Hatching Eggs for the first time and very anxious!

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CountryHaven

CountryHaven

In the Brooder
Apr 15, 2015
38
3
41
Southern Ontario Canada
Hey everyone! This is my first time hatching chicken eggs. I am a teacher and am doing it with my class!! We hit the day 21 this afternoon and no piping or peeping so far. We last candled them at about day 18 and took them out of the rocker at day 19 and have left them in the incubator in peace. Temperature has stayed steady around 99.5 - 100.5 As this is my first time I watched lots of videos on candling and when I did mine I did not see any movement like I saw in the videos and may eggs were not filling up all of the void space beside the air cell... With it being in the classroom the incubator got opened times for candling and daily for rotating until we got a rocker throughout the last 21 days.... I also read somewhere that you were suppose to be very careful to always hold them pointy end down and not to turn them but i waited two days to incubate the eggs after i got them and the farmer i got them from told me to flip them in the cartoon once a day ....
hu.gif
I read that article just the other day and I am not 100% sure that they were all in the rocker pointy side down....ugh.... I really hope that they hatch or my grade 6's are going to be so disappointed as am I!! I'm not really sure if I should be worried or over reacting. I have 23 red stars.. any advice or insight??
 
Hi, welcome to BYC!
I'm hatching in my incubator for the first time ever as well. It's so eggciting!
On lockdown day, did you boost the humidity? That's very important. What kind of incubator are you using?
Good luck!
 
CountryHaven said:
Hey everyone! This is my first time hatching chicken eggs. I am a teacher and am doing it with my class!! We hit the day 21 this afternoon and no piping or peeping so far. We last candled them at about day 18 and took them out of the rocker at day 19 and have left them in the incubator in peace. Temperature has stayed steady around 99.5 - 100.5 As this is my first time I watched lots of videos on candling and when I did mine I did not see any movement like I saw in the videos and may eggs were not filling up all of the void space beside the air cell... With it being in the classroom the incubator got opened times for candling and daily for rotating until we got a rocker throughout the last 21 days.... I also read somewhere that you were suppose to be very careful to always hold them pointy end down and not to turn them but i waited two days to incubate the eggs after i got them and the farmer i got them from told me to flip them in the cartoon once a day ....
hu.gif
I read that article just the other day and I am not 100% sure that they were all in the rocker pointy side down....ugh.... I really hope that they hatch or my grade 6's are going to be so disappointed as am I!! I'm not really sure if I should be worried or over reacting. I have 23 red stars.. any advice or insight??
Click to expand...
When you are storing them, they should still be stored pointy end down, you turn them while they are in the carton, or tilt the carton, but not turn the egg upside down. Not that I think it causes certain death, but it enhances the hatch rate to have them pointy end down and tilted during storing. Making sure they are held keeping pointy end down is an extreme exageration though. Many peopple incubate eggs on their side and manually turn.
It almost sounds as though the growth was delayed if they "were not filling up". Are you using a still air incubator or a forced air? A still air should maintain a temp about 101.5F taken near the top of the egg. While a forced air should be 99.5F. If it is a still air and you are using forced air recommended temps, it is possible that that would delay them. Also, if your thermometer/gages are not checked for accuracy, they could lead you to believe that you have adequate temps when you don't.

Humidity is always a factor especially at hatch time as to wether they will successfully hatch.
 
CountryHaven said:
Hey everyone! This is my first time hatching chicken eggs. I am a teacher and am doing it with my class!! We hit the day 21 this afternoon and no piping or peeping so far. We last candled them at about day 18 and took them out of the rocker at day 19 and have left them in the incubator in peace. Temperature has stayed steady around 99.5 - 100.5 As this is my first time I watched lots of videos on candling and when I did mine I did not see any movement like I saw in the videos and may eggs were not filling up all of the void space beside the air cell... With it being in the classroom the incubator got opened times for candling and daily for rotating until we got a rocker throughout the last 21 days.... I also read somewhere that you were suppose to be very careful to always hold them pointy end down and not to turn them but i waited two days to incubate the eggs after i got them and the farmer i got them from told me to flip them in the cartoon once a day ....
hu.gif
I read that article just the other day and I am not 100% sure that they were all in the rocker pointy side down....ugh.... I really hope that they hatch or my grade 6's are going to be so disappointed as am I!! I'm not really sure if I should be worried or over reacting. I have 23 red stars.. any advice or insight??
Click to expand...
Day 21 is an average, I wouldn't worry yet. Is your incubator a still air? If so, that temp was a little low and could delay your hatch a bit. Still air users here recommend 101.5 for incubation. You will probably start getting some action tomorrow
 
Thanks! I am excited to finally be a member. I read threads on here all the time and always have questions so I figured it was time. I have a Hova Bator model 1602N. I borrowed it fromm another teacher who has 70 chickens at home and who walked me through how to set it up and operate it.. I have a thermometer in there but nothing to measure the humidity.. was told to fill up one trough every few days and then the last few days to fill up two to keep the humidity up. Just bought some property last fall and really looking forward to bringing these guys home to our soon to be built coop after spending a few weeks with my students.. anxious .. excited.. nervous..all in one.
barnie.gif
 
CountryHaven said:
Thanks! I am excited to finally be a member. I read threads on here all the time and always have questions so I figured it was time. I have a Hova Bator model 1602N. I borrowed it fromm another teacher who has 70 chickens at home and who walked me through how to set it up and operate it.. I have a thermometer in there but nothing to measure the humidity.. was told to fill up one trough every few days and then the last few days to fill up two to keep the humidity up. Just bought some property last fall and really looking forward to bringing these guys home to our soon to be built coop after spending a few weeks with my students.. anxious .. excited.. nervous..all in one.
barnie.gif
Click to expand...
I hate to see instuctions that tell you to fill an incubator to a certain amount of water and there is no humidity measuring or checking of air cells. Your friend may very well have decent hatches in filling the wells to an "x" amount, but that might not work for you. Your eggs may be more/less porous. The ambient humidity in your class room may be higher/lower. These things will make the percentage of humidity (in your bator) higher/lower and will effect the moisture loss of the eggs differently than your friends and change the outcome of the hatch significantly. Many of us have found that the dry incubation method works much better in the styrofoam bators, than standard incubation. I use a little giant (fan forced) older model. I just had a hatch end last week with 33 hatchers out of 36 eggs that went into lockdown, using this method of humidity monitoring: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

That hoverbator model has the optional fan kit, so unless they installed the fan kit it is going to yield better hatches at 101-102 than at 99-100F

I wouldn't count them out yet, you are only at day 21, they could just be delayed a day or so. I do hope you get some hatchers.
 
its a Hova Bator 1602N thermal air flow?? I borrowed it... thermometer is on top of the eggs and reading at about 100-101.. it is not digital
hmm.png
... thanks everyone for the replies.. this is awesome! So fast and helpful!
 
CountryHaven said:
its a Hova Bator 1602N thermal air flow?? I borrowed it... thermometer is on top of the eggs and reading at about 100-101.. it is not digital
hmm.png
... thanks everyone for the replies.. this is awesome! So fast and helpful!
Click to expand...
Thermal air is still air, but that temp at egg level is good. I think you will get some hatchers. Sounds like the man you borrowed it from gave you some good help setting up
 
Thanks! He did set me up with some good advice and all the equipment to borrow which was helpful to not have to buy it!I My husband and I wanted chickens for our place and this just seemed like a great way to do it!!! I hope there are hatchers too! If I do this again next year I will probably buy all the equipment myself. I hear it is addicting!
 

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