Ashley's Chickens and Lops

Ashley’s Little Giant Incubating Tips for Beginners

•       Do NOT wash the Eggs
  
•       For a still air Incubator, the Temp should be 102
  
•       For a circulating Incubator, 99.5
  
•       Keep the incubator out of the sunlight and drafts
  
•       Check incubator 3 times a day or more to make sure the temperature is correct
  
•       Make sure foam tray in the bottom is always filled with warm water
  
•       Take out one of the red plugs on the top of the incubator on day one, take out BOTH after day 19
  
•       Candle eggs day 7 and 14 to see egg development ( THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, You need to take out any duds or it could ruin your hatch!!!)
•       Don’t open incubator too much or you will lose the humidity and change the temperature
  
•       When using an automatic egg Turner, Pointed end of egg down, Large end Up
•       I HIGHLY recommend a turner, you have a lot better results then turning by hand
  
•       Mark each egg a number with a pencil (NOT A PEN OR MARKER!)
  
•       Turn eggs 3-5 time a day From day  1 to day 19
  
•       After day 19 stop turning and change degree in still incubator down to 99.5
  
•       Add a wet sponge or small cup of warm/hot water after day 19 to
  

help chicks hatch

•       Leave the baby chicks in incubator a least 18-24 hours until they are completely fluffy
  
•       Chicks don’t need food for the first 36 hours, They have absorbed there yolk as there food source before hatching
  
•       ONLY help chicks hatch if they have been in the egg for 24 hours and have
  

not made more than a small hole

•       Use warm water to wet the chick, since it has dried to its shell, and slowly peel the
  

egg shell off.

      BE CAREFUL, you could pull of some feathers or even skin if the

chick isn’t wet enough

•       When you take chick out, it is normal for them to pip loudly, since
  

they have just gone from 99.5 to room temperature

•       Make sure not to put them on newspaper, Paper towels are OK
  
•       Paper towels, corn cob bedding or Pine shavings is adequate bedding
  
•       Make sure it is 95 degrees in there brooder area for the first week
  
•       When first introducing them to water, Add vitamins and electrolytes to
  

there water and dip their beaks.