Incubator/hatching related questions

[jhall6293]

That's the idea, use the circulated ones for pre lock down and the still air for lock down.. I'm in the market for a fan to add to it just because... Checking eBay and elsewhere. I just didn't need another egg turner. Price difference of 80 or 90$ for the one without the fan and egg turner. Even if I pay 20 for a fan I'm still coming out better.

I also think this is a great idea...I may have to use it!
Do a lot of people do this or just something a few have thought about or actually do?
Does it have any effect on your hatch rate?
You've piqued my curiosity!

 

[Bsranch3]

I also think this is a great idea...I may have to use it!
Do a lot of people do this or just something a few have thought about or actually do?
Does it have any effect on your hatch rate?
You've piqued my curiosity!

Honestly, I am very new to incubating! I am just trying to utilize my space according to the way my birds,and my friend's quail, lay.. I am looking at fan options though because I'm worried about hot spots. @fatdaddy just worried I will screw it up using a computer fan because I am no electrician. My luck I will burn up the whole incubator! My husband will be home later this week to help me with it I just put the quail in on Friday so I still have some time to get it together

 

[cookiesdaddy]

Here's my OLD automatic eggs turning system, just rolling them back and forth 3 times a day.

And here's my NEW manual eggs turning approach, rocking the whole tray of eggs 2-3 times a day.




(BTW eggs on the left tray were washed, the right ones weren't. From your washing note, I may have over-washed my eggs. I read somewhere how people washed so I soaked my eggs for a couple minutes, wiped away any gunk, rinsed, sprayed a diluted solution of clorox, rinsed again, left in the sun a few minutes to dry ... I might have killed all the fetuses in there! Will update.

FWIW ... I just want to come back and report the result of my experiment. Left tray was washed eggs, right tray unwashed. The result? No difference in hatch rate. Both trays I got about 20% "glowing" eggs (no sign of development, most likely due to infertility). And both trays I got about 60% hatch rate. It's pretty low I'm not sure why. My temperature is very stable and uniform. I think I may have problem with moisture not high enough during the first 14 days. I built the incubator out of wood panels. I think the wood material absorb the water causing a non-uniform moisture distribution in the box. I'm increasing moisture and plugging more vent holes in this current set.

Also, there is no difference in hatch percentage compared to my older egg turning method either.

Again, FWIW ...

 

[Fat Daddy]

Thank for the follow up! The difference or lack there of, bewteen the washed and un washed is what i expected..... But I expected the new turning method to increase your hatch rate.... Are these eggs from your birds or somewhere else? If they are from your birds we need to talk about feed, ratios and ages..... Bill

 

[spoilt70]

I have a female Japanese quail that has been sitting on a nest for two days now what are the chances of actually sitting to the hatching date

 

[farmerJonBrown]

Anyone ever attempt to set up a temperature alarm to alert of high temp? I lost almost 100 eggs because of a spike in temp for about 5 hours and I don't want that to happen again.

 

[HatchCraft]

If you want to upgrade your thermostat to a PID type temperature controller, they typically have high / low temp alarm functions. A practical alternative use by many incubator manufactures is to wire a secondary wafer thermostat in series with the primary thermostat . The secondary thermostat temp is set slightly above the primary preventing serious overheating if the primary thermostat should fail.

 

[cookiesdaddy]

Thank for the follow up! The difference or lack there of, bewteen the washed and un washed is what i expected..... But I expected the new turning method to increase your hatch rate.... Are these eggs from your birds or somewhere else? If they are from your birds we need to talk about feed, ratios and ages..... Bill

I was hoping the turning method would make a difference too. Probably would have if I'd had better fertility rate. My feed is good. Eggs are from my birds. I keep a ratio of 5-7 hens to 1 roo to keep them less stressful. Plenty of room. I think it's the age. A couple cages the birds are 9 to 12 months old. I want to replace them with younger ones. But the oldest cage still have first generation birds from JMF so I hesitate to replace them. They're precious

 

[gilpinguy]

I just had two chicks hatch while I was at work. My wife frantically called me and emailed this pic. This is my first hatch, so I'm very excited and can't wait to get home to see my babies!

Many thanks to the forum for all the tips and advice - this thread was great!

 

[mylittlehippie]

This is my first hatch using an incubator. I had one chick hatch yesterday which was day 18 only. It has been almost 24 hours since that chick hatched and so far no one else has even pipped. Since she was early should I still expect the others in a few days. Should I remove her so she doesn't keep bumping the other eggs? Any help and support is much appreciated!