Styrofoam Incubators Club

[confusedturtle]

So happy I found this thread, yay! I have a farm innovators 4200 still air incubator, currently with shipped call Duck eggs in it, day 4. I have 3 thermometers and 3 hygrometers total (counting the included one) and will be getting a battery for my digital one today so I can put it in on day 7 when I candle the eggs again. My humidity seemed stuck at 60% for the first 3 days, when I candled the eggs and marked their air cells and shut it, it settled back at 30%. All three hygrometers and thermometers are showing identical readings so it seems to be ok. My temps have been steady at 100-101. I don't have any tips for these incubators as this will only be my 2nd attempt. My first attempt was with 6 magpie & 6 saxony eggs, only 1 saxony hatched and she was killed by my bigger ducks at 2 weeks old. :cry: she was my first and only hatch so far.

 

[confusedturtle]

I am reading thru the other responses for more great info. One thing I remember reading about with my first hatch was river rocks. I read that adding them to the bottom of the incubator (in the water cell areas) will help with getting the incubator back up to its desired temp faster after candling etc. I also remember something about adding pennies that were made of copper (after a certain year they had less copper in them) to help with sterilizing the incubator or something. Does anyone have any info on that? I plan to warm up some river rocks in warm water and add them to my incubator when I candle the eggs on Friday.

 

[BusyBearMama]

Ok so 22 eggs are I lockdown - barnyard mixes 20 from one rooster, 2 from the other.
I have 4... Maybe 5 but I think the 5th doesn't look good, might be a blood ring situation - that are on day 15 and will go in lockdown when these first guys hatch out... Then a whole incubator 33? Eggs on day 10, I culled 2 that didn't look right and there are 3-4 more I think that look a bit too underdeveloped to be day 10 but I'm giving them the benifit of the doubt for a few more days at least. Theyre ok just not clearly doing great like all the others which is about 30! All roosters now have proven fertility because with the exception of a couple that got stored for a couple weeks upside Down everything has at least started developing!! Yay

 

[LaPoulet]

Ok so 22 eggs are I lockdown - barnyard mixes 20 from one rooster, 2 from the other.
I have 4... Maybe 5 but I think the 5th doesn't look good, might be a blood ring situation - that are on day 15 and will go in lockdown when these first guys hatch out... Then a whole incubator 33? Eggs on day 10, I culled 2 that didn't look right and there are 3-4 more I think that look a bit too underdeveloped to be day 10 but I'm giving them the benifit of the doubt for a few more days at least. Theyre ok just not clearly doing great like all the others which is about 30! All roosters now have proven fertility because with the exception of a couple that got stored for a couple weeks upside Down everything has at least started developing!! Yay

Good luck to you. I have 3 chicks, 1pip and still waiting on 6. They were due tomorrow so there is still hope.

 

[tenman78]

Out of 5 eggs at 14 day candle I have 2 that were infertile, and 2 that quit,and one that seem to be doing ok,I shined the light and the chick inside was moving around to avoid it.

 

[BusyBearMama]

Out of 5 eggs at 14 day candle I have 2 that were infertile, and 2 that quit,and one that seem to be doing ok,I shined the light and the chick inside was moving around to avoid it.

Congrats on one, sorry about the others :-/ but one in 5 is decent. What are you hatching?

 

[Nin315]

Congrats to all who r doing well with your styros! Truly glad for your continued success! I posted my dismal results, as well as minor succeses in my endeavors on , "problems w batch hatch" thread..and I am determined to get this right, lol..

 

[Duck Drover]

My daughter is doing her first solo duck egg hatching and the hatch is already late because she adjusted the temperature during a heat spike of 102 degrees instead of just opening the incubator to let the eggs cool down and leaving the setting alone. Now we have to set it all over again and my thermometers are not very accurite. Once the settings work correctly I don't make adjustments other than to check for heat spikes on hot days and open the lids for a bit. She let the temp drop to 98 so the hatch is either delayed or it is a failure.

 

[MeepBeep]

She let the temp drop to 98 so the hatch is either delayed or it is a failure.

Dropping to 98° temporarily will have little to no effect, in fact you could incubate the entire time at 98° and have a successful but slightly delayed hatches, just not as reliably... When birds are sitting on the nest they get up daily to go and get food and water and the eggs during that time cool down even more...

By far excess heat 104° or more is a much, much bigger problem as that can be lethal within a few hours...

 

[Duck Drover]

Dropping to 98° temporarily will have little to no effect, in fact you could incubate the entire time at 98° and have a successful but slightly delayed hatches, just not as reliably... When birds are sitting on the nest they get up daily to go and get food and water and the eggs during that time cool down even more...

By far excess heat 104° or more is a much, much bigger problem as that can be lethal within a few hours...

Yes, I taught her that too high is fatal while too low results in late hatches and possible defects. She did good preventing a fatal temperature spoke but she did not need to mess with the setting, she could have just removed tbe lid to let the eggs cool off. I want to get a thermometer we can use to measure the internal egg temperature because that is the target more than the air temperature.

I am hoping we will still have ducklings hatch. I took three ducklings away from a mother hen today so I might even get her to take newly hatched ducklings with her remaining four and do the work of raising them for us. We don't need to keep ducklings, though, so I will probably have to take the remaining four too in order to sell them.