The fancy heater showed up, so we've got them moved over to the tub to start growing. Instead of a heat lamp and the fire hazard that comes with it, we got this thing. It only gets warm and you just adjust the height so that the chicks can lay under it directly to stay warm. So far they seem to like it, some sitting down, some standing, some running around causing trouble. It's only using 20W vs. 250W for a lamp, so over time it should save energy too and hopefully not burn out or burn the house down.
I've since rotated it 90 degrees so the cord is along the wall. When they're larger I'll remove the water and food dishes and go to the regular feeders. Those are heavy ceramic ramekins stolen from the kitchen, they're too heavy for the birds to tip over.
The score card so far is:
- 15 eggs dark but didn't hatch
- 2 eggs light that didn't do anything
- 20 eggs hatched
- 2 fatalaties
So.... 18/37 or 49% success? I guess that's good for a first attempt. My partner's first attempt got 0%, so I'm kicking his butt for sure. I was pretty mindful of keeping the humidity correct (the temp is automatic) but I did open the thing a lot when the chicks were in there which is not optimal. Next time I'll already have the brooder ready so I won't have to leave the chicks all piled in there and dealing with trying to keep food/water squared away inside the incubator. It says it's not intended for that and I can see why.... but I had no choice due to my lack of planning this first round.
And of course, it wouldn't be Jayne's Farm without a web cam or two...
I've since rotated it 90 degrees so the cord is along the wall. When they're larger I'll remove the water and food dishes and go to the regular feeders. Those are heavy ceramic ramekins stolen from the kitchen, they're too heavy for the birds to tip over.
The score card so far is:
- 15 eggs dark but didn't hatch
- 2 eggs light that didn't do anything
- 20 eggs hatched
- 2 fatalaties
So.... 18/37 or 49% success? I guess that's good for a first attempt. My partner's first attempt got 0%, so I'm kicking his butt for sure. I was pretty mindful of keeping the humidity correct (the temp is automatic) but I did open the thing a lot when the chicks were in there which is not optimal. Next time I'll already have the brooder ready so I won't have to leave the chicks all piled in there and dealing with trying to keep food/water squared away inside the incubator. It says it's not intended for that and I can see why.... but I had no choice due to my lack of planning this first round.
And of course, it wouldn't be Jayne's Farm without a web cam or two...