She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[WalnutHill]

I'll be right along with you . I loaded 2 trays plus spares...42 EE x Red Sex Link set to hatch May 19, plus 24 Bourbon Red and Bronze turkeys, plus 21 of my turkey eggs, plus Olive Eggers set to hatch on May 28.

Forgetting, of course, that I sold my second LG and have only one still air LG as a hatcher, and it doesn't hold nearly as many turkey eggs as chicken eggs. I will probably do a road trip tomorrow to buy a small Leahy tabletop as a hatcher. I doubt it will be in working order, so I have my work cut out for me to get this ready for hatching!

 

[scflock]

I'll be right along with you . I loaded 2 trays plus spares...42 EE x Red Sex Link set to hatch May 19, plus 24 Bourbon Red and Bronze turkeys, plus 21 of my turkey eggs, plus Olive Eggers set to hatch on May 28.

Forgetting, of course, that I sold my second LG and have only one still air LG as a hatcher, and it doesn't hold nearly as many turkey eggs as chicken eggs. I will probably do a road trip tomorrow to buy a small Leahy tabletop as a hatcher. I doubt it will be in working order, so I have my work cut out for me to get this ready for hatching!

Didn't you build your incubator? That's my only complaint with the Brinsea is the capacity. They have larger models, but I kinda need that other kidney

 

[WalnutHill]

I have plenty of room in the incubator (200+ eggs), but I didn't design it well for hatching. Air flow comes out under the "hatching" trays and though the chickens popped out fine, turkeys take their sweet old time and they shrink wrapped. I can't redesign until it's empty, and I don't forsee it empty until maybe July.

I can't cut the airflow without affecting the heat distribution as the fan is necessary for heat scavenging from the element in the duct. Version 2 will have a second duct outlet with a register so that I can divert airflow away from the hatchers. There will still be enough heat in the cabinet for the hatch.

I also need to move the water pan up high, as the hatch debris falling into the water pan is as nasty as an LG stinkubator.

 

[scflock]

I have plenty of room in the incubator (200+ eggs), but I didn't design it well for hatching. Air flow comes out under the "hatching" trays and though the chickens popped out fine, turkeys take their sweet old time and they shrink wrapped. I can't redesign until it's empty, and I don't forsee it empty until maybe July.

I can't cut the airflow without affecting the heat distribution as the fan is necessary for heat scavenging from the element in the duct. Version 2 will have a second duct outlet with a register so that I can divert airflow away from the hatchers. There will still be enough heat in the cabinet for the hatch.

I also need to move the water pan up high, as the hatch debris falling into the water pan is as nasty as an LG stinkubator.

I would be in so much trouble if I could hatch 200 eggs at one time. I respect anyone that can construct and troubleshoot an incubator like that. I don't trust myself enough to build one

 

[Drewnkat]

Quote:
I thought I was in trouble with 37 eggs in mine right now! Yeah 200 would be... problematic.

 

[scflock]

I thought I was in trouble with 37 eggs in mine right now! Yeah 200 would be... problematic.

I have my biggest hatch of the year heading for lockdown Sunday. My polish eggs are skinny, so I fit 28 of them in the incubator. 26 are developing well. If I get more than 22, that will be a new personal record. My chick sales have been great this year, so I'm hoping to buy another incubator before next season. I've been watching that Octagon 40 thread with great interest...

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I have lurked and read both of your philosophies and techniques...and I like things about both. I just finished (well almost done with bator two hatch) incubating for the first time in 25 years with one LG 9300 still air and one 9300 with a fan kit. They have been a lot of work and worry, but on our eggs, we have had 11/12 hatch in the fan kit, and on day 22, I have 4 of 18 eggs left to go with one pipped at the moment (Thank you Amy, I am also a meddler, maybe not as big as you are, but I do try to save them when I can and I hatched with a 75% humidity...without issues..per reading so much you have posted. I did incubate at about 45% though as we live in the desert and dry would not work here 12% in our air here). However, my shipped eggs were a nightmare! I did help one pheasant chick that was still not out after 27 hrs...it is doing fine. I did help to make air holes in the mebranes of two chicks's eggs that pipped on the side of the egg instead of the airsac, and helped one to start a zip after after 20hrs..I am still just getting over what happened this morning though:

Well, I literally cried this morning!!!! My lone surviving Midget White Turkey egg (out of 8 shipped) pipped about 9 am yesterday (day 28)... It made decent progress all day. I even checked it at 2 am this morning and it was starting to zip. I was sure I would wake up to my midget! NOPE! DEAD at 6 am! It was not shrink wrapped, It was about 1/2 way zipped and the membranes were moist. It did poo in it's shell?? . 3 of the chiken eggs had hatched since 2 am and 2 were zipped. However, my DANG LG 9300 had adjusted it's own temp. It was 98.5 on the bottom and about 101.5 at the top of the eggs.( I had been keeping it about 97 on the bottom and about 100 at the top of the eggs when lockdown started and I had raised the humidity) The room temp didnt change! But, the dang plastic piece the thermostat is on gets moved around by hatching chicks and then who knows where the temp will go! I am just sick about this. I really want to just smash this incubator. It was so much work the last 29 days and then I am right there and?!!! I noticed the zipping chicks were breathing faster than normal. So, I opened the incubator and then lowered the temp. That is the only thing I can think of, unless it was just a weak poult? Humidity was at 75%. Plenty of ventalation...Any other thoughts? I still feel like crying. 8 shipped eggs, this one was the only one that developed at all. I was so looking forward to this little guy or gal

It sounds to me, the turkey just wasn't strong enough. If temps and humidty were that good, there was still moisture in the membrane and he had started zipping, it just sounds like natural selection. I have never done shipped eggs, but I have to wonder, if shipping was so stressful that only one egg made it to developing, could that same stress cause weaker stock?

I've no experience in that area, but it sounds logical to me.

There is so much great info on BYC. I kind of just took what would work for me, sounded logical, and went with it. I take out the chicks after each is dry, maybe 4-6 hrs or so, and put them in a box that I have set up with clean shavings and then clean paper towels on top of that close to the incubator..I make the humidity in the box about half of what the incubator is and it is about 98 degrees. They stay in there for about 12 to 18 hrs, then go to the brooder (95 degrees and DRY)...I did this thinking that going from 75% to 12% humidity would be a shock. I have some a week old now from the first hatch, and I havent lost one chick yet.

I did leave the pheasants in for 24 hrs though. And, I was going to leave the turkey in longer...(pouty face)

That's what it's about. Finding what works for you.

I just hope people don't mistake my sense of humor for being mean. Amy really does need one of these

once in a while, though

Just remember you get them back.....

Just watch her, you'll see! "Oooohhh, the poor babies are all alone! I have to sweep them out of there and let them know mommy loves them before they run away from home!", or "oh no! That chick bumped into an egg. I'd better straighten it out before the baby gets vertigo!!!"

Like right about now....

I coddle my chicks like I coddle my son and he loves me for it...lol

If I am correct, most of you live in a more humid climate? I am in the High Desert in southern California. I know from experience what happens to me when I travel and then come home. It is so dry here...it just seemed to me that after hatching and staying in the incubator at 75%, going straight to the brooder that is dry air(in the house) it could be shocking to their little lungs, etc. So, I made the extra effort to try and "acclimate" them a bit. Maybe they would have been fine...but, I am a worry wort. I am also a vet tech, so I try to prevent EVERYTHING. Living and working with me and my care of all of my animals is tough, I am sure, because I always go the extra mile

Hey, that's logical thinking. It'd be worth some research to see the effects of sudden humidity changes in newly hatched chicks. Things like this is what we were hoping would arise in the thread. New ways of thinking and looking at things. Over here, like SC said, we really don't have that to worry about, so we would never think about what the difference might make to the chicks.

I would be in so much trouble if I could hatch 200 eggs at one time. I respect anyone that can construct and troubleshoot an incubator like that. I don't trust myself enough to build one

Me either....lol Thought about it, to scared...lol

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I have my biggest hatch of the year heading for lockdown Sunday. My polish eggs are skinny, so I fit 28 of them in the incubator. 26 are developing well. If I get more than 22, that will be a new personal record. My chick sales have been great this year, so I'm hoping to buy another incubator before next season. I've been watching that Octagon 40 thread with great interest...

He's been watching with great interest =

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hey SC, doesn't your wife have a kidney she could spare.....lol

Don't tell her I said that. I don't want to get double smacked!!

 

[scflock]

Hey SC, doesn't your wife have a kidney she could spare.....lol

This is something else you guys need to know about Amy. She is quite prolific in the morning, then homeschools and disappears until around 3, then she multiquotes everyone that posted while she was away. Then she pops back on for a few jabs at me around 3, then disappears again to sing Barry Manilow to the kid while he's in the tub. Then there is another flurry of activity after he nods off.
My wife is all for the second incubator, but we have a rule. All chicken sale money goes into a bowl. All feed, supplies, etc.. are paid for with money from that bowl. When there is enough money left in the bowl at the end of a month to buy another incubator, I will get one then. Come on, Polish!!!