Newbie - Raising humidity final days

Congratulations. Yes, leave everything alone for the time being, the noise is normal and may well encourage the others to hurry up.

I bet the children were sooo excited when they saw the chick. :-)17
 
If you had found the first one was hatching too dry and having difficulty, you might feel humidity needed increasing. But since one has obviously hatched normally, it's reassuring that everything is fine. Are any more pipping yet? How long are you going to leave the first one to dry out, if no more appear in the course of today?
 
Funny you should ask Marigold as I was just about to ask that myself!

Well I know have two out. Both doing really well. The second one hatched very quickly whilst I was having my lunch - typical!!! So they've had no problems getting out. I also have another 2 or 3 which have pipped so will probably have more by tonight.

When would you recommend I take them out? The first one probably hatch during the night last night.
 
They need to be dry, fluffy and strong before taking them out. 24 - 48 hours or compromise and go for 36 but as you see once again, it's not an exact science, bordering on art I often think !
Where are you moving them to ? They need a non slip surface, water in a safe container and chick crumb which needs to be in a container that they can reach (obvious perhaps) and a little scattered on a bit of clean floor helps to get them going.
Congratulations, you've had success.
 
Well I now have 17 chicks!!! Can't believe so many hatched! The final egg has also pipped but no more progress yet. This is day 21 so still time I guess.
I came into school this morning to find 17 crashing about in the incubator. So I quickly took the biggest fluffiest ones out (7 of them) and moved them to the brooder. This is a large Chincilla cage with a heat lamp hanging above. At the moment they are huddled under the lamp but they have been moving about and eating and drinking. I've tried to cover the sides of the cage to stop any drafts. I'm a bit concerned about leaving them overnight as the heating will go off so might just take them home.
 
Good idea Sarah. No problem moving day old chicks. Normally they are tightly packed into trays. Just need to keep them warm. Sounds as though the lamp is too high though. Have you got a thermometer under it to check the temperature ? Should be 35 degrees at this stage I think.
 
Wow! Congratulations on a brilliant hatch! Humidity obviously spot on, then!

Does the cage have glass sides? Or mesh sides that the heat can leak away through? When first making up my brooder I followed advice about using an old fishtank for baby quail but couldn't get it to hold the heat because of the glass sides, so swapped to a cardboard box with the sides lined with that silver foil stuff you can get to put behind radiators to diffuse the heat. This has worked brilliantly, it bounces the heat back off the sides so the heat lamp has a warmest spot in the middle and the heat is retained at a slightly lower temp. nice and cosy but not so hot, out to the edges. I put a max/min thermometer under the lamp area, just off to one side a bit, to see what the temp. is like in the warmest spot, and with this at about 35 the chicks are happy to move all over the box and return to the warm spot when they like. At night I lower the lamp by about 6-7 links of the chain it's suspended from, as the temperature drops several degrees once the heating goes off. the greatest danger in the early days is letting them get cold, so keep it warm and give them space to move into if it gets too hot for them directly under the lamp.
I also put the chick drinker on a shallow plate, so no water gets splashed or spilled on to the floor, because it's very important to keep the area round the drinker dry, to avoid coccidiosis.
 
Thanks for the advice! I'm just so pleased so many hatched. Love them already!!
Thought the last egg had pipped but on closer inspection realised that it hadn't. I've brought them home. Took the last bunch out of the incubator as they were all dry and fluffed up. Some had only been hatched for maybe 9-10 hours so hope that wasn't too soon. But they were all clambering all over the incubator making a right racket! They are all walking about eating and drinking and seem to be very happy. After they've been walking about for a bit they all go back and huddle under the lamp and fall asleep for a while. They don't seem to be cold and temp is reading 34.small pic.jpg
 
Looking at your picture Sarah - put some kitchen towel or non slip matting on the plastic surface - otherwise the chicks could slip and damage their hips and legs. They look lovely, well done :)
 
Aren't they lovely! We use kitchen roll as Philcott, moving on to kiln dried sand after a week (sieved out regularly to remove poo) and then onto best quality wood shavings at about 4 weeks. Don't try Aubiose as I did -cut their little feet to pieces and I had to make bandages by wrapping lint around a 4mm drill and sliding it over their toes!
 
I start mine off on about 4 layers of newspaper at the bottom of the box, (for absorbency if any water gets spilled,) and on top of that I put several layers of j-cloths, for the reason Philcot gives. Then twice a day I roll up the top layer of j-cloth (taking care not to roll up any of my tiny quail chicks in the bundle!) leaving a clean j-cloth surface underneath. Today i noticed they are pooing more, and one or two were beginning to get poo balls stuck to their claws and feet, so I've also added woodshavings on top of the j-cloths, as with the previous hatch I found this kept their feet cleaner. I can just roll up the shavings in the bundle with the cloths - this saves having to remove the chicks every time they need a 'nappy change.' I have a spare box to pop the chicks into when i need to replace the cloths with fresh layers, and the cloths get washed and re-used.
 
Brilliant hatch, congratualtions !

Another one up for low humidity.
 
Thanks everyone. I really am just so chuffed and my class are absolutley delighted with their new classmates. In fact the whole school is buzzing. What an amazing experience!

Now that the hatching is over I've thought of loads more questions to ask!!

- what do you use to clean the cage, feeders etc? Some kind of spray?
- I used Milton to sterlise the incubator before use. Is there anything else I should use for afterwards?
- Eating/Drinking - do you fill their feeders up and allow them to eat as much as they want?

- I am going to be rehoming my chicks. The people who are taking them are aware that they havent been sexed yet and they understand that they will need to be kept indoors with a heat lamp to begin with. How long do you think I should keep them before giving them away?

Thanks again for all the support
 
I would use Poultry Shield to clean the cage and equipment, mainly because I've already got it for the chickens and it's designed to be safe for birds. The main thing is to use something which won't be toxic, ie no highly-scented bathroom cleaners or anything like Flash etc. - and definitely not Jeyes Fluid! Milton should be fine if you don't want to buy Poultry Shield just for this. Alternatively you could use Brinsea Incubator disinfectant on all of the equipment and the incubator, to be perfectly safe and clean. You just dilute and spray to clean. Or of course you can use a steam cleaner on cages. Remember to remove the chicks first, though!

Make sure they always have food and clean water available ad lib - chickens take small meals at frequent intervals all through the day, especially when topping up for the hours of darkness, and when they are chicks they need uninterrupted meals to support their very rapid growth.
So long as the people who are going to take them can replicate the care you're giving them, and can keep them warm on the journey to their new home, they can go any time - but how you are going to bear to part with them is another matter!
 
A weak solution of Milton or the equivalent would be fine. Rinse off with clean cloths. You won't achieve sterility but this will be all that's needed.

School buzzing = bees next project ! :lol:
 
Hmmmm bees - now you've got me thinking, haha!!!

I've no idea how I'm gonna bear to part with them all bujt it's got to be done at some point :(

Noticed the chicks are a lot feistier today. Pecking away at each other and trying to do a running jump to get out the cage when I open it. I'm gonna have my hands full this week!
 
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