This was my first time ever time to hatch eggs, so I used some of my own. I put 3 BO and 3 EE eggs in a 25 year old hova bator on Jan. 25th around 3pm. The chicks started hatching completely out on Saturday Feb. 14 around 4pm. That is exactly the 20 days. The last of the 6 hatched 24 hours later than the first one. All are in the brooder eating, drinking and sleeping.
I used a still air hova bator, that my Grandfather used for quail about 25 years ago. It had been in an outside shed all this time and covered in dirt. I didn't even know the air holes were in the top until I got it cleaned, and then I had to take a screwdriver and poke all the mud out of them.
My humidity was around 33 - 35% through most of the hatch. Sometimes I would add a little to much water and it would go up to 40-45%, but it came back down by the next day. I had a couple of times that it dropped to 20-25% and the temps got up, but I caught it pretty quickly. On the 18th day, I added water to get the humidity up to 70%. It fluctuated from 65 -70 before they started hatching. Oh, I candled probably 5 times (first time so couldn't help myself) and turned the eggs 3 times a day the first week and a half and then 2 times a day until day 18. I wasn't home for the middle of the day turn, during the second half.
Hopefully they will all stay healthy.
Thank You to everyone who provides great info on this website! I definately couldn't have done it without you.
I used a still air hova bator, that my Grandfather used for quail about 25 years ago. It had been in an outside shed all this time and covered in dirt. I didn't even know the air holes were in the top until I got it cleaned, and then I had to take a screwdriver and poke all the mud out of them.
My humidity was around 33 - 35% through most of the hatch. Sometimes I would add a little to much water and it would go up to 40-45%, but it came back down by the next day. I had a couple of times that it dropped to 20-25% and the temps got up, but I caught it pretty quickly. On the 18th day, I added water to get the humidity up to 70%. It fluctuated from 65 -70 before they started hatching. Oh, I candled probably 5 times (first time so couldn't help myself) and turned the eggs 3 times a day the first week and a half and then 2 times a day until day 18. I wasn't home for the middle of the day turn, during the second half.
Hopefully they will all stay healthy.
Thank You to everyone who provides great info on this website! I definately couldn't have done it without you.
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