised I find cat litter in it), top up the feed frequently, use ACS crumb, introduce greens and grit after a week, keep them out of drafts (I use cardboard corrals when I put them into a larger metal sided brooder), when first transferring them over dip their beaks in food and water and hang around to make sure each one gets the hang of it, put a J cloth over the bedding so they don't try eating that to start with, make sure they are on something anti-slip....thats probably enough ideas for now

[Tweety]

I have just hatched for the first time too, and kept my brooder in a spare room for the first couple of weeks. They are now in a larger run in the unheated back hallway, whilst I gradually wean them off the electric hen.

 

They are messy, but I have found the smell has improved since I put them on Hemcore. Daphne is right about keeping an eye on them - I have to change the water several times a day, as they are constantly kicking the Hemcore into it, ditto with the food. But it is a small price to pay for the delight of having them!

 

I will keep them in the house until they are old enough to go outside, as I love watching them and it is just more convenient to have them so close.

[daxigirl]

Mine are in the lounge at first as they're really cute and you can waste hours watching them. Once they get to a couple of weeks and the feathering up stage really kicks in they make a lot of dust and are convinced that the chippings should be outside the brooder, oh and they also smell . So mine have now moved to the spare room where it doesn't matter so much, my big chicks have come off heat and are spending the day time in the WIR and I'm putting them in the rabbit hutch in the greenhouse at night.

 

I got a bit carried away and at one point ended up with chicks everywhere , got it under control now, learnt that lesson.

[poachedegg]

Did you get your dotte eggs from Cheshire Poultry? They will be very nice if so

 

I have a brooder in my kitchen and last year raised batches in that but they do make huge amounts of mess and are dusty

 

I try to have them indoors while I verify that they are all healthy and eating and drinking, then they go out to the shed

 

I use J cloths and wood pellet cat litter to line the kitchen brooder as its less messy, I used to use Aubiose or shavings (and still will if I run out of the cat litter) but they chuck quite a bit out of the brooder and I darent use the storage heater in my kitchen anymore as its potentially full of bedding

 

Getting them from Harry's Hatchers, they are more of a hobby breeder.

 

Do you need to stick the J cloths down? How often do you need to clean them out and how long can you leave them out of the brooder to be able to clean it? I am thinking of using an indoor guinea pig cage for the brooder - any thoughts?

 

Have done lots of reading and am still gathering tips, so thanks to everyone who has replied so far, have definitely got some more ideas.

[Tweety]

The guinea pig cage should be fine. I used J cloths for the first few days, changing them every day, until I was happy that the chicks were all eating and drinking properly. I tucked the J cloth round a thick piece of cardboard which was the same size as the brooder floor, and used that to keep the cloth secure. It only took a minute or two to clean the brooder out, and my chicks were fine in a high-sided small cardboard box whilst I did it as quickly as I could.

[Redwing]

Chicks will be fine outside the brooder for a while, they put day old chicks in boxes and send them thousands of miles in the US so some minutes without heat in a UK kitchen is no problem - I think we worry too much! I put mine in a tub trug and losely drape a tea towel over the top

 

I dont hold the J cloths down with anything, they form to the bottom of the brooder quite nicely and sit some way up the sides without folding over

 

You could put several layers of cloth in at once and just whip out a layer a day if you are worried about removing the chicks

[Mollie333]

My incubator and brooder is in my bedroom!

[sallylally]

hi, i will soon be a first time hatcher too. What sort of incubator have you ordered? i am getting one but can't make my mind up between semi automatic and automatic, worried with the semi automatic in case things go wrong!

[daxigirl]

If you can go for the auto-turn I would. You don't have to worry about forgetting to turn them or which way turned last time. It will also stop you fiddling with them unnecessarily (well it did me, kind of )

[poachedegg]

Went for the eggs this morning and the incubator (Brinsea Mini 7 Auto) was delivered at lunchtime - rather daunting reading all the instructions!

 

Have got it running now as a test and hopefully will put the eggs in later after DD gets home from school.

 

Thanks ever so for your guidance, think we will try with the brooder in the utility somehow (very small), however

am going to concentrate on getting chicks first!

[sjp]

Brinsea Mini 7 Auto are a dodle to use do a search on here you'll find a few posts about them there are 3 or 4 of us that used them for the first time this year with good results

[poachedegg]

........they went in last night!

[Charlottechicken]

My incubator is in the living room, on the dining table. The brooder also lives in the living room. This year's hatch (single female chick again ) enjoyed watching the telly, and as she was on her own I think it helped! I moved her out of the brooder at just over 3 weeks as she was showing signs of being too warm, even though I use a lower wattage bulb in it than was supplied. She is now in the kitchen, in half a cardboad box my fridge came in, lined with a sheet of plastic over the polystyrene tray in the bottom, with newspaper on top of the plastic sheet, and a big piece of net curtain pinned over the top of the box, as she can now fly upwards. I cover half the top with a sheet of newspaper as well, so she has some shelter overhead during the day (there's a velux window above her). I will move her outside during the daytime when she is six weeks old, and hopefully outside at night when she is 8 weeks. I'm aiming to integrate her by 16 weeks as I have two bantams who she will be bigger than by that time.

 

Good luck with your hatch!

[karlotta]

My incubator lives in the dining room on a nice high table away from Newfie tails, and my brooder is like a mini WIR (prob 8x4ft) in the garage. It's got a roof to stop mice and soild sides at the bottom to stop draughts (drafts?) and I use a broodering from Flytes to keep them in a smaller space to start with and then remove it later on to let them gallop about!

[snowberry]

My 2 week old chicks are in my bedroom, in an indoor rabbit cage atm; it's the only space I can truely keep the cats away from. Sadly I learnt my lesson when they hatched & 1 of the cats got 2 of them I have one of the brinsea brooders & have put it up to the middle level; I can't wait till they go in the eglu, but they still seem so little!