Baby chicks??

At Weaver farms there was a whole bunch of baby chicks hatch! Mostly rhode island red and there are still more peeping from inside the egg, we can hear them loud and clear!

So…. you got your eggs to hatch but then what do you do next?

One of the most important things first of all is to not open the incubator.  Even though they are so cute and the urge is very strong, when the last few days of invubation are here all the way until about 24 hours after the chicks have hatched you do not want to open the incubator! When the baby chickens first hatch they will be very wet and weak and they need that heat from the incubator without any cool air for a few hours so they can dry off. Once they do dry off they should be very fluffy!

If you are going to take them out uou need to then take them out quickly once they are fluffy and dry and get them in the brooder box.  A brooder box is some kind of large cardboard box or container in which they can be very warm under the heat lamp.  But if they are not directly under the heat lamp after some time, then they are to hot so you should move the heat lamp away from them.  If they are all huddled together under the heat lamp then move the heat lamp closer.

Remember the chicks can live 48 hours to 3 days without food and water after being born from the nutrients they got while in the egg!  So dont rush to try to make them eat and drink, no need.   Once the time does come you will need very small containers of food and water to drink from and you may have to show them what food is water is, they should catch on fast.  When using a dish put marbles in the water dish because they may fall or climb or lay down in the water and drown…. so use a very short container like a cottage cheese container and cover the water in marbkes so just their beak can fit between the marbles to drink.  After about a week you should be able to remove the marbles!

Remember to use chick starter with high protein to make sure the chicks get all the good nutrients they need to grow quick and become strong quick!

If you are about to have baby chickens… stay calm, do not ooen the incubator until the chicks are dry and you think no more are going to hatch.

Otherwise, we wish you good luck!
Cheep cheep!!

Here we have them in the brooder  we had to move the heat lamp further back because as you can see in the picture they are all trying to get away from the heat so that means they are to hot.