Hatching in an incubator - questions!

[yellowDahlia]

I gather it's pretty easy and rewarding to do but I have questions about the timing of how to care for the chicks afterwards.

So assuming I could get my hands on all the kit (a friend has all the relevant equipment I could borrow) - when is the best time to begin the process? Bearing in mind we're booked to go on holiday for a week at the end of July/beginning of August. Our three hybrids will be going to hen boarding for that week - if there are chicks could they go too?

Or should we do it when we return - would early August be too late?

I would also look to get a second coop either to house the new hens or to help with integration into the flock.

Any advice or experience welcome!

Your talking 21 days approx before they even hatch, you need your incubator up and running for a few days prior to make sure it stays stable. I wouldn’t be setting any off now this close to going away. I go away in August and mine are due to hatch next week, then I will hopefully do another once back.

They will need to be a good size before actually letting them together so a second coop and run are essential.

It’s also not always that easy, assisted hatching, detached air cells, possible exploding rotten eggs.

Thanks Chattymummy so it's not too late in August then.

Timeline is something like - 21 days to hatch then maybe another 10 weeks or so until flock integration? Or keep them separate and they could free-range together perhaps?

Exploding rotten eggs doesn't sound fun...

They need to be inside or outside with heat for a while. Introducing them to the flock is a slow thing, start with seeing each other but not able to get to each other. Older hens can be nasty to smaller newbies so they need to be a good size ideally.

21 days is the guideline I’ve just assisted a hatch at 19days, it hadn’t pipped in the air cell instead straight out and was wrongly posistioned after giving it over 24hrs it had failed to progress at all. Not everyone is willing to assist but my thing is if I don’t it will die anyway so might as well give it a shot. Try not to do staggered hatching as well as that’s a pain a day or two apart is fine but more than that and you can get into trouble with the higher humidity and not opening the lid.