11th Annual Easter Hatch a Long 2020

[kelseyk]

Whenever you open your incubator it will try to compensate by turning the heat on full. Then it spikes and it turns off the heat. Eventually it gets back to an even keel. During all this see-sawing, the temp inside the eggs (where it matters) stays relatively stable. You can get remote thermometers where the probe is inside a fake egg designed to simulate a real egg. Unfortunately they can't be calibrated (or mine can't, at any rate). Nevertheless, they do show how much more stable temp can be on the inside of the egg.

I've seen advice to leave the incubator alone for an hour after opening it. I rotate my eggs to different spots in the incubator every day and get those wild swings. It's no more harmful than mama hen getting up for food, water & broody-poo.

Your humidity will be just fine. It will most likely go up when the babies begin to hatch. They're pretty soggy from being encased in egg stuff. Best of luck!

I would have left it alone, but it was already up to 103 and the temp on the incubator had already stopped and regulated. I watched it for a good 10 minutes to see if it would go back down, but just kept going up. This is my old incubator that I was going to try to use as a hatcher that I have been talking about where I have to have the thermostat set at 105 to get it to 99.5/100 inside....so it has me nervous that it is all of a sudden going to decide to work "right" and then spike up to 105. I've read many reviews about this particular incubator having a tendency to temperature spike randomly for long periods of time. I was also beckoned by the hubby to help go move cows, so didn't want to risk cooking them for an hour or more. I got home 2 hours later and it was down to 97. So adjusted it back up to 103.5....and now it is a pretty steady 101 in there.....so off to go adjust it down again and try to find it's new "sweet spot" for temp. I should have a new still air hovobator on the way this week. (I'm not going to stress myself out trying to get this thing to work any longer than I have to.)

 

[FortCluck]

Whenever you open your incubator it will try to compensate by turning the heat on full. Then it spikes and it turns off the heat. Eventually it gets back to an even keel. During all this see-sawing, the temp inside the eggs (where it matters) stays relatively stable. You can get remote thermometers where the probe is inside a fake egg designed to simulate a real egg. Unfortunately they can't be calibrated (or mine can't, at any rate). Nevertheless, they do show how much more stable temp can be on the inside of the egg.

I've seen advice to leave the incubator alone for an hour after opening it. I rotate my eggs to different spots in the incubator every day and get those wild swings. It's no more harmful than mama hen getting up for food, water & broody-poo.

Your humidity will be just fine. It will most likely go up when the babies begin to hatch. They're pretty soggy from being encased in egg stuff. Best of luck!

It takes a long time for an egg to cool. In my experience an egg has to sit for about 7 minutes outside of the incubator for it to drop to about 85. I don't know anyone who leaves their eggs out that long or their incubator open that long.

 

[MROO]

Okay - I lied .... I did not have an external pip ... I had TWO ... one was just hidden. Both zipped in no time, flat . We now have TWO BABEEZ! The lighting is really poor and the peeps are super tiny (Nankin bantams) so I can't get a good pic atm. I'll have DD take pics in the am.

I am SO tickled! The hens weren't really laying well when we started the HAL, so I only had three eggs to set and they all came from cold nests. Two out of three have now hatched. RC Nanny's are notorious for poor hatch rates, so I really didn't expect to get any, this time. I pretty much only put them in to join the HAL ... I'm SO glad I did! I did add three more a day or two later, so we'll see if any more hatch. Hopefully a day or two early on lockdown won't hurt them. Regardless, since Nankins are a critically endangered breed and my best hens are leaning towards "henopause," I'm happy with ANY hatchlings!

We also have five crosses in the 'bator, mostly as an experiment on staggered hatching (since some of my girls are slowing down,) but who knows? Maybe we'll end up with a few interesting mixes. I'm hopeful, but trying not to be too optimistic about their success. If nothing else, it would be nice to figure out how to do a mixed-aged hatching. We've been hand-turning them while the others were locked down, but noyt as frequently as necessary, since we didn't want to disturb the older egglets. We'll just keep our fingers crossed here and see what happens.
Happy! Happy! Hopeful!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

My EHAL baby ❤ She's half Silkie, half silkie-feathered Cochin bantam

And her weird feet

 

[MROO]

My EHAL baby ❤ She's half Silkie, half silkie-feathered Cochin bantam

View attachment 2085566

And her weird feet

Those are NOT weird feet! They're adorable! And so is your new baby!

 

[ronott1]

Okay - I lied .... I did not have an external pip ... I had TWO ... one was just hidden. Both zipped in no time, flat . We now have TWO BABEEZ! The lighting is really poor and the peeps are super tiny (Nankin bantams) so I can't get a good pic atm. I'll have DD take pics in the am.

I am SO tickled! The hens weren't really laying well when we started the HAL, so I only had three eggs to set and they all came from cold nests. Two out of three have now hatched. RC Nanny's are notorious for poor hatch rates, so I really didn't expect to get any, this time. I pretty much only put them in to join the HAL ... I'm SO glad I did! I did add three more a day or two later, so we'll see if any more hatch. Hopefully a day or two early on lockdown won't hurt them. Regardless, since Nankins are a critically endangered breed and my best hens are leaning towards "henopause," I'm happy with ANY hatchlings!

We also have five crosses in the 'bator, mostly as an experiment on staggered hatching (since some of my girls are slowing down,) but who knows? Maybe we'll end up with a few interesting mixes. I'm hopeful, but trying not to be too optimistic about their success. If nothing else, it would be nice to figure out how to do a mixed-aged hatching. We've been hand-turning them while the others were locked down, but noyt as frequently as necessary, since we didn't want to disturb the older egglets. We'll just keep our fingers crossed here and see what happens.
Happy! Happy! Hopeful!

That is good news! It is nice to have two so that they can keep each other company

 

[elisabeth_]

I love reading the updates about everyone’s new babies, @pipdzipdnreadytogo your little chick is so cute!!
It is day 20 for me, hoping to see some chicks tomorrow or at least some pips. I hope everyone has a successful hatch.
Happy early Easter to those that celebrate.

 

[CindyinSD]

This egg has been like this for a few hours. Should I open that hole?

View attachment 2085472

No. Leave it alone. They can take up to 24 hours.

 

[Pensmaster]

This egg has been like this for a few hours. Should I open that hole?

View attachment 2085472

X2 leave it. They need rest before starting to zip

 

[CindyinSD]

And her weird feet

HOBBIT FEET!!!