Styrofoam Incubators Club

[beetandsteet]

@MeepBeep thanx for all the good advice you're giving. I'm learning a ton myself! Looking forward to putting this all in an article.

 

[beetandsteet]

Ok here's one more question... This morning at 6 a.m. It was 95. I turned it up a HALF MILLIMETER and it spiked and it was 105 when I got back up a 9... I freaked and tweaked it again.. Do I have cooked chicks? I'm worried it was too hot for them.... Everything was fine until I had to go into lockdown.

I agree, lockdown makes for a lot of temp and humidity spikes
When the embryos are older, they're also a lot tougher. Usually 105 would kill embryos, but I say wait it out. Please let us know what happens!

 

[coolchik]

Today is supposed to be hatch day but I have had no movement at all. I'm hopeful for tomorrow maybe, they did go cold after all on day 15 when I brought them inside to put in the incubator. So they've been really cold on day 15, fine 16 and 17, and really hot day 18, that's when I went on lockdown and the temp spiked. Now I'm driving myself crazy pacing around the house. I've even played chicks peeping sounds on you tube hoping that might inspire them to come out! Fingers crossed. I hope something happens, this will be my second failed attempt to save abandoned eggs.

 

[beetandsteet]

Today is supposed to be hatch day but I have had no movement at all. I'm hopeful for tomorrow maybe, they did go cold after all on day 15 when I brought them inside to put in the incubator. So they've been really cold on day 15, fine 16 and 17, and really hot day 18, that's when I went on lockdown and the temp spiked. Now I'm driving myself crazy pacing around the house. I've even played chicks peeping sounds on you tube hoping that might inspire them to come out! Fingers crossed. I hope something happens, this will be my second failed attempt to save abandoned eggs.

Really hoping you get some chicks! If it would help relieve your anxiety, you could take a few out gently and candle them if there are no external pips. I know some people would disagree with this, but I candle all the way up to an external pip.

 

[coolchik]

Really hoping you get some chicks! If it would help relieve your anxiety, you could take a few out gently and candle them if there are no external pips. I know some people would disagree with this, but I candle all the way up to an external pip. 

Im trying to quote and reply, sorry! I'm new at this... But after that temp spike nightmare I had when I went on lockdown, the next time I open this bator is either going to be taking out some fluffy chicks, or removing bad eggs

 

[coolchik]

My temp is 100.5, humidity is 75. Is that okay? Do these styrofoam factory thermostats usually run higher or lower than the gauge reads..? Day 21.

 

[MeepBeep]

My temp is 100.5, humidity is 75. Is that okay? Do these styrofoam factory thermostats usually run higher or lower than the gauge reads..? Day 21.

The built in gauge is utter garbage, it's not accurate in any way shape or form and it's not just a matter of it reading high or low, they drift all over the place... It could be +5° one day then next week be -5° or +10° ignore it completely... I took one apart once and re-calibrated it, one day later it was off by nearly +5° it's simply junk...

With that said if you above readings are from the build in gauge, forget them, take some tape and cover up the internal gauge and forget it exist... If those readings are from a known good thermometer verified against another known good thermometer you should be OK temp wise... As for humidity, that is a little high if correct, but again the built in humidity gauge is utter garbage, and even most cheap decent ones can be off 5-10%... You have little ability to lower humidity, beyond not adding any water... There are some ways to lower it but I would verify that it's correct before attempting to lower it...

 

[nikijenkins]

I cannot get the humidity above 62%. I have two cups of water in it, all wells are full, and I have three wet rags in it. Two rags are on top of the eggs and one is under them. The rags raised the humidity from 43% to 62%. They were due on Saturday- today is Tuesday. Should I throw them out? The incubator too? Any ideas?

 

[MeepBeep]

I cannot get the humidity above 62%.  I have two cups of water in it, all wells are full, and I have three wet rags in it.  Two rags are on top of the eggs and one is under them.  The rags raised the humidity from 43% to 62%.  They were due on Saturday- today is Tuesday.  Should I throw them out?  The incubator too?  Any ideas?

First take a deep breath, and then sit back and relax...

Do you know for certain you humidity gauge is calibrated and working properly?

Also as I keep repeating, there is no magic number to humidity, nor is this or that humidity required for this or that part of the incubation...

Are you sure your temps were correct, again with a known good calibrated thermometer? Have you candled the eggs to see if they are viable and still alive?

This batch might be lost but, as for throwing out the incubator, that is a little knee jerk, with some tweaks and calibration I'm sure it will work fine you just need to find out what went wrong with this incubation and adjust...

 

[kimalulu]

Ended up with a 91% hatch... Here are pics!

OMG! How precious!