# Sticky  Incubation, Hatching, Chick and Broody Hen Care



## Cyngbaeld

*LINKS*

*Incubation and Hatching*

1. Artificial Incubation; F-8100; Oklahoma; 2 pages.
http://osuextra.okstate.edu/pdfs/F-8100web.pdf

2. Incubation of Poultry; G8353; 2003; Missouri; 7 pages.
http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/agguides/poultry/g08353.htm

3. Incubating Eggs; SFF#8; 19??; Virginia; 5 pages.
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/poultry/factsheets/8.html

4. Hatching Your Own Chicks; Bulletin #2072; 2005; Maine; 5 pages.
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/2072.htm
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/poultry/2072.htm

5. Incubating Eggs of Domestic Birds; EC 530; 1996; Clemson, SC; 14 pages.
http://www.clemson.edu/psapublishing/Pages/ADVS/EC530.pdf

6. Care and Incubation of Hatching Eggs; 2000; Mississippi; 5 pages.
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/hatch.htm

7. Care and Storage of Hatching Eggs; Info. Sheet 1612; 2000; Mississippi; 2 pages.
http://msucares.com/pubs/infosheets/is1612.html
http://msucares.com/pubs/infosheets/is1612.pdf

8. Maintaining Hatching Egg Quality; Tips; 03/2005; Georgia; 2 pages.
http://department.caes.uga.edu/poultry/tips/03 05 BY tip D L C (web).pdf

9. Basics of Incubation for the Home Flock; G04-154-A; 2004; Nebraska; 6 pages.
http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/poultry/g1549.htm

10. Avian Embryo; Pub. 1150; 1997; Mississippi; 17 pages.
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/avianemb.htm

11. From Egg to Chick; Cir. 878; LA0959; 1992; Illinois; 19 pages.
http://il-traill.outreach.uiuc.edu/poultrynet/pdf/egg-to-chick.pdf

12. Incubation for the Home Flock; G80-524-A; 1981; Nebraska; 5 pages.
http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/poultry/g524.htm Dead Link -- pages are being updated

13. Incubating Eggs in Small Quantities; PFS #35; 2000; California; 2 pages.
http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/Avian/pfs35.pdf

14. Common Incubation Problems; Pub. 8127; 2004; California; 5 pages.
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8127.pdf

15. Trouble Shooting Failures with Egg Incubation; 1997; Mississippi; 6 pages.
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/trouble.htm

16. Egg Candling and Breakout Analysis; Pub. 8134; 2004; California; 9 pages.
http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8134.pdf

17. Hatchability Problem Analysis; Cir. 1112; 2003; Florida; 13 pages.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AA204
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/AA/AA20400.pdf

18. Constructing the Incubator (cardboard, plywood, styrofoam); Illinois; 5 pages.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res20-incubator.html
http://il-traill.outreach.uiuc.edu/poultrynet/pdf/incubators.pdf

19. Incubation Procedures; Illinois; 5 pages.
http://il-traill.outreach.uiuc.edu/poultrynet/pdf/procedures.pdf

20. Operating an Incubator; Illinois; 6 pages.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res19-opincubator.html

21. Building an Incubator; Tips; 07/2004; Georgia; 2 pages.
http://department.caes.uga.edu/poultry/tips/2004 July BY tip J M M (web).pdf

22. Building and Operating a Display Incubator; F-8215; Oklahoma; 2 pages.
http://osuextra.okstate.edu/pdfs/F-8215web.pdf

23. Constructing an Egg Candler (3 types); Illinois; 4 pages.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res25-candler.html

24. Hatching and Brooding Small Numbers of Chicks; FO-00631; 1994; Minnesota; 7 pages.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/livestocksystems/DI0631.html

*Sexing chicks*

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1974_May_June/How_to_Sex_Day_Old_Chicks


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## Nan(TX)

*BROODING* 

*Links*

1. A Brooding Unit for a Small Number of Birds; Illinois; 4 pages.
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res30-broodingunit.html

2. Brooding Basics for Backyard Flocks-Temperature; Tips; 01/2002; Georgia; 2 pages.
http://department.caes.uga.edu/poultry/tips/2002 Jan BY tip B F_LH.web.pdf

3. Brooding of Domestic Fowl; SFF#5; 19??; Virginia; 4 pages.
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/poultry/factsheets/5.html

4. Giving Chicks a Good Start; Bulletin #2219; 1998; Maine; 2 pages.
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/2219.htm
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/poultry/2219.htm
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/PDFpubs/2219.pdf

5. Rearing Chicks and Pullets for the Small Laying Flock; FS-01191; 1998; Minnesota; 4 pages.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/livestocksystems/DI1191.html

6. Growing Healthy Chicks; 1997; Mississippi; 6 pages.
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/growchix.htm
http://msucares.com/4h_Youth/4hpoultry/chicks.html

7. Hatchery Management Guide for Game Bird and Small Poultry Flock Owners; 2003; Mississippi; 9 pages.
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/hatchmgt.htm

8. Brooding Chickens and Quail; Info. Sheet 1338; 2000; Mississippi; 4 pages.
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/is1338.htm

9. Brooding and Rearing Baby Chicks; PNW 491; 1999; Oregon; 4 pages.
http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/edmat/html/pnw/pnw491/pnw491.html
http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/edmat/pnw491.pdf

10. Brooding and Growing Chicks; G8351; 1999; Missouri; 4 pages.
http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/agguides/poultry/g08351.htm
http://muextension.missouri.edu/explorepdf/agguides/poultry/g08351.pdf

11. Turkey Brooding and Management: Giving Poults a Good Start; Bulletin #2187; 1999; Maine; 2 pages.
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/2187.htm
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/poultry/2187.htm
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/PDFpubs/2187.pdf

12. Brooding Turkeys Successfully; Tips; 09/2002; Georgia; 2 pages.
http://department.caes.uga.edu/poultry/tips/2002 Sept. BY tip D C_LH.web.pdf

13. Sexing of Day-Old Chicks; Mississippi; 2 pages.
http://msucares.com/poultry/management/poultry_sexing.html

14. Methods for Sexing Day-Old Chicks; Fact Sheet PS-21; 1997; Florida; 3 pages.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/PS/PS01500.PDF

15. Sex Reversal in Chickens; Fact Sheet PS-53; 2000; Florida; 3 pages.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS050
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/PS/PS05000.pdf

16. Capons; Fact Sheet PS-54; 2000; Florida; 4 pages.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS051
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/PS/PS05100.pdf

17. Sexing Geese; Poultry Resources, FAQ; 2000; USDA/Oklahoma; 1 page.
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/resource-room/reprod/poultry/sexinggeese.htm

*Chick care.*
Here are some things to keep in mind. 

This is the best link for chicks.
http://www.ellsonsacre.com/baby.htm

I use paper towels for the first week this way they won't eat the litter are slip on slick surfaces. After that I use wood shavings. 
The chick absorbs the yolk just before hatching and can live more than three days without food are water. The reason for this is not all eggs may hatch at the same time . 

HEAT: Should be 90 to 95 degrees for the first week. Reduce the temperature 5 degrees per week until you get to 70 degrees. Then they shouldn't need any more heat. Have this ready before you bring your chicks home. 
Check on chicks often to ensure they are comfortable. Chicks need enough room to regulate their body temperature by moving toward or away from the heat source 

Reminder if your use an enclosed brooder. Chicks need to have the air exchange 6 times a day to prevent ammonia and humidity build up from manure. The ammonia especially can cause the respiratory tract to become irritated thus causing tissue scarring. 


Most baby bird loss is caused because the bird doesn't start to eat or drink. 

FEED: Because of coccidiosis I highly recommend medicated chick starter. The first day I feed my day olds boiled egg yokes with the chick starter. Then after I get everyone involved with eating I encourage them with an excited voice to eat the chick starter and use my finger like moms beak to pick at the food. Most of them love this! 

When around livestock I have found I get better results if I move slow. 

WATER: The first couple of days I use plain NOT flavored pedalite or the Wal-Mart brand. Plain water is okay you will need to DIP THE BEAK OF THE CHICK IN THE WATER BEFORE YOU TURN IT LOOSE. For the first 2 days add 3 tablespoons of table sugar to each quart of water for extra energy. The deal with the sugar is sometimes it causes diarrhea thatâs why I use pedalite. Chicks can see color real well especially red all my waters are this color. Some people even use red jello for this. 
You can also try some little balls of tinfoil in the water. The chicks will peck at the balls and drink at the same time. 

Starveouts 
What is the cause of chicks becoming dehydrated and dying 3-5 days after placing on feed and water? 
The most likely cause is "starveouts." These are chicks that never consume feed and/or water and die from starvation and dehydration. Major causes are poor lighting, too long of an interval from hatching to placing in the brooder house. It is best to place chicks within 22 hours after hatch, poor quality chicks, and not enough feeders and waterers. 

REAR END "PASTING UP": Sometimes the stress of shipping causes the manure to stick to the back of the bird. It is important to remove this daily. Pull off gently or, better yet, wash off with a cloth and warm water. It will disappear in a few days as the bird starts to grow. The only time I donât have this problem is when I hatch my own babies. 
Enjoy enjoy enjoy !!!!! 

What You Didnât Know About Peroxide 
By Stephanie Hathaway 
Peroxide is both useful and harmful. We all know peroxide prevents infection, but that only works when used correctly. 
Peroxide is only meant to clean around an injury, not in the injury. 
A vet once told me to never clean an animalâs open wound with peroxide because it kills living cells. 
But on the other hand peroxide is great on unstopping a chickâs plastered vent without hurting it. We have all had a chick at some time or another with a clogged vent, and sometimes when we try pulling the stuff off, it ends up pulling out the feathers and sometimes even the guts of the bird. 
Using peroxide instead of water is good because it dissolves the dried up waste very easily - much easier than water. So peroxide is both bad and good for chickens and us! 

============ 
For chicks in the mail. 
Have this ready before your chicks arrive. I leave a note in my mail box telling my postman the name ,address ,phone # of the hatchery, when my chicks will be sent, where they are being sent from, what date they should arrive, my name and address, phone # and most important to call me night or day as soon as they can and I will pick them up at the Post Office. 
For moreâ¦ 
http://www.webelfin.com/chickens/index.html 


Everyone please feel free to add your tips and links, and exspearnce to this list as well. 

Brooding and Rearing the Home Meat Flock 
http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/Poultry/g538.htm 

GROW HEALTHY CHICKS 
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/growchix.htm 

The Small Poultry Flock 
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modpo/e7730003.html


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## Cyngbaeld

Candling eggs:

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/Avian/pfs32.htm

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res25-candler.html

http://www.sabong.net.ph/news/?module=displaystory&story_id=653&format=html

http://www.homestead.com/shilala/candling.html

http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/candling/

http://www.minkhollow.ca/HatchingProgram/Candling/index.html


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## Cyngbaeld

Here is the link for the cheap brooder:

http://www.poultryhelp.com/brooders.html


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## Cyngbaeld

http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/exthatch.htm

Incubation Time
Species Days
Chicken 21
Turkey 28
Duck 28
Muscovy duck 33-35
Goose 29-31
Guinea 26-28
Pigeon 16-18
Ringneck pheasant 23-24
Mongolian pheasant 24-25
Bobwhite quail 23
Japanese quail 17-18
Chukar partridge 22-23
Peafowl 28


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## Nan(TX)

I have looked and looked for Bills web site and canât find it so I will post his article on Dry Incubation here in it's stead. I have had this article of Bills for a long time and thought you all my like it as well.

*DRY INCUBATION 
Bill Worrell* 

Part One

As a student of poultry at age 14, I became fascinated with the breeding and hatching of eggs. Even when I only raised mixed up chickens and ducks I was always trying to find ways to incubate eggs. I started my poultry career with a few Araucanas and a few White Jersey Giant hens. My challenge became to find a way to get them to become broody. I never did. So I started trying to figure out how to make an incubator. I tried everything you can think of and nothing seemed to work. A few months later an old friend of mine told me he had an old redwood incubator that hadnât been used for 15 years or longer. I asked what he wanted for it. He replied that heâd like to have my car stereo. So I went out to the car and took it out and swapped it even. Man what a deal I thought. This thing was huge to me. It was 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall. No egg turner and it had a water pan in it that had more holes in it than a sifter. 

I brought it home on my dads old pick-up truck and cleaned it up. I plugged it in and decided it would probably need some work before I trusted it enough to leave it alone much less hatch in it. Well, to make a long story short, I did fix it up and got it working. Then placed it in my bedroom, much to my parents dismay. Man I was in the hatchery business. I hatched every egg I could find. Tried everything imaginable from ducks to geese, from chickens to guineas, from quail to wild turkeys. I had some success but mostly failure. I had no understanding of how a bird develops in the egg, knew nothing about humidity, heck I didnât even know about turning eggs in the Incubator. I just knew it was fun to see baby chicks come out of the shell. Still today I love to hatch.

The next year later I added my first Hova-Bator from GQF. Reading the directions I found out for the first time about how to add water and the importance of turning eggs. For the first time I had a thermometer and I learned what a thermostat wafer was. Boy was I excited. I started to incubate in conventional ways of adding water and turning the eggs, keeping the temperature at 99.5 degrees, and candling. I had good success but never hatched better than 60% and that was on rare occasions. Still I thought that was great. I had a few friends bring their eggs to me and ask me to hatch them for them. So I started a little enterprise at age 15 doing custom hatching for $1.00 per dozen. 

That first year with my new incubator and my old redwood incubator I incubated over 750 eggs. But all along I never realized how these hatcheries got 90-95% hatches. That was until a few years later. I met an older gentleman who asked me how I was hatching my eggs. I told him this story and explained that I could never get the hatch rate above 60%. He then replied, âHave you ever heard of Dry Incubation?â I said I hadnât. Then he explained what I am about to tell you. He said, âBill, you need to stop adding water to your incubator.â I said to myself, yeah right. That donât sound like any way of incubating I ever heard of. But I listened intently. This man changed my incubation practices forever. I took the info he gave me and experimented with it. And soon my hatch rate went to 70%, then 80%, then 90% and has even been 100% on several occasions. 
I now use it exclusively. I now incubate fewer eggs each year and have more chicks that I did when I was incubating several hundred each year for myself, though most of what I hatch today is for other people. At one time I was hatching over 1,000 eggs per month and sometimes 1,000 per week for other people. So this is not theory. I still use it today and will never go back. 

Here is how it works: First, you have to remember a few things. An egg must lose approximately 11% of its weight during the incubation cycle. That is, it has to have some evaporation of the contents of the egg itself in order for the chick to have room inside of the egg to develop and still have room to turn in the egg so it can spin around and hatch. Where most folks go wrong is they add water to the incubator and cause the humidity to increase to levels that hinder the evaporation process. This causes the chick to grow too large inside the egg. The chick will pip the shell on day 21 and never go any farther. Have you ever wondered why this happens? I sure did. 

Second, the closer you can get to the proper temperature and keep it there the better. That is, keep your incubator in a room that the temperature doesnât fluctuate drastically. My old redwood incubator will hold heat in a room where the temp doesnât fluctuate more than 20 degrees. My Hova-Bators arenât near that good. They need to be in an area where the temp is close to the same within 10 degrees or so. I recommend that placement be in a room that doesnât get direct sunlight in any windows. If you have central air or heat, you can leave the doors open and the vents open. This will make the whole house one constant temp. 

Lastly, start with good eggs. I never set odd shaped eggs or eggs that are too large or too small. They must have good shell quality and be from healthy birds. I recommend you feed a well balanced diet to your birds including Kelp, and D.E. as a de-wormer. I also recommend that you supply dried garlic to help with overall health. Use it. It can only help. I also would advise you to gather eggs often in extreme weather and store them in an environment that is around 40-50% humidity and also the temp is below 70 degrees. And finally, set your eggs each week or 10 days maximum. I usually set mine every week on Sundayâs. This is what works for me. Now that you have your room set up, I would plug in the incubator and add no water. Allow the incubator to stabilize for a minimum of 48 hours to be sure it is at 99.5 for forced air (fan installed) or 101 for still air (no fan). While it is stabilizing, get a room hygrometer (instrument that measures humidity) and place it in the room. Bring the humidity level in the room up to between 50%-75% preferably 50%. If you live in a humid environment, you may actually need to dehumidify your room. But nevertheless, if you keep the humidity at 50% or close to it, you will do great. 

By controlling the room humidity, you can be more precise with your moisture in the incubator. Since your incubator gets its air from the room, it will have the correct humidity. If the humidity in the room drops to 40% donât get concerned. The eggs themselves will supply some of the humidity needed inside the incubator. Higher humidity is worse that lower humidity as higher humidity hinders evaporation. By the way, if you are using a styrofoam incubator, make sure the red plugs are in the vent holes. Dry air allows you to also be more precise in the control of temperature as well.


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## Nan(TX)

Part Two

After 48 hours of stable temps in the incubator and stable humidity in the room, you are ready to place eggs in the incubator. I use turners as they allow me to incubate the eggs without having to open it up 2 or 3 times a day. Place your eggs in a turner with the big end up. Close the incubator and forget about it for 7 days. On day 7, open the incubator and candle your eggs with a good candler. Throw away all the clear eggs as they will soon rot and could explode inside the incubator causing loss of the healthy eggs. Be very gently when handling these eggs, as the tiny embryos are very fragile at this stage in incubation. After the first candling, close the incubator and forget it for another 7 days. 

On day 14, open the incubator and candle the eggs again with your candler. Look for a real dark mass inside the egg and a small clear cell at the big end of the egg. This is the air cell. This is where the chick poke through first to get its first breath of air. If you were using the conventional means of incubation and had the humidity too high for these 14 days, your chick might encounter a good amount of water here. This could and often does drown your new chick before it even has a chance to pip the shell. If you see any eggs with large amounts of clear spots in them, compare them to the others and if they are very different, discard the eggs that have big clear patches in them. These embryos may have died for various reasons while developing. After you candle them, put the lid back on the incubator and forget about it until day 18. 

On day 18, open the incubator and add a very small amount of water to one of the water channels in the bottom of the incubator. If you notice the humidity in the room is above 65% add only a tablespoon of water or two. If your room humidity is below 65% add about Â½ of the channel full of water. Remove the eggs from the turner and lay them flat on their sides. Try to allow a little room between them. Then close the incubator and follow the next direction very closely. 

*DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, OPEN THE INCUBATOR FOR 5 FULL DAYS.* Hate to shout at you but this last 5 days will make or break your hatch. I get a little aggravated when people will go through all the previous steps and then it gets down to the moment, and they canât resist opening the incubator. Every time you open the incubator, you release valuable moisture out of the incubator and allow dry air in. This is what causes chicks to stick to their shell membranes. All you will have to do is lose a few chicks to this and you will change your habits. This means donât open the incubator until day 23.

On day 23 the chicks will be ready to take out of the incubator and placed in the brooder area. Make sure you have water ready and chick starter in low feeders ready for them in the brooder box. When you take a chick out of the incubator, dunk his beak in the water and make sure he gets a drink. Do this for all of them. Make sure they have a source of warmth, (ie a heat lamp, light bulb, brooder, etc). 
I recommend you have 2 incubators. One for an incubator and one for a hatcher. This will help if you have several different hatch dates in one incubator. On day 18 place the eggs over into the hatcher incubator. Then add water and youâre good to go. 

BILL WORRELL BRIAR PATCH FARM 5650 SNAKE CREEK RD HILLSVILLE, Va 24343


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## Cyngbaeld

http://www.cacklehatchery.com/ missouri

http://www.belthatchery.com/ california

http://www.mthealthy.com/ ohio

http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/Regular Poultry.htm iowa

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html iowa 

http://www.ideal-poultry.com/ East Texas

http://www.welphatchery.com/ iowa

http://www.ridgwayhatchery.com/home.htm ohio

http://www.townlinehatchery.com/ wisconsin

Drop shippers:
Purely Poultry, has been known not to send birds and not give refund promptly.
Dark Eggs, drops from Ideal with markup
Welp, drops from Privett. Good customer service, no markup.
Double R drops probably from Ideal


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## Firefly

The excellent Mississippi State site has been updated. Charts and tables are much more readable. http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/hatch.htm


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## Cyngbaeld

http://www.gqfmfg.com/store/instructions.asp

Downloadable instruction sheets for GQF incubators including hova bator.


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## Cyngbaeld

http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/vita/poultry/EN/POULTRY.HTM

Brooders you can build, including those that you can use a kerosene lamp in.


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