The story of how I hatched chicks under a heat lamp....
Our always broody mama hen sat a clutch of 17 eggs, staggered of course. She hatched out 6 on her own and then got off the clutch. I really wanted the remainder to hatch as I knew they were pretty close. I don't have an incubator and I didn't have another broody hen at the moment. So, I took them inside and put them under a heat lamp at 100 degrees. I wrapped a towel under and around them and kept it moist (with a spray bottle) every couple of hours. Did the temperature fluctuate? Yes, I had to move the eggs often to keep at 100 degrees. Was the moisture/humidity sufficient? No way, I didn't have much of a way to measure it other than the little chart on the thermometer (and it was always very low). HOWEVER of the 11 eggs, we had 9 hatch successfully-ish (one chick hatched and then died 2 hours later). And I accidently broke one of them (with a very much developing chick inside, that was awful). The chicks hatched in batches, one at night, two the next day, three a few days later, ect. We stuck them underneath mama hen at night time and they are all now with her and doing great! So all in all, totally worth it and doable. I don't ever want to do it this way again because it was anxiety inducing, but I couldn't let them go without a fight. Needless to say I am purchasing my first incubator JUST IN CASE.
Our always broody mama hen sat a clutch of 17 eggs, staggered of course. She hatched out 6 on her own and then got off the clutch. I really wanted the remainder to hatch as I knew they were pretty close. I don't have an incubator and I didn't have another broody hen at the moment. So, I took them inside and put them under a heat lamp at 100 degrees. I wrapped a towel under and around them and kept it moist (with a spray bottle) every couple of hours. Did the temperature fluctuate? Yes, I had to move the eggs often to keep at 100 degrees. Was the moisture/humidity sufficient? No way, I didn't have much of a way to measure it other than the little chart on the thermometer (and it was always very low). HOWEVER of the 11 eggs, we had 9 hatch successfully-ish (one chick hatched and then died 2 hours later). And I accidently broke one of them (with a very much developing chick inside, that was awful). The chicks hatched in batches, one at night, two the next day, three a few days later, ect. We stuck them underneath mama hen at night time and they are all now with her and doing great! So all in all, totally worth it and doable. I don't ever want to do it this way again because it was anxiety inducing, but I couldn't let them go without a fight. Needless to say I am purchasing my first incubator JUST IN CASE.
