How long a baby chick can survive in incubator?

[TheGoldMAN]

Body temperature doesn't mean the environment needs to be at that temperature, too. Human body temperature is 37 C, but do you enjoy being in 37-degree weather? Quite hot, even if you get fully naked, and dangerous if you stay at that temperature for prolonged periods without the ability to cool off or at least drink water. Day-old chicks have a body temperature of 39.5, but that is way too hot as an ambient temperature for them, especially without any means of escape. Even with a heat lamp, the recommended temperature range for day olds is 32-35 degrees, with means of escape (lamp is on one side, they can go to the other if they get too hot). If they are raised naturally with a hen, they will be outside in the spring with temperatures much lower than that, and will only go under her periodically to warm up, spending a lot of their time out exploring. Adult chicken body temperature is 41 degrees. But anybody who has had chickens knows that this is a terrible ambient temperature for them. Whenever it actually gets that hot in the summer, they look miserable.

Being alive generates heat. The ambient temperature needs to be lower than body temperature to allow for that excess heat to escape. Otherwise you overheat.

For talking so much about exact science, you don't seem very familiar with some basic scientific facts.

yeah it doesn't mean that, but you can not compare a chicken to a person.
Baby chickens body temp. is normally 40, and they tolerate +-5 degrees, while lower and higher degrees means stress to them and if you keep them in room temperature, it soon gets cold and starts shivering. And the mature chickens can tolerate more and their temperature range in which they feel comfortable is wider.
Being alive, eating heat increment, walking and ... is considered in these temperatures.

 

[yakitori]

It seems like you are already set on doing things a very specific way, so I'll just wish you all the best with your controlled operations. Most of us are backyard chicken keepers ( as the name of the forum suggests) so your way of chicken raising may be somewhat foreign to people like myself.

Please do update on egg size and lay dates when it happens it would be interesting to see how things turn out.

 

[K0k0shka]

yeah it doesn't mean that, but you can not compare a chicken to a person.
Baby chickens body temp. is normally 40, and they tolerate +-5 degrees, while lower and higher degrees means stress to them and if you keep them in room temperature, it soon gets cold and starts shivering. And the mature chickens can tolerate more and their temperature range in which they feel comfortable is wider.
Being alive, eating heat increment, walking and ... is considered in these temperatures.

My broody raised chicks outdoors in April in Boston. They hatched in a snowstorm. It was slightly above freezing during the day for weeks, but she took them out of the nest on day 2 and they were out and about exploring with her. Quite a bit more than your 5 degrees range of tolerance... They were not stressed at all. They grew up strong and happy. Unless they live in some tropical jungle, or somebody's brooder, chicks don't live under 40-degree ambient temperature conditions. Hens hatch and raise chicks outdoors all over the world in all kinds of temperatures, and their tolerance is quite a bit wider than 5 degrees.

 

[yakitori]

My broody raised chicks outdoors in April in Boston. They hatched in a snowstorm. It was slightly above freezing during the day for weeks, but she took them out of the nest on day 2 and they were out and about exploring with her. Quite a bit more than your 5 degrees range of tolerance... They were not stressed at all. They grew up strong and happy. Unless they live in some tropical jungle, or somebody's brooder, chicks don't live under 40-degree ambient temperature conditions. Hens hatch and raise chicks outdoors all over the world in all kinds of temperatures, and their tolerance is quite a bit wider than 5 degrees.

I've only just had one hatch, but I was wondering whether I imagined it, or that broody raised chicks grow up much more robust than the hatchery shipped ones?

can not compare a chicken to a person

Why not? we wear clothing to stay warm too. The chicks just didn't grown theirs yet. I think the comparison is justified. I love it when people talk science, but it would be nice if you could elaborate on comments like this, otherwise it just seems like personal opinion

Humans are pretty sissy when it comes to temperature changes, There's that sweet spot then, it's either too hot or cold, lol!

 

[K0k0shka]

I've only just had one hatch, but I was wondering whether I imagined it, or that broody raised chicks grow up much more robust than the hatchery shipped ones?

I've never had hatchery shipped chicks, so I can't attest to that - I prefer to hatch my own, with a broody or with an incubator. But there's no way shipped hatchery birds would be more robust than broody-raised ones. Artificial mass hatching in hatchery conditions is stressful, shipping is stressful, being tossed in a new environment at your home is stressful. Everything about that process is stressful to the chicks, and stress weakens the immune system and opens up the chick to disease and problems. Broody raised chicks don't have those problems. So yeah, they are indeed more robust. If cared for properly, chicks you hatch yourself in an incubator can be just as robust as a broody's. It's mostly the crammed mass conditions at hatcheries and the shipping that stress shipped hatchery chicks and compromise their robustness (and even that isn't always serious, a lot of them do just fine).

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I've only just had one hatch, but I was wondering whether I imagined it, or that broody raised chicks grow up much more robust than the hatchery shipped ones?

Usually broody raised ones are at least a bit hardier. I've had a few that just were not good pwruod, and a few that were shipped that did amazing, but over all, I try to just let broodies do their thing

 

[TheGoldMAN]

It seems like you are already set on doing things a very specific way, so I'll just wish you all the best with your controlled operations. Most of us are backyard chicken keepers ( as the name of the forum suggests) so your way of chicken raising may be somewhat foreign to people like myself.

Please do update on egg size and lay dates when it happens it would be interesting to see how things turn out.

Thanks. I wish you the best too.
That's alright, but for egg size and lay dates we have to wait about 5 months.
And I'm really new to this career and I know nothing.

 

[K0k0shka]

And I'm really new to this career and I know nothing.

You sure do speak with a lot of stubborn certainty for somebody who admits to not knowing much. It would serve you well to learn from the experience and knowledge of others if you are new to this.

 

[TheGoldMAN]

My broody raised chicks outdoors in April in Boston. They hatched in a snowstorm. It was slightly above freezing during the day for weeks, but she took them out of the nest on day 2 and they were out and about exploring with her. Quite a bit more than your 5 degrees range of tolerance... They were not stressed at all. They grew up strong and happy. Unless they live in some tropical jungle, or somebody's brooder, chicks don't live under 40-degree ambient temperature conditions. Hens hatch and raise chicks outdoors all over the world in all kinds of temperatures, and their tolerance is quite a bit wider than 5 degrees.

Yeah, chickens do that in spring and summer, when the sun shines 14 hours a day, but no outdoor chicken lay eggs in winter.
I mean chickens are seasonal breeders, meaning their sexual activity depends on season and the duration of a day.

 

[K0k0shka]

Yeah, chickens do that in spring and summer, when the sun shines 14 hours a day, but no outdoor chicken lay eggs in winter.
I mean chickens are seasonal breeders, meaning their sexual activity depends on season and the duration of a day.

Please stop posting falsehoods, especially with such determination, and especially if you have no experience. These statements are simply not true.