Hip, hip, hooray: let's raise a dozen chicks
7.7.2023
Translation: machine translated
Our brooding attempt at home was successful. From the initial 24 eggs, 12 chicks were hatched. Since then, the 'dirty dozen', as we call it, has given us a lot of satisfaction and a lot of work.
Fifty-fifty: this is the result of our first attempt at incubator breeding. Rather modest, I think at first. Until Alice Auer of the Pferdehof OHA in Fällanden assures us that a 50% hatching rate is just fine. This is a first. He must know this, since he lent us all the equipment for the experiment.
Source: Sofia Vogt
Pick me up
Watching the birth of a chick is fascinating. For us. Maybe for you, too, if you watched the live stream at the right time during the final phase of our experiment. For the chick, however, the whole process is simply exhausting. Hours pass between the first small hole in the egg shell and hatching. During this time, the chick struggles its way through the skin and egg shell from the inside.
Source: Patrick Vogt
Once it has finally made its way through life and into the air, the chick is exhausted.
Source: Patrick Vogt
From the egg to the chicks' hotel
After hatching, we leave the chicks in the incubator for a few more hours. At least until they are completely dry. Then we move them to our daughter's room where they find their new temporary home, which we set up earlier.
It's gettin' hot in here
In addition to fresh water and always sufficient food with nutrients and restoratives, chicks need warmth above all. In the first weeks of life, baby cocks and hens are not yet able to regulate their body temperature independently and are extremely sensitive to cold. We can remedy this with a heat lamp.
Source: Patrick Vogt
Another lesson learnt: if we cover eggs again, I will use a hot plate afterwards. Its energy consumption is considerably lower than that of a heat lamp. There is a heating coil in the hotplate that distributes the heat evenly. The chicks are placed under the heating plate, which is attached to height-adjustable supports. This is closer to the natural warmth of the nest than using a heat lamp. In natural hatching, the chicks are also under the hen, which protects them from the cold with its feathers.
How much poop
When our daughter was little, I marvelled at how much poop such a tiny creature could make. Now I am amazed again, because our twelve chicks are no less. That's why I immediately gave them the nickname 'The Dirty Dozen'.
Source: Patrick Vogt
At the moment, our main job is to regularly replace the encrusted bottom of the chick pen with a clean one. Our consumption of [kitchen paper](/search?filter=t_pt%3D483&is=household&q=household paper) is correspondingly high. I am happy when we can switch to hemp litter as a base, which we already use in our henhouse.
Source: Patrick Vogt
Wellness for chicks in the Vogt house
In spite of the excessive pooping, we are very happy with our twelve new housemates, especially our four-year-old daughter. She spends a lot of time with the chicks, petting them, talking to them and 'reading' whole books to them.
Source: Sofia Vogt
The chicks will enjoy all the care from us for a few more weeks. They will not become permanent housemates. At least not all twelve, that much is already certain. We already have four hens and can take in a maximum of two more. We simply do not have room for more.
Cock or hen, that is the dilemma
Which two chicks remain with us also depends on the sex: our four 'old ladies' will be joined by other hens. However, we still do not know which chicks are male and which are female.
Don't worry about the fate of the other ten chicks. Regardless of their sex, they will be able to live a free and dignified life at the Pferdehof OHA horse farm in the future. This is where it all started and where we hatched the fertilised eggs. The circle closes.
Cordula, Lea, Chipsy, Popeye, Picapica, Ruedina, Lady Ga-gaaa, Hermine: eight chicks already have a name. Four are missing. Want to help? Write your suggestion for names in the comments.
Cover image: Sofia Vogt
I'm a full-blooded dad and husband, part-time nerd and chicken farmer, cat tamer and animal lover. I would like to know everything and yet I know nothing. I know even less, but I learn something new every day. What I am good at is dealing with words, spoken and written. And I get to prove that here.
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