Brooding an Eyas.

[goshawks00]

Issac for a single bird the way Wes recommended, is about as simple and fool proof as it gets. Be careful of temp flucuations esp. from day time to night time.
Start at 97-8 degrees and plan on decreasing the temp about 1/2 degree for a week. Once you see the gray down instead of white... figure it's about 12 days by then ( I think you were talking about a coop)..it will be well on the way to self regulating it's own temp...

A few things to watch for :

..if cold it will huddle up , head tucked under it's body... may shiver and cry because of discomfort.... raise temp( ALWAYS, no wait..ALWAYS keep an accurate thermometer at the same level as the chick).

.. if to warm it will lay with wings and legs stretched out , may pant , and cry because of discomfort.... change temp lower to help it cool down...

... also PLEASE make sure it gets small bone from 3 days age on... best bone I've found was the toes off what you are feeding... cut small( like BB size), with sharp toenails cut off., next best is the soft gristle part of the breast bone... not the keel itself but the lower extremes of it. Watch for any sharp bones... if not it's about as good as any way to kill or at a minimum put your baby off it's food. Also another good bone source is mouse bone , for the most part they are soft and easily cut and digested... third choice ... powder scraped of a parakeet cuttle bone, ground to powder and sprinkled on food. BTW always soak food in warm water, both so the digestive system of the baby isn't shocked by cold water, and just as important , it will help keep the chick hydrated.

Here's something else I've always done...

Being that I've had the priviledge to help feed numerous gos chicks , I have noticed a phenom... not mentioned before. The gos will salivate profusely when feeding their chicks , esp. early on... talking to a vet friend he thought the the hawk has a built in mechanism to transfer
enzymes to the newly hatched chick through the saliva,to promote bacteria for digestion purposes in the gut. So being a curious kind of guy I ask the vet how to substitute this and was told we have the same enzymes in our saliva. So.. now, and for the last 100 + chicks , I have always spit in the palm of my CLEAN hand and fed the first few bites of meat with enzymes added to newly hatched chicks....
Does it help.... who knows ... but I also do know I haven't lost any because of it either , and it makes perfect sense to me and at least several vets I'm talked to about this with... Guys... just something to ponder.
.02
Barry

[Zoe Jones]

I use a bog standard heat lamp for small babies. Just watch them, they soon let you know if they are too hot or too cold and the sooner they are off heat the better. The british peregrine I'm raising at the moment only had heat over her in the evenings by nine days old and had no heat at all by eleven days. It's all down to your local weather and keeping an eye on the baby.

[BestBeagler]

Barry,
Thanks for taking the time to wright that all up. That was just what I was looking for thanks. Isaac

[BestBeagler]

I use a bog standard heat lamp for small babies. Just watch them, they soon let you know if they are too hot or too cold and the sooner they are off heat the better. The british peregrine I'm raising at the moment only had heat over her in the evenings by nine days old and had no heat at all by eleven days. It's all down to your local weather and keeping an eye on the baby.

Thanks for the advice. I see it's your first post. Welcome to NAFEX. Isaac

[Zoe Jones]

Thanks for the advice. I see it's your first post. Welcome to NAFEX. Isaac

Thanks Isaac, was posting an intro at the same time but this one was listed first. Good luck with your eyas!

[John]

Wow, Barry. Great little tidbits of info in there!

[Chris L.]

Barry great idea on the saliva. I am sure it does help get the gut going on the new chick..

Isaac,
I will snap a pic of my brooder tonight. It uses a light bulb on a dimmer swithc. I do keep a thermomter in it but I do as barry does. I just watch the chicks.. they will tell you how hot or cold it is. Make slight adjustments as it only takes a few degrees to get it right.

Also, have it running a few day in advance to make sure the ambient air is nice and warm so you dont have huge temp fluctuations.

All of the above is very important for a newly hatched chick but you can have a less stable environment for a older chick. But the more stable the better for any age.

[hcf]

hi guys,
you can also get a dull emmiter bulb that gives off heat but not light. they come in various wattages. you can also hang a red bulb up too.

andy

[tumble]

Being that I've had the priviledge to help feed numerous gos chicks , I have noticed a phenom... not mentioned before. The gos will salivate profusely when feeding their chicks , esp. early on... talking to a vet friend he thought the the hawk has a built in mechanism to transfer
enzymes to the newly hatched chick through the saliva,to promote bacteria for digestion purposes in the gut.

There are enzymes on the market for people with digestive problems. I wonder if any of these would be useful.