Little Giant Incubation Experiment - Day 21 - Hatch Day!

[AmyLynn2374]

Yea! I'm glad you figured out your problem.

TY, I'm not sure I figured it out, but my solution is working for whatever reason so I will not look a gift horse in the mouth...lol

Nice to hear that this one has worked for you! I almost ordered it, but was unsure. I ended up ordering a Brinsea Spot Check, going on their reputation and a couple other folks' recommendations. Same price as that one, but does NOT read humidity. Ugh! I have found the Spot Check to be very accurate. I've bought enough thermometers and hygrometers to stock my own store now! Because I agree, its all so nerve racking, you want a dependable one. But good golly, you would think it would be easier to find one that actually works and works right!

It is nerve wracking. It's suprising how innaccurate these accurate thermometers are.

 

[mswendeu]

I'm thinking now maybe I should have paid better attention in science class when we learned about heat and mass and energy and all that. So after realizing that one side of my bator was running warmer than the other, I did what logically sounded like the only smart thing to do and moved as many of the eggs as I could to the side that was holding the right average and just rotating the top. I discovered that since doing this that side seemed to run even hotter making a bigger temp fluctuation between the two sides. So, I started wondering if the difference is w/o eggs there, there is nothing to absorb the heat. So I took the two new sponges that I have on reserve for lockdown and w/o adding any water placed them on that side beside the thermometer. My bator held steady all night, (though that's not abnormal, it usually does until I turn eggs in the morning then it goes screwy.) This morning, turned the eggs closed it back up, it came back up to temp and has been holding steady all morning/afternoon. My "hot" side is holding a perfect 99.5 and the "cool" side is holding 100.0 both steady. I'll take that! So I wonder if the fact the one side was heating more is because of unequal mass to begin with. Whatever, I am just happy to see a balance and am praying it stays that way. 10 more days to day 21. (Hopefully they'll show up a day earlier...lol)

That's pretty good. I will keep that in my memory notes for the next hatch. I did move the goose eggs down away from the heat source when the temp was still being all wonky after the 3rd adjustment. Hope that helped it but, time will tell. Since I did all the moving and freaking over the temp I can't get the temp up to 99 now to save my life. Better to be cooler than HOT right? Time will tell. My first candling day is Friday for all the eggs. And any day now I should be receiving my Speckled Sussex eggs in the mail and my ancona duck eggs as well. So looking forward to that.
Question for all of you. Can I move the chick eggs from the incubator they are in on the lock down day to another incubator? Because I don't want to have to remove the autoturner on the eggs that still need possibly 10 more days of incubation. (Since I am staggering the incubation periods).
What do you think of that?
I will be putting the ancona's into the brinsea once they get here. As long as they will fit with the egg turner in there or if they haven't shipped more than 7 eggs I think all it holds is 7.

Good luck on lock down Silkie Feet. I'm looking forward to chick pics.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

That's pretty good. I will keep that in my memory notes for the next hatch. I did move the goose eggs down away from the heat source when the temp was still being all wonky after the 3rd adjustment. Hope that helped it but, time will tell. Since I did all the moving and freaking over the temp I can't get the temp up to 99 now to save my life. Better to be cooler than HOT right? Time will tell. My first candling day is Friday for all the eggs. And any day now I should be receiving my Speckled Sussex eggs in the mail and my ancona duck eggs as well. So looking forward to that.
Question for all of you. Can I move the chick eggs from the incubator they are in on the lock down day to another incubator? Because I don't want to have to remove the autoturner on the eggs that still need possibly 10 more days of incubation. (Since I am staggering the incubation periods).
What do you think of that?
I will be putting the ancona's into the brinsea once they get here. As long as they will fit with the egg turner in there or if they haven't shipped more than 7 eggs I think all it holds is 7.

Good luck on lock down Silkie Feet. I'm looking forward to chick pics.

Yes. Many people who do staggard hatches use a second bator as hatcher and move them to that at lockdown.

 

[lazy gardener]

I don't know why the Wyandottes were so infertile, I've thrown out 20 that were infertile so far. Good thing they were given to me....

Wyandottes have fluffy butts. The rooster may have a hard time hitting the target. Some flocksters give their gals and guys a bit of a trim, and it increases fertility.

 

[Silkie-Feet]

I just put both incubators into lockdown, humidity in both is around 80% and my temperatures are regulating back. I'm nervous, because this is the largest amount of eggs I've ever tried to hatch. Thanks for that info gardener!

 

[badgerdogbren]

Hi there, I am brand new to incubation. I just purchased the LG 9300. I am confused about temps as it says 99.6 in the instructions and you are stating this was not warm enough to get a hatch. Should I up the temp from the auto settings? When do I add water? I don't have any other thermomators. Where can I get one that measures the humidity? I just paid some money for some fertile goosed eggs and had them shipped. I want to get this right before I start. Goose eggs are 28-30 days I believe. So do I ad water or not add water? I did not buy the turner or fan.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I just put both incubators into lockdown, humidity in both is around 80% and my temperatures are regulating back. I'm nervous, because this is the largest amount of eggs I've ever tried to hatch. Thanks for that info gardener!

Good luck!!!!

 

[Silkie-Feet]

Hi there, I am brand new to incubation. I just purchased the LG 9300. I am confused about temps as it says 99.6 in the instructions and you are stating this was not warm enough to get a hatch. Should I up the temp from the auto settings? When do I add water? I don't have any other thermomators. Where can I get one that measures the humidity? I just paid some money for some fertile goosed eggs and had them shipped. I want to get this right before I start. Goose eggs are 28-30 days I believe. So do I ad water or not add water? I did not buy the turner or fan.

99.5 is the recommended temperature for a forced air (one with the fan) incubator. For one like you and I have, there is no fan and this is known as still air. Still air incubators should be kept around 101.5 when measured at the top of the egg. Your first step should be to buy/order an accurate thermometer, one with humidity could be found just about anywhere including Walmart. For a thermometer, I recommend that you get an incubation thermometer; like the Brinsea spot check or similar thermometers on the market (these would have to be ordered). If you don't have time to wait for an order, I've found a mercury aquarium thermometer that is very accurate. I did some research on goose eggs, and it appears you can still incubate dry but you have to keep an eye on the air cell closely. This thread would make a good read: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

 

[rossfam06]

I use this one (http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incubator-remote-thermometer-hygrometer.html) has worked for me very well over the years. I like to just using one thermometern at a time, hatching eggs is nerve racking enough don't need to add to it by over guessing which thermometern to believe.

So I bought yesterday and its on its way! Thanks so much. And I will only keep one in there so I don't freak out. Lol!

 

[Silkie-Feet]

It's crazy that I'm already 18 days in, it feels like this just started. What's even crazier is that in a few days I will hopefully have some chicks to show for all of this stress... And I don't even have my brooder set up. Thanks for everyone that has helped along the way, I'll be sure to post hatching pictures!