Good morning,
I just joined here However I have been silently lurking on the forum and have already learned so much. I recently incubated 45 chicks. I used cheap Chinese incubators from amazon and some of them were complete trash. I did not even know that they were so inaccurate until I bought a calibrated Thermometer/ Hygrometer. that was at 14 days. Damage was already done to my eggs. I started out with 72 eggs. 5 were unfertilized and were removed at day 7. The rest of them when hatching day came were unable to turn in their eggs or the membrane was too tough for them to break out. after 30 hours of them only managing to pip I had to intervene. I only had 5 of them able to hatch on their own. in the end I was able to help an additional 40 chicks hatch. That lead me to a total of 45. There were some that did not develop correctly in that did not make it. once had eye lids sealed shut, one had a caved in head. both did not make it. I did not want 45 chickens. I read that you should count on only 10 - 15% success rate the first time you incubate. I got the 72 eggs based on that shooting for about 10 - 15 chickens at the most.
so Here I am with a brooder full of 45 4 to 5 week old chicks. I am still putting the finishing touches on my coop and about 1/3 of the way done with my Run. I am hoping to get them into the coop this Thursday and have a 1 - 2 weeks of them in the coop. That will give me time to finish the run.
I hope to gain more experience on this forum.
I little about me. I am a Director Of IT of a company of about 100 employees. I have a 7 year old swiss Shepperd / Husky Mix and 7 Ferrets. I grew up with chickens and horses but that was a long time ago. I generally research pretty well before starting any endeavors. sometimes I am caught by surprise.
I just joined here However I have been silently lurking on the forum and have already learned so much. I recently incubated 45 chicks. I used cheap Chinese incubators from amazon and some of them were complete trash. I did not even know that they were so inaccurate until I bought a calibrated Thermometer/ Hygrometer. that was at 14 days. Damage was already done to my eggs. I started out with 72 eggs. 5 were unfertilized and were removed at day 7. The rest of them when hatching day came were unable to turn in their eggs or the membrane was too tough for them to break out. after 30 hours of them only managing to pip I had to intervene. I only had 5 of them able to hatch on their own. in the end I was able to help an additional 40 chicks hatch. That lead me to a total of 45. There were some that did not develop correctly in that did not make it. once had eye lids sealed shut, one had a caved in head. both did not make it. I did not want 45 chickens. I read that you should count on only 10 - 15% success rate the first time you incubate. I got the 72 eggs based on that shooting for about 10 - 15 chickens at the most.
so Here I am with a brooder full of 45 4 to 5 week old chicks. I am still putting the finishing touches on my coop and about 1/3 of the way done with my Run. I am hoping to get them into the coop this Thursday and have a 1 - 2 weeks of them in the coop. That will give me time to finish the run.
I hope to gain more experience on this forum.
I little about me. I am a Director Of IT of a company of about 100 employees. I have a 7 year old swiss Shepperd / Husky Mix and 7 Ferrets. I grew up with chickens and horses but that was a long time ago. I generally research pretty well before starting any endeavors. sometimes I am caught by surprise.
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Glad you joined.
Good luck with your chicks! 
