Incubators Anonymous

[OneMountainAcres]

My name is Emily, and I have 11 hens and 1 roo.  I started last June, when I visited my sisters flock and saw she had what I call a "teddy bear chicken", which I've since learned is a cochin.

I wanted a teddy bear chicken too, and that started my chicken addiction.  1 year later, I have a flock of 11 hens/1 roo, consisting of 4 different breeds, and just purchased 10 new chicks (some of which are a 5th breed), and purchased my own incubator in November to start hatching my own chicks, filled with some of my own eggs plus eggs from a 6th breed.


I'm looking to find a hen that lays an aqua blue egg now.  Anybody know what breed that would be?

Welcome to chicken math! It's addicting on its own but you've got incubation to contend with now lol

A good line of ameraucanas or cream legbars will give you a nice blue egg

 

[Jessimom]

Yes those are the SS. At this age they can be difficult to tell from the Welsummer chicks that I already have.

You have to zoom in, but the chick on top of the heat plate is one of the SS - I think. The red one to the left on the bottom is one of the RIR's. And the poor little silkie WAY over to the left has a bald spot on it's head.....they spill WAY too much food.

 

[duluthralphie]

Ask away, we can't answer questions that aren't asked. If the question is more appropriate for somewhere else, we will try to direct you to the best place to get an answer. If it is an incubation question there probably isn't a better person to ask than @Sally Sunshine

If it's about dux, don't ask @duluthralphie

I am hurt by this, I normally have the perfect solution to any dux problem of question.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Some of Ralphie's chicks that he shipped to me on Monday. Best hatch I have ever gotten from shipped eggs!

Speckled Sussex and Cream Legbar.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Hi there! I am brand new to these online forums/messages, and brand new to incubating. We just incubated our first batch of duck eggs and I had a major problem. I was wondering if I could ask questions here or if there's another thread I should try...? I don't know what the etiquette is for the groups! I tried starting a thread and received no responses. Thank you, any advice would be helpful. -Victoria

Quote: watit whut!!! did I read that Kathy is putting away "the 'bators for a while"

OH THE SHAME!!!

So..... We just finished up incubating and hatching duck eggs, from our own Welsh Harlequin and Khaki Campbell ducks, in a brand new Hovabator Genesis 1588. I set the temp to 99.5 during incubation and 98.5 at lockdown, the thermometer I put inside confirmed the temp. The humidity was high during the entire incubation period, about the last week I read that my humidity should be lower because it's a dry bulb vs. wet bulb reading (I may be explaining that wrong). But, the humidity was set around 60% for incubation and then 75% + for hatching/lockdown. I had to add a wet sponge to the bator to get the humidity up. I only used the humidity reading on the bator, I do know that for hatching there was more than enough humidity as I had a hard time getting the babies to dry and had to move them to the brooder to dry. We had 5 good eggs at lockdown, they were candled and I could see movement in all of them. When it came time to hatch the pips were pretty straight forward but I could see tan very dry membrane under the shell. I waited a little over 24 hours, and read every article google could find about assisting (as well as watching all the BYC videos), before intervening. I had to intervene on all 5 eggs, all had pipped but none could zip. One duck was lost, I did not intervene in time, it had pipped the shell but not the membrane and got shrink wrapped. The rest are doing well, they were more than ready to get out of their shells and were just waiting for a little help.

My question is.... What went wrong??!! Was the humidity too high for the first 25 days of incubation? I have kids and used this as a fun learning experience, we washed our hands well before handling eggs but we did candle them quite often to see what was going on inside.... should we have worn gloves? Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. I was really hoping to order some crested duck eggs for incubation but I'm really worried the same thing will happen again and I am very discouraged. I don't want to give up on incubating because it's so much fun and very educational, but I don't want to put more baby ducks through this again!

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. -Victoria

Hi @NobleDucks I love incubating ducks! so awesome to see their little webs and bills inside the eggs! I will tell you that I DO NOT spray eggs during incubation and I do NOT dip eggs during incubation, I use the same methods as I hatch chicks. Ducklings take forever to sit and absorb all that yolk! Well over 36 hours! Zip doesnt take long.


Sounds like you were calibrated, does that hovabator have a fan? I will throw some copy pastes here for you from the educational thread NOTES from that thread are HERE
NOTES LINKS & Informational POST LINKS I will start with the basics, and you can see a few of the important yet simple things you need to remember.....


NO FAN = NEED HIGHER TEMP!
STEADY TEMPS after CALIBRATION = A MUST! (try heat sinks!)
HUMIDITY IS NOT A SET NUMBER! Its a TOOL to get the correct weight loss in the eggs! READ Humidity section below! CALIBRATE Hygrometers too!
SHIPPED EGGS = CHANGE OF PLANS!
TURNING = ITS IMPORTANT! (3x is MINIMUM!)
HAVE A BACK UP PLAN IN CASE YOU LOOSE ELECTRIC
FRESH EGGS? WASHED EGGS? how to collect is important!


Questions w/ Answers for you!

where they shipped or your own eggs/local eggs? Shipped Eggs = Change Of Plans! post #53845

How old were the eggs at set?

How old is your flock?

They were stored and turned cool conditions?

Have you misted or washed the eggs?




COLLECTING, WASHING & EGG STORAGE

Washing, Cuticle, Sweating eggs post #63837
Digital Egg Scale - Accurate Humidity Measurement and Egg Sizing HERE
ZONES OF COLD INJURY fro EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT post #36213
PULLET EGGS??? post #41984 UNDER CONSTRUCTION
DOUBLE YOLKERS NOT suggested but they can hatch with assistance post #46649
BIRTH DEFECTS CONVERSATION AND INFO ON WORMERS!! post #25707 post #25706
Abstract DIPPING EGGS IN VITAMIN C post #33828
Pre-Incubation Warming of Chicken Eggs post #65812
Egg Quality: (Click to show)
Egg Quality:

• Egg defects and CORRECTIVE steps, detailed information Click HERE
• Optimum Egg Quality from your Flock: click HERE
• EGG Quality Click HERE

Fertility: (Click to show)
Fertility:

• IS IT FERTILE? Many images see post #43324
• Managing Fertility click HERE
• Several Reasons Why Your Hens May Stop Laying Eggs click HERE
• Winter Blues w/the Roos, why are my eggs infertile ugh starting post #1986
• Reproductive Physiology of the Hen post #40628
• HOW long does a ROO SPERM REMAIN IN HEN post #40628

• Polyspermy is typical in birds. Several sperm enter the germinal disc region post #40644
• Double fertilization spots? post #5991

Example 57 out of 126 were declared fertile.

Hatch Rates...

Example 50 of the 57 fertile eggs hatched the % hatch=

What bator are you using?

It has been fumigated/cleaned?




Cleaning Incubator and Equipment

FUMIGATION OF HATCHING EGGS AND EQUIPMENT post #48689
CLEAN INCUBATOR BEFORE AND AFTER USE post #48689

Turner or no turner?


TURNING ITS IMPORTANT

HOW and Why To TURN Eggs TURN MORE THAN 3 times a day!! post #22178
Turning until day 18 post #51410
UNDERSTANDING the CAM ~chorio-allantoic membrane post #22177


Incubated Air cell Upright or horizontal?

How do you have your thermos leveled in the bator?

Fan or no Fan? You know temps should be different for Fan vs still air models?






INCUBATION TEMPERATURES

READ TEMPS SECTION HERE: post #9068 Hatching Eggs 101
Incubators with fans and without fans need to run at DIFFERENT TEMPS! post #9068
ADD a LEGO to your dial of cheap styro bator to make minor adjustments! GENIUS post #38133
What is the maximum and minimum range of temp I can go before killing the chicks? post #12473
ZONES OF COLD INJURY fro EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT post #36213
HAVE A PLAN IN CASE YOU LOOSE ELECTRIC ITS THE SEASON! see post #522
What to do when you find a HIGH TEMPS in Bator post #7061
10/13 day old embryos begin to produce excess heat in the incubator post #27240


You calibrated thermo hygros and know not to rely on the one that came with the bator?

AGAIN...You have more than one thermo hygro and they had been calibrated?

You know that you should not use the vent holes to adjust humidity?




THERMOMETERS, HYGROMETERS & CALIBRATION
Celsius to Fahrenheit (ºC to ºF) conversion calculator click HERE
Thermo/hygro suggestions post #13998
Brinsea Incubator Thermometers click HERE
Strombergs Thermometers click HERE Hygrometers click HERE Digital Thermo/Hygros click Here
Hova-Bator GQF Incubator Thermometer / Hygrometer (Wet Bulb) 3018 post #32892
HEAT SINKS/ Stones/Pebbles ADD THEM TO STYRO! post #43903

Calibration is a MUST: HOW TO CALIBRATE post #9068




VENTILATION (OXYGEN)

VENTILATION (OXYGEN) (Click to show)
Hatching at High Altitudes post #37908
O2 deprivation to day 10 of incubation followed by regular oxygen concentrations leads to stronger chicks post #33815
NEVER USE VENT holes as a means to Control HUMIDITY especially during HATCH DAYS!



You realize humidity is NOT a set number just a tool to get the correct weight loss in the egg?


You understand the majority of people for standard hatching eggs run the first 7 days 25-30% humidity (possibly 35%for shipped eggs) and adjusted from there for weight loss?

You understand that you can in fact candle every two days after day 7 to just keep a closer eye on weight loss so you dont need to make major changes later on?

Try to add water above in containers and not in the troughs until lockdown?


HUMIDITY Humidity is NOT a set number!

Its a tool to get the correct weight loss in the egg! post #7068 see Hatching Eggs 101





AGAIN....You understand humidity is NOT a set number, most of us begin incubation 25-35% the first week and then adjust as needed per air cell growth/weight loss.


LOCKDOWN, DAY 18, CANDLES, PIPS, ZIPS

*IMPORTANT INFO= TIMELINES PIPS ZIPS!!! & MARKING AIR CELLS DAY 18, DRAW DOWN, INTERNAL PIP, EXTERNAL PIP, and ZIPPING post #35770

My name is Emily, and I have 11 hens and 1 roo. I started last June, when I visited my sisters flock and saw she had what I call a "teddy bear chicken", which I've since learned is a cochin.

I wanted a teddy bear chicken too, and that started my chicken addiction. 1 year later, I have a flock of 11 hens/1 roo, consisting of 4 different breeds, and just purchased 10 new chicks (some of which are a 5th breed), and purchased my own incubator in November to start hatching my own chicks, filled with some of my own eggs plus eggs from a 6th breed.


I'm looking to find a hen that lays an aqua blue egg now. Anybody know what breed that would be?

Hi there!! As jess suggested!

• Araucanas. FYI If a chicken lays blue eggs, it's safe to assume they have Araucana in their genetics. ...
• Ameraucanas. ...
• Easter Eggers. ...
• Cream Legbar. ...

 

[R2elk]

I am hurt by this, I normally have the perfect solution to any dux problem of question.

No harm was intended to your feelings.

 

[NobleDucks]

Thank you for the advice! I'll check out the link. -Victoria

 

[Jessimom]

I have to admit, I tried, tried, tried to plan on putting away my incubators for a while, until all my babies are out of the house and integrated with the flock....but I saw a post in the 24 hour auction and I did my best to win. Was out bid at the VERY last second....so I'm safe for now.....after the Easter HAL, I will hopefully stay strong and stay away from AUCTIONS!!!!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I'm sorry you were outbid :/ That just means that is time to check ebay for what you missed lol

 

[3riverschick]

K