First time EVER Incubating... Will keep updated w/LOTS of photos & videos!!

Hi all!

I purchased a IncuView Incubator a few weeks ago and when it arrived I couldn't wait to "test" it out... empty of course (how boring). But, it seemed pretty accurate from what I could tell.




Also got a new TEENY TINY water wiggler from Amazon that I will use with my {faulty} Brinsea Spot Check. Pretty slick huh?




FINALLY the eggs have arrived!! Well... after 3 trips to the post office and 3 very slow drives home. All of the eggs I received were shipped to me from a few different BYCers. I am splitting them "in half" with my good friend @Bhmathews . As her incubator can hold more than mine she will be incubating more than I will.



With my new little "egg candler" (flash light) in hand and a new little scale, I started weighing all of the eggs and checking for air cells. I am using a super handy spreadsheet that I found in the Hatching 101 article. WHAT A JOB! Whew. We had a couple cracked eggs, couple rolling air cells, some saddle air cells - and some totally perfect ones too. THIS should be interesting...








FINALLY set day arrived!!! (Saturday, March 29th!! The *BIG* Easter Hatch-a-long!). I was SO excited to finally put my incubator to some REAL use. I plugged it in around 8am that morning and added just a little water and waited... and waited... and waited...

Around 11am I noticed my Spot Check was again reading all goofy. UGH... not again. So after some testing (under the arm... eh) and another new battery I got 'er back into the water wiggler and waited. Again.

FINALLY at 2pm I loaded up 27 beautiful eggs and prepared to close the hatch... Aren't they purdy!!

7 Marans
5 Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucana's
7 English Orpington's (1 Cuckoo, 1 BBS, 2 Gold Laced, 1 Spangled, 1 black/black, 1 black/blue and 1 mystery haha)
8 Salmon Faverolles

My friend Heather set the rest (41 of them). We ended up throwing away a few that had really bad rolling air cells :-(



Fast forward a few days and I am currently DAY 3!! Temps are holding steady and after a bit of worry on Sunday when my humidity was in the 50's I finally got it lowered (never knew the eggs would add THAT much moisture - holy smokes!). Today I actually added just a tiny bit of water back in when my humidity was down to 25%. When I had the top off to add the water I decided to turn my iPhone's flashlight on and I held it up against a couple eggs. They had VEINS!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! Was so excited!! I can't wait to actually candle for real this weekend!!! My kids will be so excited to see little babies floating in the eggs (hopefully!). I am really worried about my Faverolle eggs. They appear to have the worst air cells. But.. we shall see!! I will keep this updated and thanks for hangin' with me to follow along!!

jbher said:

Hi all!

I purchased a IncuView Incubator a few weeks ago and when it arrived I couldn't wait to "test" it out... empty of course (how boring). But, it seemed pretty accurate from what I could tell.




Also got a new TEENY TINY water wiggler from Amazon that I will use with my {faulty} Brinsea Spot Check. Pretty slick huh?

FINALLY the eggs have arrived!! Well... after 3 trips to the post office and 3 very slow drives home. All of the eggs I received were shipped to me from a few different BYCers. I am splitting them "in half" with my good friend @Bhmathews . As her incubator can hold more than mine she will be incubating more than I will.



With my new little "egg candler" (flash light) in hand and a new little scale, I started weighing all of the eggs and checking for air cells. I am using a super handy spreadsheet that I found in the Hatching 101 article. WHAT A JOB! Whew. We had a couple cracked eggs, couple rolling air cells, some saddle air cells - and some totally perfect ones too. THIS should be interesting...

FINALLY set day arrived!!! (Saturday, March 29th!! The *BIG* Easter Hatch-a-long!). I was SO excited to finally put my incubator to some REAL use. I plugged it in around 8am that morning and added just a little water and waited... and waited... and waited...

Around 11am I noticed my Spot Check was again reading all goofy. UGH... not again. So after some testing (under the arm... eh) and another new battery I got 'er back into the water wiggler and waited. Again.

FINALLY at 2pm I loaded up 27 beautiful eggs and prepared to close the hatch... Aren't they purdy!!

7 Marans
5 Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Ameraucana's
7 English Orpington's (1 Cuckoo, 1 BBS, 2 Gold Laced, 1 Spangled, 1 black/black, 1 black/blue and 1 mystery haha)
8 Salmon Faverolles

My friend Heather set the rest (41 of them). We ended up throwing away a few that had really bad rolling air cells :-(

Fast forward a few days and I am currently DAY 3!! Temps are holding steady and after a bit of worry on Sunday when my humidity was in the 50's I finally got it lowered (never knew the eggs would add THAT much moisture - holy smokes!). Today I actually added just a tiny bit of water back in when my humidity was down to 25%. When I had the top off to add the water I decided to turn my iPhone's flashlight on and I held it up against a couple eggs. They had VEINS!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! Was so excited!! I can't wait to actually candle for real this weekend!!! My kids will be so excited to see little babies floating in the eggs (hopefully!). I am really worried about my Faverolle eggs. They appear to have the worst air cells. But.. we shall see!! I will keep this updated and thanks for hangin' with me to follow along!!

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WOW awesome start to your post. Love the colors! How much was that incubator? Is it syrophone?

Welcome to incubating I got 60 in right now at 3days or so. But I use the dry method. Good luck to u and keep us posted. And where did u find that incubator it looks a little diff then most I have seen

Ariel188 said:

WOW awesome start to your post. Love the colors! How much was that incubator? Is it syrophone?

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Thank you!!

The incubator was $175. It's from Incubator Warehouse. It's new(ish). I was going to buy a Brinsea Eco 20 but then decided to try this one out instead. Hopefully it was a good decision lol!

I did a full album back when I unboxed it: http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incuview-egg-incubator.html

It's made out of a rigid type plastic - no foam. I love the big clear top! I was initially worried about it losing humidity because of that top but it holds it really well!!

Cooper Farms said:

Welcome to incubating I got 60 in right now at 3days or so. But I use the dry method. Good luck to u and keep us posted. And where did u find that incubator it looks a little diff then most I have seen

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Thank you!! 60 eggs!! I am so jealous!! You must have set for the Easter Hatch-a-long too? How fun!!

I read a ton about the dry method and kept going back and forth on whether or not to try it - in fact, in my head I still am deciding LOL! But obviously I did end up adding a little water. Our house is SUPER dry this time of year and with no water the incubator was running at around 15-18% humidity. I just thought that was too low for some of my eggs with bad air cells :-/ Hopefully I made the right call. I guess we'll see.

The incubator is the IncuView Incubator. It's one that Incubator Warehouse developed, it's pretty new but there's finally a few people I've found that have used it and are currently using it with great results so hopefully I will have the same! This is it here: http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incuview-egg-incubator.html

jbher said:

Thank you!!

The incubator was $175. It's from Incubator Warehouse. It's new(ish). I was going to buy a Brinsea Eco 20 but then decided to try this one out instead. Hopefully it was a good decision lol!

I did a full album back when I unboxed it: http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incuview-egg-incubator.html

It's made out of a rigid type plastic - no foam. I love the big clear top! I was initially worried about it losing humidity because of that top but it holds it really well!!

Click to expand...

Haha it is now backordered! So many people wanting to hatch!!! I wonder how many chicks are born in the month of April alone!! So far I LOVE my Brinsea but I have nothing to compare it to.

Ariel188 said:

Haha it is now backordered! So many people wanting to hatch!!! I wonder how many chicks are born in the month of April alone!! So far I LOVE my Brinsea but I have nothing to compare it to.

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I just noticed that!! lol Too funny!! I can only imagine how many chicks are hatched in April!! A TON!

Sounds pretty cool I got on there site. I made mine out of a food warmer sit can hold about 320 at one time. Never hatched that many though

Cooper Farms said:

Sounds pretty cool I got on there site. I made mine out of a food warmer sit can hold about 320 at one time. Never hatched that many though

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Wow!!! That is huge!! And here I'm stressed about 27 eggs :-/ lol

Okay I am realizing have really bad self-control. I peeked again this morning - without touching the eggs or moving them. I just held my cellphone light against 5 or 6. ALL had babies growing and veining!! YAY! As my eggs lay down in the incubator I see the babies are all growing on the side. Is that normal?? Anyone know? Or maybe it's because they "float" to the top side of the egg. I guess I'll find out Saturday when I actually pick them up to candle.