sorry if I am starting repeat threads but I am looking for anyone who can respond quickly...day 24 i

[rjandlily]

What should I do?? My daughter's teacher hatched two eggs in a classroom incubator last year. We took them home...50/50, got one hen and one rooster. Trying to do full life cycle here...she had the incubator going again with eggs the school get and I put 7 of our eggs in to see what happened. One went bad. Two hatched on Friday (they are in the brooder). My 4 are the only ones left. Today is day 24. We had agreed to wait until today (Monday) before pulling the plug. Before I let her I wanted to do the float test just to make sure. 3 didn't pass but one is bobbing and rocking. She doesn't have a thermometer or way to read humidity in the incubator. I put a small thermometer in and it appears to be about 97 degrees (I don't even know how to turn it up). I am worrying that it's not humid enough and was going to put a wet towel in. I am scared about the whole "helping" thing. I was over the moon that I even got two. I just don't want to abort the one that is rocking in the water! I don't want to be too much of a pain to the teacher since she was nice enough to let "crash" her incubator in the first place.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!!

 

[Tabasco Jack]

Let it incubate another day or two.

Before the teacher does this again, inform her about temperature and humidity needed to successfully hatch eggs.

 

[rjandlily]

Thank you for responding. We are leaving it in there for a couple of days. I put a wet wash cloth in there with it...I wasn't sure if I should. She does this every year but has an older styrofoam incubator and she isn't very technical about it (whatever happens, happens). She always has some hatch. I only did the float test to check because I didn't want to abort one of my living eggs. I am going to look to see if I can buy her a device that shows the humidity inside her incubator. Do you know if they make such a thing? I had toyed with the idea of buying my own to put these eggs in but we are only doing it this one time so it would have been a large expense for a first and last trial.

 

[Tabasco Jack]

I use the Incutherm thermometer/hygrometer. http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incubator-remote-thermometer-hygrometer.html

I have both the regular and the remote. I like the remote since I can put the sensor closer to the eggs. Whatever you get, you need to check the accuracy of it before using it. One of mine is off by 5%.

 

[rjandlily]

That's perfect...reasonable price! How do you check the accuracy of the humidity part?

 

[Tabasco Jack]

I filled a soft drink bottle cap with table salt and a little water. You want it moist but not salt water wet. I put the cap and the entire hygrometer in a plastic tub with an air tight seal lid. Some people use zip lock bags, but I had better results with the tub.
Wait for 8 hours or so and check the humidity reading. It should be 75%. What ever the difference is, mark it on the unit with a marker. Like 5% low or 5% high. That way you'll always know what to add or subtract.

Another tip for you to offer the teacher, make a spreadsheet with columns for incubation day (1, 2, 3, etc.), date, morning temp and humidity, afternoon temp and humidity, evening temp and humidity and water added. I use this to keep track of trends during my hatch. She could have students do the record keeping and come up with some creative assignments to go along with it.

 

[rjandlily]

Okay...humidity-knowledge challenged over here...how does the salt play into it? Just curious. I googled a bunch amount humidity but didn't follow...I am not very scientific. I like the chart idea. It's amazing how many lessons one can create from this experience!

btw...nothing happening still. Would there be a point (like tomorrow) where I should water test again? And if it still moves, what to do?

 

[Tabasco Jack]

when salt and water (NaCl and H2O), are in a saturated solution at equilibrium, the resultant humidity is 75%.

I take that today is day 26 from your initial post. You could float test it, but I don't think that going any longer will help. Someone else may have a different opinion.

 

[rjandlily]

There's a crack and peeping!! I really hope to meet him tomorrow (thinking he is a boy...did the wing test on the other two and they might be girls...I think temperature in the incubator is low). Amazing! I hope he doesn't need help out because I don't feel confident enough to handle that.

Thanks so much for all the info about the humidity...very helpful. This entire experience is incredible and vey educational!