First time hatching

So I went ahead and bought an incubator. Over the past month or so i have been reading an insane amount of info on here about the process so im gonna give it a shot.
I have two roosters and 20 hens so for the sake of experiment i am going to use my own eggs. My incubator passed its all day out of the box test and seems to hold the temp fine and humidity as well.
My plan is to load it up on Saturday morning with eggs and go for it.
I bought a Farm Innovators with the auto turner. I have read good and bad reviews so and advice from someone who uses these would be super appreciated.
Thanks

sccoterny said:

So I went ahead and bought an incubator. Over the past month or so i have been reading an insane amount of info on here about the process so im gonna give it a shot.
I have two roosters and 20 hens so for the sake of experiment i am going to use my own eggs. My incubator passed its all day out of the box test and seems to hold the temp fine and humidity as well.
My plan is to load it up on Saturday morning with eggs and go for it.
I bought a Farm Innovators with the auto turner. I have read good and bad reviews so and advice from someone who uses these would be super appreciated.
Thanks

Click to expand...

Just wanted to say you're in for the time of your life. Me and my wife hatched our first batch back on 12/11 and it was a super-blast! We did what you're doing, hatching some eggs from our layer flock as an experiment before launching our serious breeding programs for our SOP RIR, BR, and BO's next month. It was extremely fun - probably the most fun we had in years. I'm building breeding pens now so we can single breed the hens in our trios and quads. After hatching that first batch I realized it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Few things have interested me that much. So you're in for a world of fun.

I don't have the model you mentioned; I have a Sportsman 1502 incubator and a 1550 hatcher. If you ran a test and it held the temperature within the acceptable range you should be good to go. Good luck to ya.

Thanks for the reply. I'm definitely excited. I'll post a few updates once i get started next weekend. I spent 15 years driving over the road and finally got a local job and bought a house. I started getting chickens in August 2016 and have never had a hobby that i have love so much and learned so much about.

sccoterny said:

So I went ahead and bought an incubator. Over the past month or so i have been reading an insane amount of info on here about the process so im gonna give it a shot.
I have two roosters and 20 hens so for the sake of experiment i am going to use my own eggs. My incubator passed its all day out of the box test and seems to hold the temp fine and humidity as well.
My plan is to load it up on Saturday morning with eggs and go for it.
I bought a Farm Innovators with the auto turner. I have read good and bad reviews so and advice from someone who uses these would be super appreciated.
Thanks

Click to expand...

Good for you for studying up on incubation before you jumped in. I think you'll find the BYC community very helpful and ready to provide assistance if you encounter something you didn't expect during your incubation adventure.

Hatching your own eggs should give you one of the best opportunities to have a good hatch - shipping can create unique problems for hatching eggs, but if you decide later to have some shipped to you, there's guidance for that on this site, too.

I also don't use that model of incubator, but would suggest - if you haven't already - that you get another thermometer and hygrometer to verify temperature and humidity readings.

Best of luck to you...and have fun!

Thanks. Appreciate it and can't wait to get things started. The more i learn about the little critters the more I enjoy having them.

This is my first time hatching as well! I am also using eggs from our flock. RIR roo and RIR hens and 2 sexlink hens. I also have my pekin duck eggs in as well. We started Sunday Jan 8 and I am hooked! I told my hubby we will always have an incubator or two running LOL!!
We homeschool our daughter and the kids loved helping with candeling Sunday!! Hope evrything works out well for you!

Thanks, good luck with your first hatch. I have mostly red sex links and 4 gorgeous Plymouth rocks. My rooster "Rupert" Is some type of leghorn mix. I have 11 eggs set aside so far. I'm still getting alot of juvenile eggs so im eating those and leaving the nice Dark Brown, medium sized eggs for the hatch. Im figuring by Saturday when i get started i'll have around 20 for the incubator.

I agree with the recommendation of another thermometer and hygrometer. And verify them for accuracy. Most incubators are sadly off in that department.

And good luck!!

You have been warned...chicken math is real!

Thanks for the advice. I'll make sure i have backup equipment To make sure this thing is running properly.

I started the Incubator tonight. Im gonna let it run till tomorrow night to make sure everything is working. I decided to start them after work tomorrow because i just cant wait any longer. Too excited. I have chosen 19 of the nicest looking eggs i have from this week, so im hoping for some luck.