Internal cupboard for incy

[Little red hen]

Hi, have eggs and incubator up and ready just wondering if the internal cupboard is a good place to put it - with door open for fresh air. Have covvatutto 16. No fluctuating temps but too stifling maybe? Your thoughts appreciated. I could put them in spare room but have guests from time to time dont think theyd appreciate blinking lights..!

 

[Marigold]

If you can plan three weeks ahead, no problems with the spare room, I would have thought - and you could always move the inci out to somewhere else if a guest arrived unexpectedly. A few minutes' disconnection wouldn't affect the hatch.
A bigger problem, I would have thought, might be providing enough space, fresh air, warmth and sunlight (real or electric sunlamp) for the chicks as they turn into hulking great growers by Christmas, with the worst of winter weather still ahead.
As an experienced keeper, I'm sure you've thought all this through, but maybe this thread might interest you, all the same, http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8635 about someone who took on three-week-old chicks in November (and reared them successfully, though she did say she wouldn't try it again in Winter.)

 

[Little red hen]

Thanks Marigold for the link - I really wish I hadn't been so foolish - I have always hatched during spring/summer before, I don't know what I was thinking. But it is what it is with hatching day due on Friday, no turning back now.
However, Eirwen looks like she has done well, so I will take all the advice that was posted on that topic. I will be able to keep them in the spare room as long as necessary but as its in a bedroom the space will be an issue so I may have to dismantle the bed! I can keep the lights on at least so they can have some semblence of 12 hour light and the central heating should keep them cosy although the bill will be a worry! I will look at some form of heater rather than the central heating on all the time for when they are younger and outgrow the electric hen.
I will acclimatise them bit by bit outside and they will eventually go into a shed attached to a roofed and 3-walled run depending on the weather but it may be March by the look of it re Eirwen's post. It will be challenging to have hens in the house all that time. No visitors for a while!
Thanks again for the help, I won't be doing that again!
Dominic

 

[chrismahon]

We reared in October in the Dordogne and the problems with heating caused a lot of headaches. Not only did they need lamps but background heating as well, otherwise the lamps and electric hen were insufficient. So we had an electric radiator on a thermostat plus the usual arrangements inside a cardboard enclosure- cost a fortune!

Main problem with chicks inside the house is they generate a huge amount of feather dust. The one time we tried that the dust was so thick and it took days to clean up everything afterwards.