Anyone setting eggs starting July 15 -July 22? - Page 44

some pics of the same gang at rest. one of the cutest things i've seen is when a bunch of chicks fall asleep all over each other

HI everyone. We're so busy on the weekends, that I can only get in early a.m. and late p.m.   Glad to see that things seem to be progressing for everyone.

-For eggs that are a day early, you should set your temp down 1/2 degree (.5) and they should be on time next time.   Looks like your thermometer is just a half degree off.  Good info to have.

-I think it is much easier to run an incubator with more eggs, rather than less.  Multiple little heat sinks seem to help keep temps uniform, and prevent spikes and drops.  If you can, set more eggs.

-The waiting game is enough to drive anyone mad, as far as I can tell.  Working and stressing and getting up in the wee hours with a flashlight to check temps, and then, wait and wait and wait, and know that anything can be happening in there.    Oh yeah.  Still drives me nuts, and it doesn't change either.  You love them and hope for them, and sometimes it rocks, and sometimes I cry.  Its especially hard when they hatch, and then they have some issues - won't eat - bad feet - cant' stand - slowly fails to thrive - all these are hard, and also a fact for poultry. 

- I keep my humidity at 75% min. at lockdown, even if they havn't lost enough air, cause if they shrink wrap, they are in big trouble too.  Keep humidy 30-50 (back and forth is the norm, its hard to keep it exact, just avg 40% if you can) until lockdown, then sponges and water until your at 75%.

I'm so pleased to see eggs hatching for everyone.  I'm also happy to hear new bators are en route and being made.  I've got 3, and is it enough yet I ask you?  Depends on how many eggs I ebay.....

Thank you for making me feel welcome.  Your a lovely group of hatchers, and we are all still learning new things, even after a long while.

So, who went out and bought a led flashlight today?  The little ones with the plastic ring around the light are amazing!  Its fun for me to candle at days 7, 14, and 18 (tossing all blanks and fails, if they blow up on you, it'll probobly kill the whole bator full of eggs.)  I like to draw lines with a pencil weekely to mark how the air is decreasing.  IT also tells me if the wee eggie is still alive. 

I think chicken addiction is contagious,, My DH is now researching building a bator out of a cooler. says my LG doesnt have a fan and has design flaws, gonna let him build away...
 

marty those are all great things to know!! thank you for all the good advice!! I think I should've gone a little more humid for the hatch, two of the chicks are sticky (not fluffy). is this due to lack of humidity? I did put in some water in the water channels for the remaining eggs. I don't have a hygrometer to check humidity though...

btw some hatched after and before the "sticky" chicks without problems

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrbanMamaHen 

I hope you will get at least two. One of the two silkies died, and at least two of the BR died. I still have about 20 that are alive, at least that is what I think anyway.

 Keep me posted!  I have a headache...gonna go to sleep since staring at the bator      is getting me nowhere.  Hopefully I will wake up to SOMETHING - a chirp, a pip, a chick - hopefully something.  Will let you know.

57 posts after being gone for the day...

Anyways, this morning, the egg that was left, I tried listening to it and didn't hear anything, so I brought it in to candle. It was dead, but I'm happy with the other three. Mommy is VERY protective of them. I would put on some pics, but my camera doesn't have any batteries. Although, I will try to get some batteries tomorrow and when I do I'll upload pics :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roxannemc 

You know that is great that you didnt have to humidify the incubator and i guess you could take the chicks out during   lockdown without shrink wrapping the rest since the humidity was in the room not the bator.. really COOL

How i wish i could do that without running into the room to add water every hour.LUCKY

Good hatch too!

 I have to.  I don't suppose your talking to me, though.  :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chick_In_The_Burbs 

Sandmbaker- So sorry to hear about your hatch! That's pretty close to what happened to me, only mine were obviously done at ten days. I hope you have better luck next time. Maybe see if there are any eggs listed for sale on Craigslist as a pick up.

thank. Im thinking about ordering some more silkie eggs when i get some extra money. The hard thing for me is my son is autistic and he doesnt understand where the eggs are and why they didnt hatch  he watched them everyday and waited for the internal peeps. he doesnt understand death so I had to tell him the eggs are with the mommy chicken for a while.