Hatching & Brooding your own Chicks / Damerow

Hatching & Brooding your own chicks : Chickens, Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Guinea Fowl / Gail Damerow.

This book presents a guide to acquiring and brooding hatchlings, covering such topics as setting up a brooder; managing water, feed, and bedding; chick development and health issues; and managing and operating the incubator.

Contents: pt. 1 The Chicks -- 1.Acquiring Your First Chicks -- Selecting a Chicken Breed -- Care to Give Turkeys or Guineas a Try? -- Choosing Ducks and Geese -- Finding the Hatchlings for You -- The Right Time for Chicks -- 2.Setting Up Your Brooder -- Brooder Features -- Ready-Made Brooders -- Homemade Brooders -- Housing for Tween-Age Birds -- Providing Heat for the Little Ones -- Controlling Light -- 3.Managing Water, Feed, and Bedding -- Providing Water -- Providing Feed -- Brooder Bedding -- 4.What to Expect as They Grow -- Early Chick Development -- Day Trips and Camping Out -- Separating the Sexes Instinctive Behaviors -- 5.Hatchling Health Issues -- Contagious Diseases -- Sudden Death -- Physical Defects -- Environmental Sickness -- pt. 2 The Eggs -- 6.The Broody Hen -- Broodiness -- Brooding Facilities -- Managing the Broody Hen -- The Hatch -- Foster Moms: Not Too Picky -- Discouraging Broodiness -- 7.Selecting an Incubator -- Egg Capacity -- Turning Devices -- Airflow -- Temperature Control -- Humidity Control -- Ease of Observation -- Ease of Cleaning -- Incubator versus Hatcher -- 8.Eggs for Hatching -- What's in an Egg? -- Egg Selection -- Egg Sources -- Clean Eggs Are a Must! -- Egg Candling -- Egg Storage -- 9.Operating an Incubator -- Adjusting Temperature -- Adjusting Humidity -- Ventilation Ensures Oxygen Supply -- Egg Position and Turning -- Embryo Development -- Egg Culling -- The Hatch -- Cleanup -- 10.What Went Wrong? -- Record Keeping -- Breakout Analysis -- Troubleshooting the Hatch Issues Affecting Hatchability -- 11.Hatchling Identification -- Embryo Dyeing -- Egg Separators -- Identification Methods.

ISBN: 978-1-61212-014-0

2013 paperback.

Pages: 239; Illustrated (colour)

Poultry Book, Chicken, Chook, Bantam, Fowl, Hen, Hatching, Brooding chicks.