Really Gutted....

[julesapple]

......and so so angry with myself.

Chicks have been hatching well throughout the day so I think I've got the humidity right this time.

Took three chicks out to put in the brooder with the heat lamp above set at 32c. Completely forgot that they are under a Velux window, so when the sun went over the house I managed to cook two of them to death. Even though they had space to move away from the lamp, the combination of the sunshine and the heat lamp must have been far too hot. I'm so angry with myself for not thinking ahead - it was showery when I put them in the heat pen but the sun came out strongly after the rain and I was so busy with a trade order I wasn't thinking.

I only checked them half an hour before and they were fine, temp was good. One was a Legbar cockerel so would have been Jakk food, but the other was the first Blue Leghorn to hatch and we only have three of those eggs with chicks in now.

Jules

[Snadger]

Sorry to hear this jules....................

[SuzyB]

Sorry Jules, thats a shame. The damn weather cant make its mind up today, its hard to keep up with it, sunny one moment, raining the next. Sorry you lost two newbies xx

[walldanzig]

sorry to hear that Jules but these things happen and we learn from our mistakes at least you know it will never happen again. the lessons Mr fox has taught me about the lengths I need to go to to keep them safe and every time I felt aweful because I put them in harms way. good luck with the rest

[sheena]

Sending hugs your way, and hope that the other eggs hatch out ok.

[Polly Fouracre]

We've all done things we reaised were stupid after the event and all learned from our mistakes. If only foresight were as clear as hindsight!

[julesapple]

The final total is 13 chicks from 30 eggs (including the two over heated ones) None of my six Friesian Fowl were fertile, neither were 5 of the 12 Coronation Sussex. We had five fertile Blue Leghorns out of 6 and all six Heinz 57's were fertile. Two were crushed/cracked by Daisy and one CS drowned in it's extremely thin shell.

Of the hatchlings, I think three are Blue Leghorns, four are Coronation Sussex (of which one looks to be Apricot) and the other four are Heinz 57 farmyard mixes.

As we now have homes for all but two of our 8/9 week olds, I'm thinking about setting one more lot in the bator. Just thinking about it, mind not made up yet. BH says we should go for it, but the year is passing and we don't need little birds in really cold weather.

On the plus side, it was nice to see people so keen to boost backyard poultry keeping and not boost battery farming by buying cheap eggs from shops. And it's amazing to see children's reactions to chicks/chickens at all ages and stages.

Jules

[BUFFS]

sorry to hear of your problem,we have all done something similar and afterwards mentally kicked ourselves for not thinking of all the possible snags,the old case of what can go wrong,will go wrong,we all have our off moments,.....enjoy the rest of them..

[jessmorris]

....it IS hard to try to imagine evrything that might go wrong, every time we do something. At least you have quite a few chicks to watch growing up!

[MrsC]

Don't be too hard on yourself Jules, we have all done things when hatching/rearing chicks

[SuzyB]

Why is it...

That Im panicking about making sure my 2 week old chicks in the brooder are in the right temperature all the time when my new mum has had her two, 1 week old chicks out most of the day in the outside run?

Sure she sits down every so often to give them a snuggle but for the most part of the day they've been pottering around after her like they are on wheels.

Is it imperative to have the brooder at a constant temperature? Its lidded but does the lid need to be down all the time?

[sheena]

When I had my blue bro's I didn't have much in the way of heat for them, literally a table lamp and a guinea pig home (the one with the wire top). I didn't know if it was warm enough for them or not to be honest, but they grew up and have moved on since.

This time round it's a totally different story, need to make sure everything is ready for the new mum (ie Me.. ).

[julesapple]

That Im panicking about making sure my 2 week old chicks in the brooder are in the right temperature all the time when my new mum has had her two, 1 week old chicks out most of the day in the outside run?

Sure she sits down every so often to give them a snuggle but for the most part of the day they've been pottering around after her like they are on wheels.

Is it imperative to have the brooder at a constant temperature? Its lidded but does the lid need to be down all the time?

Last hatch, we turned the light on just for night times after about 4 days. It was so warm outside, and they are in a naturally warm room, that they really didn't need it. This time the light will need to be on as it's turned so much colder now but I'm not really sure it needs to be so warm for them during the day.

Jules

[jessmorris]

Hi Suzy,
just thinking about your wee ones in the run as I have some to go out soon...is your run on grass or chips and is it covered? I didn't worry very much in the spring when I had chicks out as it was dry, but now its so wet, I'm not sure that putting them on wet grass is a good idea....what do you think?..

[Nicos]

Sad to hear about your loss.
Yup- we're all on a learning curve here- hopefully someone else will have had learned from your mistake.