April 2020 Hatch-A-Long! All are welcome!

[Poultrybonkers]

i have one egg going on lockdown tomorrow it was the only egg i set at the time as its from my ee/wyandotte x wyandotte hoping to better the lacings though set 6 more eggs from that hen the 19th along with 3 goose eggs two are showing signs of being fertile but there so hard to hatch lol

 

[CindyinSD]

Go with your trusted thermometer. Just make sure your trusted one is as close as possible to the where the incubator probe/thermocouple is. I don't have a Hovabator... can you calibrate its thermometer?

 

[kelseyk]

I’m struggling with our incubators. They are all new I’m just new also. Last hatch in 2 incubators 6/34. 7/7 under broody hen plus I never had to check a temp or top up the water. Still trying. Have 18 eggs divided between 3 incubators right now. Trying to see if I can figure out where the problem is. Or if it’s all operator error. Other problem is poor fertility rate. The rooster only has 5 hens. Last hatch, none of the eggs from the buff Ameraucana hens hatched. Depending on how this hatch plays out, thinking about selling them to someone who wants laying hens.
After rambling, thanks for the link.

I purchased 2 Govee Themometer/Hydrometers off of Amazon and put one in my new hovabator and one in my Jonoel 12. Then I decided to get my old Farm Innovators incubator out and use it for a hatcher, so I bought a 3rd one. It has made it so much easier to monitor temp and humididty! I calibrated each with a calibrated meat thermometer and double checked the humidity against another couple hydrometers and think they are reasonably close. (I need to calibrate the humidity now that I know how though.) By watching the graph that the Govee App makes, I have found that my old incubator must have had some thermostat issues. While using it as a hatcher there were 2 times that the temp spiked to almost 104 and stayed there for nearly 3 hours before I noticed and another time that it dropped to 97 and had been there for 4 hours before I noticed. All 3 times I had to go readjust it to a new "sweet spot" temperature on the thermostat in order to get it to regulate itself again. I also know that I had some newbie mistakes too....like not taking the vent plugs out all the way (we were having a hard time keeping the humidity where it needed to be so were using them as regulators), and I am pretty sure we were opening the incubator too much during lock down. I've learned a lot since then though and feel I am doing pretty well with hatching now.

 

[kelseyk]

My chicks are technically due tomorrow, but I haven't seen any pips or wiggling and haven't heard any peeps. I'm trying not to worry, but I am

I've had quite a few wait until hatch day or the 2 days after to pip and hatch. Hang in there!

 

[CindyinSD]

Ok so I just got my hova bator 2370 today. I followed the directions for set up. The light on the top is blinking like it should be ready, but the accurite temp thing I have in there is reading 95 degrees. I've had it on for over an hour to get it up to temp. Does anyone on here have any experience with this model. Which temperature should I go with??

I don't have a Hovabator. Can you calibrate the thermometer? If you have a trusted thermometer, you should go with that... just make sure to put it right next to the incubator's temp probe/thermocouple and give them both time to adjust and settle down before you compare.

A couple things to make sure of... Don't set the incubator under a thermostat. Its heat will influence the thermostat's reading of the room temperature and throw things off in weird ways. Don't set it in a drafty area or a room with an unstable temp. Don't set it against an outside wall if it's still getting significantly cold out.

If you've met all the criteria for placement and adjusted for the inaccuracy of the incubator's own thermometer and find that it still struggles to maintain a high enough temp, then you start thinking of ways to provide extra insulation such as towels, etc., maybe a box... Be careful not to cover the ventilation hole, though.

Oh yes, if it has a setting to adjust for room temperature, be sure to alter that to mesh with the temperature of your chosen room.

 

[LulusLayers]

Day 20 and we have 2 pips so far, video clip here:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10103972342401166

 

[CindyinSD]

So far, six healthy ducklings and one with a herniated umbilicus and a neck that can't lift his little head.

(That one is sleeping peacefully, wrapped and supported in a coffee mug. I put the mug in a bowl of warm water and draped everything with a cloth to keep him cozy, poor little thing. He seems comfortable. If he's gonna die (which he probably is), at least he isn't in apparent pain.)

Anyway, I had to put three in the brooder for unwarranted rowdiness. They were all fluffy and nowhere to go. Now they're nestled under the brooding plate, fast asleep. It's 60° in the garage, so that'll take them some getting used to. Three in the incubator drying off, several working hard zipping away. They're SO SLOW!!!

 

[Fatimetta]

Yay!!! Anyone using the brinsea advance? I am wondering if when the screen says Day 1 if on day 0 it shuts off automatically. I’m hoping not in case some take longer to hatch

 

[Knighstar679]

Here are the my first hatched chicken eggs.

A lavender

A black one

And blue

we think lavender orp for the first, Jersey giant for the second and a blue olive egger for the third.

they came out pretty cute.

 

[kelseyk]

I have a hatching problem this year! LOL!! I just pre-ordered some more Silkie eggs....Mid May delivery with a June hatching date. Daughter wants a black Silkie to "replace" the roo we just lost (the Silkies and Svart Honas are her 4-H chickens).