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Chicken timeline to 9 months
-21 days Incubation day 1 Start Incubation 37.5 degrees 42% Humidity
-20 to -18 days Incubation days 2 to 4 Blood vessels can be seen when candling
-17 to -15 days Incubation days 5 to 7 Foetus can be seen when candling
-14 to -4 days Incubation days 8 to 18
-3 days Incubation day 19 Stop turning egg & raise Humidity to 60%
-2 days Incubation day 20 Sometimes you can hear chick peeping
-1 day Incubation day 21 Egg is cracked from inside by chick
Incubation day 21 may carry on until day 24, check twice a day to see if chick is peeping
and if so it should take no more than 20 hours for it to pip else it will run out of oxygen.
When pipping has started the chick should be out within a few hours resist the urge to
open incubator else this will lose vital humidity and the chicks membranes will become
tough to break or may stick to the chick making it impossible for the chick to hatch.
After 24 days candle the egg and if the chick has not broken through into the air cavity
then or it has but there is no pipping then there is a strong likelyhood that it never will
so discard the egg.
1 day Give water, chick will have absorbed egg sack so does not need food
Temperature should be 32 degrees (89.6F)
2 days Give water & starter food
3 days Chick tooth will have gone by now
4 days
5 days First feathers can be seen
6 to 7 days
8 days Temperature should be reduced to 30 degrees (86F)
9 to 13 days
14 days Temperature should be reduced to 28 degrees (82.4F)
15 to 24 days
25 days Give growers food and keep temp at 25 degrees (77F)
5 weeks Difference between hens & cockerels may be seen
Temperature should be 22 degrees (71.6F)
7 weeks Chicks have enough feathers to be keep warm
Remove artificial heat - chicks may go out during daytime
8 weeks Young cockerels may start crowing softly
9 weeks OK now with outside temperatures
15 weeks Upward growth of chicks stops and they become broader
16 weeks De-worm chicks
17 weeks Start with layer pellets
19 weeks Comb & wattles become more red
20 weeks Laying of first egg (varies from breed to breed) POL
6 months 1st moult - egg laying may stop
9 months Most breeds are now fertile (some breeds are earlier)
Egg sizes:
Jumbo - 2.5 ozs +
Extra Large - 2.2 - 2.4 ozs
Large - 2 - 2.1 ozs
Medium - 1.7- 1.9 ozs
Small - 1.5 - 1.6 ozs
Pair: - 1 Male and 1 Female
Trio: - 1 Male and 2 Females
Pullet:- A female chicken that has not yet started to lay
Hen - Female chicken usuall of 20 weeks plus that has
started to lay
Molt - Period in which bird loses its feathers - usually
every 12 months and hens usually stop laying.
Capon - Castrated cockerel
Cockerel - Young Male chicken < 12 months
Rooster - Male Chicken > 12 months