April 8th, 2012
I have some friends close by who keep chicken in their back garden. Since cockerels make a lot of noise and would disturb the neighbours, they don’t have any. Therefore, in order to maintain their flock they buy fertilised eggs for about £2 – £3 each and hatch them in an incubator.
Mandel (the chicken farmer) bought a batch of eggs recently and 5 of them were successfully fertilised. The eggs need to be kept warm in an incubator for roughly 20 – 21 days in order to hatch them – you can make or buy and incubator, depending on your budget.
The incubator temperature should be about 37.7º C and the eggs should be rotated by 1/4 to 1/2 turn 3 times per day for 18 days – for the last couple of days they should not be turned. When the chicks are ready to hatch, they make a pip hole in the egg – it takes up to 24 hours for a chick to break open the egg and hatch. These pictures, inside the incubator, show 2 chicks which have hatched a couple of hours previously. The other 3 took a little while longer.
Once hatched the chicks should be kept inside the incubator for a further 48 hours, before transferring to a brooding box – this can be a cardboard box with sawdust in the bottom. They’ll need a heating lamp for 2 -3 weeks to keep them warm, a bowl of water and food (chick crumb and boiled egg is good). The heat can be reduced gradually, the chicks will develop feathers and eventually they will become accustomed to ambient temperatures.
These chicks will be fully grown from between 6 – 8 months and will start laying anywhere from 2 – 8 months. Above, I believe Mandel is holding a Lavender Pekin, a Golden Laced Wyandotte and a Silver Laced Wyandotte.
Happy Easter!
Awww Happy Easter dude!
Such a great time to be hatching eggs.
Cheers
Marcus
Thanks Marcus 😉
“Chicks”? Really? Earlier today Celi used “chick pictures”. What some people won’t do to increase blog traffic!
Wishing you and all you hold dear a Happy Easter!
PS … JUSTIN BIEBER NUDE … Your blog is about to get very popular. 🙂
Sometimes you just have to get nasty 😉
You guys are TOO funny!! c
Ahh…we had 7 born 2 weeks ago today…one sadly didn´t make it but mother and chicks continue to do well. It´s that time of year. And am still laughing at ChgoJohn´s comment! Happy Easter, look forward to hearing what is on the menu 🙂
John made me laugh on Cecilia’s blog – I’m not sure what my title would have been but it had to be “Chicks” after that 😉
I’m with John – I rushed for the chick pics and what do you give us, paltry poulty. In the words of Sylvester the cat “You’re dethpicable”.
It’ll be “Hot Chicks” next year 😉
Still laughing! c
There must be a chick phase going on at the moment because everyone I know living on a half-decent block of land is filling it up with chickens. But no one I know has taken that next step of purchasing an incubator! Happy Easter!
Thanks – you too 😉
Your chick pics are so Pretty! and I have had a good old laugh reading your comments! Lucky you having a guy down the road with layers! Does he sell you eggs too?.. I love it when people have chooks in town.. c
Thanks – I’m very lucky, he gives me eggs 😉
There is nothing cuter than a fuzzy little chick. The nice thing is that they grow up to give us delicious fresh eggs. Happy Easter! I hope you have a wonderful day.
Thanks Karen, you too 😉
Er.. I am still looking for the pictures of Justin Beiber naked… what’s going on ?
Is he a chick? 😉
He was hatched in an incubator.
Justin Bieber aside, I was really interested to see this post because I’ve always been a little curious about incubators. A friend said once that he’d used one and ended up with deformed chicks and I got freaked out and put off the idea. Nice, then, to see these fine specimens!
I can’t see that an incubator would deform chicks – it’s just keeping them warm like their mother would. I bet most bought chicken, even the free range ones, were hatched in an incubator. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Easter 😉
Your chicks are adorable . I look forward to seeing more pictures of them as the grow. Are the chickens eventually for eating, or are the eggs the main product. ?
They aren’t mine, but I’m fairly sure they are for egg laying 😉
Awwwww so cute!!!
Happy Easter zestybeandog 😉
How gorgeous, I was worried you were going to say they were being groomed for the cooking pot!
No, just the egg factory, though with lots of outdoor space, good organic food and friends 😉
Shit, for a second there, I thought you had put them in a blender. The thing is, it wouldn’t actually have surprised me if you’d made chick gazpacho or something like that.
Do you have a recipe for that one 😉
Well, you start with 3 of the cutest chicks you can find. Place them, along with 4 cloves of garlic, into a blender………
Sounds like a good one!