FEBRUARY Hatch-A-Long 2015:Please Read First Post To Join H-A-L

[Autumn Leaves]

Oh no...This isn't good....you are not the first one on here with a temp drop on their incubator this HAL. I am so sorry this happened to your hatch. Crossing my fingers for you!

Can you try the temps from different locations in your incubator? My stupid Hovabator was running a 5 degree difference in the incubator depending upon location that i put the probe. I never noticed it until i got the Brinsea spot check.So, I don't know whether it was like that since i bought it or i just came across it....

i hope that you can figure this out!

I'm just rolling with it right now (but I had a good cry this morning). I am NOT putting more expensive eggs in there until this is resolved. I even changed my duck egg order that was going to arrive next week to ducklings in March. When this hatch is over (if any hatch) I'm running it for at least 2 weeks with store eggs and see what it does. My only thought is that my cat bumped something, but the controls looked normal.

I'm also looking at my house thermostat, maybe it glitched last night.

 

[BonRae67]

Sorry Bon... 

Sorry about your silkie egg

Thank you both. Was disappointed but I have 2 broody that have been sitting for a week tomorrow maybe they can do better.

 

[rainbowchick]

One is finally out!! And the other two look like they're almost ready to start pushing!

 

[rainbowchick]

Chick number two is out! I love how they keep laying on eachother! Sooo cute!

 

[Y N dottes]

Chick number two is out! I love how they keep laying on eachother! Sooo cute!

Awesome....seems like once one pops out, they all start popping out.
I remember my during first hatch they had all pipped in the night, but it was afternoon the next day and no progress. I left the house for two hours and when I returned there were 5 out

 

[emvickrey]

I have NO experience with twins. I am enthusiastically following this!

Stethoscope is a great idea.

What humidity do all of you aim for in the first 18 days?

I aim for the humidity to be between 40 and 45% during the first 18 days then up it a little to 50 to 55%. It will raise when they start pipping. I"ve had too many bad results raising the humidity too high myself. I have better luck letting them do it themselves.

 

[emvickrey]

Awesome....seems like once one pops out, they all start popping out.
I remember my during first hatch they had all pipped in the night, but it was afternoon the next day and no progress. I left the house for two hours and when I returned there were 5 out

Hatching quail is like watching popcorm pop. Once they start they pop out they're all over the place. When I first started hatching I had the bator set up in the living room right next to my chair. I babysat it the entire 21 days. If they started to hatch at night I was up all night as well. It was like waiting for a baby to be born. I did that for a couple of years. I was real bad about stepping in and helping when I should have left them alone. Now I do a head count when I go to bed. DH gets up before me and he always checks them and wakes me up to let me know how many have popped. If any haven't hatched that had pipped when I went to bed I keep an eye on them. I step in when I see no progress has been made. I've tried raising the humidity so they don't get stuck but then they end up sticky or drown in the egg. So I prefer to help them out if they get stuck. I use a wet paper towel and a metal finger nail file to gently dampen the membrane and then I use the pointy end of the file to get the feathers loose from the shell. They aren't usually shrink wrapped but when they are it's more work getting them out. I"ve had alot more success this way than I do raising the humidity.

I'd prefer to let the hens do the work but I have yet to have alot of broody's when I have alot of eggs to hatch. Only when I want alot of eggs to sell. lol

 

[Peep_Show]

49% humidity pre-lockdown. 60-65% at lockdown.

 

[scflock]

Just to recap my last two hatches for people that may not have seen the posts, I hatched 17 of 19 fertile running 40-42% the first 18 days with the first hatch. Second hatch I dropped to 35-37% and hatched 12 of 20 fertile. I had a drawn out hatch, most between days 22 and 23, so I assumed my temperatures were low. My Spot Check came yesterday, and I fired up the Octagon, let it stabilize for 2 hours, then checked several spots in the incubator. The screen display fluctuates between 99.5 and 99.6. The Spot Check read 99.6-99.7 everywhere I checked at egg level, so I am confident in my temperatures. I am setting again tonight, and am debating which direction to go now. I don't know if it's a humidity issue, or an egg issue. These eggs are all from my own flock, and we havent had many terribly cold nights, but I will leave the eggs in the nest for 3 days before I collect them (unless temps are supposed to get below 32). I don't know if I should go back to my first humidity settings to see if the hatch rates improve, or try another batch at 35%. I know that the most accurate way would be to measure weight loss, but I don't have a scale yet. I also want to try the cooldown feature, but with my last batch hatching late and slow, I don't really want to try that yet. Maybe it is just an issue of winter eggs. It seems like everyone had a rough February.
Thoughts?

 

[rainbowchick]

All three hatched late last night, so I left them in the incubator overnight. This morning they are in their brooder and doing well!