Search results for query: *

Thanks for that Matlock585, I set another 41 yesterday, so I am not deterred...;-]

Well, the first hatch I did things by the book, but felt I over-handled them after lockdown. This time I did like you and weighed/candled every other day after Day 3 to Day 18, then I locked her down and kept my hands out of the bator. This time it will be some of each.

Well, just picked up a couple of BCM 3 week-old "hopefully" roos from my Master Gardener friend, and she strongly disagreed with Sally's recommendation to leave them in there. Like you, she says take them as soon as you can, or leave them no longer than 24 hours...so, you're right cppeace...

Well, I was following the sage advice of Sally Sunshine, written in her treatise; Hatching Eggs 101, where she says; Quote: Mine died somewhere between 60 and 72 hours, so the duration in the incubator shouldn't have been the reason. I had not, however, lowered the temperature so it was...

Day 23 Update: DISASTER. Woke up and found 10 dead chicks in the bator. 2 more died shortly after I transferred them to the brooder. None of the eggs have pips. One I inspected popped when I cracked the shell (so it had died some time ago), another looked perfectly fine but no heartbeat. Very...

Day 22 update: No hatches, still 12 unhatched. If it stays like this I will have a 53% hatch rate. Very disappointed, I thought I'd done everything right this time. Waiting till tomorrow at 3:00pm to call it quits on the rest. There's no sense in the data on the ones who have not hatched. Some...

Thanks! If anyone is setting more soon, I created another hatch-a-long thread.

I had one of those days today...you know the type, where you are checking the bator every 15 minutes and nothing happens...8 hours since my last hatch; why did I get so many on day 20 and so far "none" on day 21.... I candled a couple of the remaining eggs and they looked fine, and then I asked...

Update to Day 20: I have 12 hatches and 2 pips out of 34. Here is one fact about this hatch I have discovered in my data collecting...I had 7 unfertile eggs in my 41 set. So if we take those 7 out of any equations...on Day 7 I judged 12 of my 34 to be viable. On day 10, I judged 33 of 34 to be...

Well, noticed first pip this morning around 5:30am...and the first hatch came at 6:30am. So I soaked the towels and brought the humidity up to 80%, then opened the vent for it to drop a tad. So far today I have had 10 hatches. There doesn't appear to be any discernable pattern. I have hatches...

Sorry, I mis-read your post and thought you bought the sprouts. Fermented feed could get bad bacteria, but not if its keep covered with water. The top of the water will look moldy, but that's just the fermentation working. My first hatches are now 4 weeks old, and I can tell you, trying to feed...

Well, a broody hen can't change the humidity, so if its ok for her to not grab a bunch of paper towels and soak them, how am I doing it wrong?...;-] We buy the same feed, but you buy sprouts and I buy seed and sprout it. Soaking, forget about fermenting, means your flock does not have to...

Thanks! I have a Hovabator 1544, Styrofoam. The mesh was sitting on the bottom on top of the 4 water channels, so no, I don't believe it will impede air flow. There is a circulating fan on the top of the bator, and nothing between the eggs. No pips yet, so humidity is still @ house...

I'll go with that, I was spot on for 13% at lockdown yesterday.

So sorry to hear that.

Went into lockdown today (day 18), but some basics had changed. I read another treatise on weight, where it says 15-16% was ideal, not 13%. Hard to say who is right. If 16% is ideal, then today 13.7% would be ideal, and my average is 11.1%. So, again based on readings, I choose to start lockdown...

So you broke lockdown on day ?? and as you stated, for no reason, so pls, why did you?

Ty for teaching me, as I said, I've only ever had one hatch.

If you are in a Styrofoam bater, use some tape to seal the lid. Tape doesn't stick to Styrofoam the way it does other things, so it shouldn't have any affect when removed. But honestly, there must be some air movement near the bator, so see if you can't put it somewhere that's not happening...a...

From all I have read (I have only ever had 1 hatch), when a chick has an unabsorbed yolk, you want to keep him in the bator with high humidity, IOWs, do nothing...a drop in humidity (by opening the bator to take a pic) could make that yolk unavailable to him. One reason it might have ruptured is...