Another fist timer

mydanet

In the Brooder
Aug 22, 2015
16
3
24
Hi All
Well I'm on my 15th day of my first hatch, I just got done with my first candling and I have 9 out of 12 that are looking good. So here is my question...I made an incubator with 4 shelves and as I collected a weeks worth of eggs I would pop them in a tray and add them to the incubator which has forced air. So I have also made a "hatcher" thinking that on day 18 I would take the egg tray out of the incubator and pop them into the "hatcher" now since this is called the "lock down" should I make provisions for fresh air and a fan to move the air around or not? I have fresh air in and stale air out on the incubator. I'm sure someone has asked these questions before and I'm sorry to bother you all but any help is appreciated
Thanks in advance
John




 
Hi All
Well I'm on my 15th day of my first hatch, I just got done with my first candling and I have 9 out of 12 that are looking good. So here is my question...I made an incubator with 4 shelves and as I collected a weeks worth of eggs I would pop them in a tray and add them to the incubator which has forced air. So I have also made a "hatcher" thinking that on day 18 I would take the egg tray out of the incubator and pop them into the "hatcher" now since this is called the "lock down" should I make provisions for fresh air and a fan to move the air around or not? I have fresh air in and stale air out on the incubator. I'm sure someone has asked these questions before and I'm sorry to bother you all but any help is appreciated
Thanks in advance
John




Nice job!
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Yes, it is very important to have good vents and air flow in the hatcher.
Good luck!
 
Hi All
Well I'm on my 15th day of my first hatch, I just got done with my first candling and I have 9 out of 12 that are looking good. So here is my question...I made an incubator with 4 shelves and as I collected a weeks worth of eggs I would pop them in a tray and add them to the incubator which has forced air. So I have also made a "hatcher" thinking that on day 18 I would take the egg tray out of the incubator and pop them into the "hatcher" now since this is called the "lock down" should I make provisions for fresh air and a fan to move the air around or not? I have fresh air in and stale air out on the incubator. I'm sure someone has asked these questions before and I'm sorry to bother you all but any help is appreciated
Thanks in advance
John





I'll say this for you your really into this .nice looking home made . couple of questions what has humidity been like through the incubation. and when you lock down can you post egg pictures . you can use forced air are still air on the hatcher your choice. if you go with still air make sure you increase the temperature to 101/102 degrees fresh air flow is a must . you need it to help dry the chicks . good luck with the hatch
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Hi All
Since I live on the north coast we enjoy a very dry heat so the humidity in the incubator has been about 35% ( I used a calibrated hygrometer) and I had made provisions for a water tray which would raise the humidity to 45%. now in the hatcher I can maintain from 35 to 95% I plan to use 70%. Do you open the hatcher to remove dry chicks or should I leave them all in for the duration 22-23 days? I hope this works!
Oh and by the way i couldn't figure out how to turn the photographs right side up sorry bout that.
John
 
Hi All
Since I live on the north coast we enjoy a very dry heat so the humidity in the incubator has been about 35% ( I used a calibrated hygrometer) and I had made provisions for a water tray which would raise the humidity to 45%. now in the hatcher I can maintain from 35 to 95% I plan to use 70%. Do you open the hatcher to remove dry chicks or should I leave them all in for the duration 22-23 days? I hope this works!
Oh and by the way i couldn't figure out how to turn the photographs right side up sorry bout that.
John

Personal preference on the chicks. Some take them out and some don't. The nice thing about byc is you find hatchers with many different opinions . Some raise humidity as soon as the eggs are in lock down . Some like me wait for the first pip to raise humidity . Here the relative humidity is so high I run a dry hatch. now that is not to say that it really is dry. I don't need to add water to reach target humidity which for me is 28 to 32 % . If your hatcher recovers humidity quickly then there is no problem removing the hatchlings. Providing no other eggs are piped or zipping . I use 65% in my hatcher and that increases as the chicks hatch . You make it sound like you are going to do an upright hatch in the tray . Are you? I lay down to hatch . but some hatch in cartons with the bottom cut out . an some hatch upright in trays. really you find what works for you as you go along . best of luck with your hatch .
 
Personal preference on the chicks. Some take them out and some don't. The nice thing about byc is you find hatchers with many different opinions . Some raise humidity as soon as the eggs are in lock down . Some like me wait for the first pip to raise humidity . Here the relative humidity is so high I run a dry hatch. now that is not to say that it really is dry. I don't need to add water to reach target humidity which for me is 28 to 32 % . If your hatcher recovers humidity quickly then there is no problem removing the hatchlings. Providing no other eggs are piped or zipping . I use 65% in my hatcher and that increases as the chicks hatch . You make it sound like you are going to do an upright hatch in the tray . Are you? I lay down to hatch . but some hatch in cartons with the bottom cut out . an some hatch upright in trays. really you find what works for you as you go along . best of luck with your hatch .
xs 2 It's a personal decision. As long as your bator/hatcher gets humidity back up quickly you should have no problems moving them as you are comfortable. I run my humidity 75% at hatch and move my chicks as they become active in my bator with no negative results on the other eggs. (Humidity will shoot up near 90% at hatch but because I pull my chicks and shells out it doesn't stay up there that long.) I use wet sponges in my bator so when the humidity does dip I just wet my sponge.
 
Hi All
Just an update on my first hatch...I maintained the hatcher at 99.5 F. humidity at 70% with the fan on low speed and air vent open. I started with 12 eggs, I candled them at 14 days and I found 3 duds, so on day 18 I put the remaining 9 eggs into the hatcher. On day 21 one egg pipped but no hatch...day 22..2 hatched and 5 more pipped when I awoke on day 23 all were hatched except 1, which hadn't pipped or hatched so out it went. So I hatched 8 of 9 for a 88% hatch...not bad I thought. The thing that helped maintain very close temp setting were the thermostats that I purchased off EBay

I purchased these for about $4.00 each, they have a remote sensor accurate to 0.1 degree which is a calibrated, you can also set the differential temp. to as little as 0.1 degree and it will power up to 15 amps, i use 60 watt light bulbs for heat 1/2amp, but the only read in Celsius not Fahrenheit, (no big deal really)

I'm very happy with the entire experience with one exception and that was with the racks I used, the chicks had a very hard time climbing over it after hatching, the racks worked great in the incubator however. Question: Has anyone taken eggs out of vertical racks like this one then on lock down laid them down horizontally in the hatcher?



Well there you have it! If anyone is hesitant in trying to hatch there own eggs its not very difficult, try it, I think you will enjoy the experience I built my incubator and hatcher for about $125.00 using of the shelf parts.



Thanks for your time
Sincerely
John
 
Thank you BYC910....The 8 chicks that have hatched are doing great


I raised the temp in the hatcher a half of a degree for the next batch that went in yesterday. I did think about showing my bator and hatcher build but since It was my first one I did'nt want to steer others wrong on a untested bator.

John
 
Thank you BYC910....The 8 chicks that have hatched are doing great


I raised the temp in the hatcher a half of a degree for the next batch that went in yesterday. I did think about showing my bator and hatcher build but since It was my first one I did'nt want to steer others wrong on a untested bator.

John
They are gorgeous and I'm still
bow.gif
over the DIY bator.
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