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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Electricity to run it and the egg turner for three weeks.
Then, electricity to run a light to warm the chicks for as long as it takes.

New chicks need 95 degrees, and you reduce the heat by 5 degrees a week 
until they are fully feathered and can take the cold. My birds in the 
chicken tractor(I'll try to get you some pics) should have 65 degree 
temps.  They are not entirely fluffy yet, but they are almost there. 
The light keeps them comfortable when the temps drop at night.



bob ford wrote:
> So the incubator cost you.....in rent ? ... or in electricity?
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> --- On Sun, 11/23/08, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
> > From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> > Subject: Re: [Homestead] Eggs are hatching-UPDATE
> > To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > Date: Sunday, November 23, 2008, 12:52 PM
> > No, they would be killed.
> > I have 3 groups(technically 4)...
> > A) the adult birds and rooster (5 hens, 1 rooster)---they
> > are in the new
> > coop
> > B) the juniors, 8 free chicks that are now right at 6 weeks
> > old, which I
> > moved from the greenhouse to the chicken tractor yesterday.
> >  We modified
> > the tractor, adding plastic, some hay, and a light.  It was
> > like 25 last
> > night and they survived all happy and chirpy this morning.
> > C) the chicks, which we won't officially count before
> > they hatch
> > D) the eggs of soon to be chicks, of which there are 28. :)
> >
> > Whatever chicks hatch will be kept inside the house for at
> > least a week,
> > in a box with a light and some hay.  Assuming all is well,
> > I will move
> > them to the cage in the greenhouse at one week, where they
> > will still be
> > under lights for warmth.  The morning that we saw 16 here,
> > it was 38 in
> > the greenhouse.  It is hard to keep it above freezing if
> > there are
> > several nights in the teens, which is typical in winter.
> > After 4-6 weeks in the greenhouse(more time if fewer
> > chicks, less if
> > more chicks), I will play "move the chickens"
> > around Jan 1.
> > The new chicks will go to the chicken tractor(4x5), and the
> > juniors will
> > go to the old coop(10x10).  In the spring, I separate
> > roosters and will
> > allow all adult birds to unify by allowing them to range in
> > the same
> > area, then coop them all together at night.
> >
> > If you put birds of different sizes together, the big ones
> > will pick on
> > and kill the little ones, unless there is a mother to
> > protect them.  If
> > a hen is not broody, she is unlikely to foster/protect
> > chicks not her
> > own, at least at this age in this season.
> >
> > This is round 1 of chicks.  I am already collecting eggs
> > for round 2 of
> > incubation, which, if I can get enough eggs, should start
> > next weekend.
> >  As long as I have use of the incubator, I'm going to
> > hatch as many as I
> > can.  If my girls stop laying, then I am dead in the water.
> >   There's an
> > economy of scale here, it makes no sense to run the
> > incubator(and then
> > lights) for a dozen eggs...at least, that is my break
> > point, but I
> > haven't done the math on it.  I should.
> >
> > Bev
> >
> > bob ford wrote:
> > > So when they all hatch, do you take them to the coop
> > for a chicken to
> > > watch?
> >
> > -- “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to
> > anger. Anger leads to
> > hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda
>
>
>       
>
>
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>
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--
“Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to 
hate. Hate leads to suffering.”        Yoda