August Hatch-A-Long

[StarMeKritten]

Hi all!!  So happy for all the new babies!  Mine are doing great    I just bought 24+ more eggs!!!      I'm hoping to do better next time.  I'm wanting to find out a little from everyone on how the hatches are coming out for the ones that did dry hatches??  Dry hatch is leaving humidity alone as long as it doesn't go lower than 30???  And what do you keep it at for lockdown?  My temp was great but I think I had to much humidity in the beginning and not enough for hatch.  Losing 5 chicks doesn't sit well with me and I don't want to end up getting so nervous I help them hatch all by hand.  The 5 that didn't make it never internal pipped, not sure what the cause of that is and 3 of them seemed not positioned right, again I don't know the reasoning.  I'm sure being shipped eggs and me never have done this didn't help so I'm just very happy for my 4 chicks!!  Thanks again for any advise and help I can get.  Happy hatching!  

I don't add water until day 18. My humidity stays around 35-40% without it which is about what I like to aim for. I bump it up to about 70% for lockdown. I also have to suggest adding a fan. It really really helps. My hatches improved dramatically after I did. It really does help to keep the temperatures more stable. We just took a fan out of an old computer and stuck it in the lid of the incubator. We attached it with zip ties and plugged it in using the charger from an old cell phone. I can take some photos if you'd like to see how we did it. I just have a cheap little giant incubator. :

 

[Yara]

Hi all!!  So happy for all the new babies!  Mine are doing great    I just bought 24+ more eggs!!!      I'm hoping to do better next time.  I'm wanting to find out a little from everyone on how the hatches are coming out for the ones that did dry hatches??  Dry hatch is leaving humidity alone as long as it doesn't go lower than 30???  And what do you keep it at for lockdown?  My temp was great but I think I had to much humidity in the beginning and not enough for hatch.  Losing 5 chicks doesn't sit well with me and I don't want to end up getting so nervous I help them hatch all by hand.  The 5 that didn't make it never internal pipped, not sure what the cause of that is and 3 of them seemed not positioned right, again I don't know the reasoning.  I'm sure being shipped eggs and me never have done this didn't help so I'm just very happy for my 4 chicks!!  Thanks again for any advise and help I can get.  Happy hatching!  

I'm doing a dry hatch. I haven't put a single drop of water in my incubator and it's day 9. My humidity is still in the 40s... sometimes up to 55. Of course I live in Oklahoma and humidity outside is like 85% lol. I had to candle my eggs because I was smelling a funk coming from the incubator and I only threw out 2 eggs so far out of 28 and one was a stinker! There are a few questionable ones but we will see. I'm just excited to see that 8 of my 9 blue double laced barnevelders are developing! I'll keep updating!

 

[Yara]

I don't add water until day 18. My humidity stays around 35-40% without it which is about what I like to aim for. I bump it up to about 70% for lockdown. I also have to suggest adding a fan. It really really helps. My hatches improved dramatically after I did. It really does help to keep the temperatures more stable. We just took a fan out of an old computer and stuck it in the lid of the incubator. We attached it with zip ties and plugged it in using the charger from an old cell phone. I can take some photos if you'd like to see how we did it. I just have a cheap little giant incubator. :

Please post pics! I have a hovabator still air and I also have a spare computer fan. I'd like to see how you wired and attached it. I'll put one in for my next hatch!

 

[Iko127]

I don't add water until day 18. My humidity stays around 35-40% without it which is about what I like to aim for. I bump it up to about 70% for lockdown. I also have to suggest adding a fan. It really really helps. My hatches improved dramatically after I did. It really does help to keep the temperatures more stable. We just took a fan out of an old computer and stuck it in the lid of the incubator. We attached it with zip ties and plugged it in using the charger from an old cell phone. I can take some photos if you'd like to see how we did it. I just have a cheap little giant incubator. :

Thank you!! I will try to do the fan but I'm not sure if I will know how to wire it...LOL. I know my husband will but he works really long hours and wants nothing to do with chickens...lol

I would love the pics when you can. I really do think that it was just my humidity though. I was the dummy that added water for the first 10 or so days and then stopped, and then I couldn't seem to ever get my humidity over 65 unless a chick was hatching. It never got below 62 but still I think the fluctuation from beginning to end was bad. My temp stayed never ranging more than one to two degrees except one time it got warmer in the room but being home it didn't happen but maybe an hour. At lockdown, without the turner in my temp stayed at 99 and never ranged. I think that is good? I'm sure the fan is better if I can get it done before friday!

 

[Iko127]

I'm doing a dry hatch. I haven't put a single drop of water in my incubator and it's day 9. My humidity is still in the 40s... sometimes up to 55. Of course I live in Oklahoma and humidity outside is like 85% lol. I had to candle my eggs because I was smelling a funk coming from the incubator and I only threw out 2 eggs so far out of 28 and one was a stinker! There are a few questionable ones but we will see. I'm just excited to see that 8 of my 9 blue double laced barnevelders are developing! I'll keep updating!

Thank you! Hope your hatch turns out good!! Can't wait to see them all!!

 

[StarMeKritten]

I'll explain this as best as I can. My husband actually did most of the work, but it only took about 5-10 minutes.

Inside of lid: we chose an empty space in the middle to put the fan. We poked 4 holes (1 at each corner of the fan) to attach it using zip ties. There is a vent hole directly above the fan. We ran the wires for the fan through that.

Here, you can see the short pieces of a straw that we used for spacing so that the fan wasn't directly against the lid. That gap allows for better air flow.

Here's a view from the outside. We used some plastic pieces to keep the zip ties from pulling through.

I don't know much about the wiring aspect. Basically, the wires from the fan got connected to the corresponding wires on the wall charger. Then it was all wrapped in electrical tape... Though we'll replace that with the heat shrink stuff before next time.

The fan blows air up and out the vent hole. I'm not sure if that was the best way to do it, but its working fine. I end up covering about half of that hole during hatching to keep the humidity up. With the fan and the other vent holes, there doesn't seem to be any issues from lack of air or anything like that.

Feel free to ask questions. If I don't know the answer, I'll ask my husband later.

 

[Bryce243]

7 of my initial 27 eggs hatched friday

 

[Bryce243]

 

[kada6305]

Day 10 for us, I did a quick candling without handling the eggs, all are still going strong. how likely is it that all 6 hatch?

 

[KendyF]

Here are the 4 survivors of my first Aug Hatch. The temps were high and low and the eggs were shipped. It was a bit of a mess.
I do staggered hatches so the next batch is in lock down.