🍃August Hatch-a-Long🍃

[FortCluck]

@kelseyk I feel your pain.

I candled my last egg today which should be on day--22? It's still viable, baby is moving but it looks like a day 18 chick! I mean how?! Two eggs hatched yesterday on time.

Now either I'm worse at math than I thought or the egg fairy snuck a ringer in on me, LOL.

@applysoy, I have a Brinsea mini also and their idea of a regular sized egg and my hen's idea of what they are are two different animals all together. I can't get 9 eggs in mine no matter what and my manual turner that DH bought me for Christmas last year doesn't like my bantam eggs.

I have quail still hatching 3 days after their hatch date. They all seem healthy, but so weird

 

[CindyinSD]

My trouble incubator is really stumping me. I have been putting extra thermometers in to check temp while I am incubating my barnyard eggs. Prior to testing with my barnyard eggs, I recalibrated my meat thermometer and found it to be reading high (only 2 degrees - so around 101), so adjusted it. When I put it back in the incubator it read that the incubator temp was low by about 2-3 degrees, so I turned it up (thought that would explain why I was getting so many blood rings and why the embryos that were developing only looked to be around 10-14 days old on day 18). So before I put any more purchased eggs into the incubator, I decided to run some of my own eggs through to make sure I can get eggs all the way to hatch. Day 4 resulted in 3 clears and 5 developing eggs (1 developing looked weak and I left the clears in just to be sure). Day 7 resulted in the same 3 clears, 2 blood rings (one of those was the one I thought was weak), and 3 developing - removed the clears and blood rings. Day 14 (today) resulted in 2 quitters and 1 developing.....but it looks about the size of a day 10 embryo and is barely moving. Over the course of the trial period, I have bought another thermometer (which appears to read 3-4 degrees high) and have moved thermometers from my good incubator over to the trouble incubator (4 different thermometers). The last 2 weeks 3 of the 4 have shown the temperature to be too high (102-103 adjusted), the other one (my calibrated meat thermometer) is still reading around 100. So why is this last remaining embryo so small if the temp was so high for so long? High heat is supposed to result in a faster growing embryo which would be bigger than it should be by day 14. Too low of a temp would be more likely to cause slow growth resulting in a small embryo and death of that embryo. I have ordered 2 more thermometers and contacted incubator warehouse to see if they think it might be some kind of incubator malfunction. It really just has me stumped.

Your elevation won't be as high as mine, but it can make a difference...

Here's one I bought (and did not calibrate) on recommendation of another very helpful member here: https://www.thermoworks.com/RT301WA

I used it to calibrate my incubators by holding the tip near the incubator's probe and the results have been excellent.

Also remember the various areas of your incubator will have significantly varying temps. I rotate my eggs (like a volleyball team rotates players) once a day in the evening. As I do this I candle each one (yeah, I know... but I like seeing them and as far as I can tell it doesn't hurt them. Mama hen gets off the nest once or twice a day too, so....

 

[Misfits Farm 92]

I shut off the incubator and opened the remaining eggs today. Two quail chicks had head deformities from not being turned enough. I ordered a brinsea maxi ii advance with automatic turning yesterday. I also ordered a quail egg rack for it. That should solve the turning problem. I think the problem with the other eggs is that the humidity shot up to 99% when the first chick hatched, and 92% when the second hatched.

 

[kelseyk]

Your elevation won't be as high as mine, but it can make a difference...
View attachment 2310551
Here's one I bought (and did not calibrate) on recommendation of another very helpful member here: https://www.thermoworks.com/RT301WA

I used it to calibrate my incubators by holding the tip near the incubator's probe and the results have been excellent.

Also remember the various areas of your incubator will have significantly varying temps. I rotate my eggs (like a volleyball team rotates players) once a day in the evening. As I do this I candle each one (yeah, I know... but I like seeing them and as far as I can tell it doesn't hurt them. Mama hen gets off the nest once or twice a day too, so....

I will have to look into that thermometer. Thanks!

 

[Vantic]

My trouble incubator is really stumping me. I have been putting extra thermometers in to check temp while I am incubating my barnyard eggs. Prior to testing with my barnyard eggs, I recalibrated my meat thermometer and found it to be reading high (only 2 degrees - so around 101), so adjusted it. When I put it back in the incubator it read that the incubator temp was low by about 2-3 degrees, so I turned it up (thought that would explain why I was getting so many blood rings and why the embryos that were developing only looked to be around 10-14 days old on day 18). So before I put any more purchased eggs into the incubator, I decided to run some of my own eggs through to make sure I can get eggs all the way to hatch. Day 4 resulted in 3 clears and 5 developing eggs (1 developing looked weak and I left the clears in just to be sure). Day 7 resulted in the same 3 clears, 2 blood rings (one of those was the one I thought was weak), and 3 developing - removed the clears and blood rings. Day 14 (today) resulted in 2 quitters and 1 developing.....but it looks about the size of a day 10 embryo and is barely moving. Over the course of the trial period, I have bought another thermometer (which appears to read 3-4 degrees high) and have moved thermometers from my good incubator over to the trouble incubator (4 different thermometers). The last 2 weeks 3 of the 4 have shown the temperature to be too high (102-103 adjusted), the other one (my calibrated meat thermometer) is still reading around 100. So why is this last remaining embryo so small if the temp was so high for so long? High heat is supposed to result in a faster growing embryo which would be bigger than it should be by day 14. Too low of a temp would be more likely to cause slow growth resulting in a small embryo and death of that embryo. I have ordered 2 more thermometers and contacted incubator warehouse to see if they think it might be some kind of incubator malfunction. It really just has me stumped.

What is the air exchange like in your incubator? I am just shooting in the dark here.

 

[kelseyk]

Bought 2 thermometers in town today because I just want to get this incubator problem figured out. Bought the digital one on the right that has a probe suspended through the hole so the tip is about midway down the egg. I also bought the meat thermometer with the larger dial that is inside the incubator. The 2 digital thermometers and the new larger dial thermometer all are showing the same temperature (within a degree of each other) the Govee is reading 1 degree lower than those 3, and the original calibrated meat thermometer is reading 3-4 degrees lower than those 3. Right now the 3 thermometers are reading around 100 degrees. I turned the heat down just a little more and will check it again right before bed. If these 3 are right, then my incubator was running closer to 103 and my original meat thermometer is broke (I have recalibrated it multiple times over the last month). The Govee is only accurate half of the time....and it apparantly was not working right for half of the month (I wrote it off as being the thermometer that was wrong when it said it was reading 103).

 

[kelseyk]

What is the air exchange like in your incubator? I am just shooting in the dark here.

Both vent holes completely open with a fan circulating the air - set up just like my other hovabator incubator and my hovabator hatcher. I bought more thermometers in town today and think the meat thermometer I have in there is faulty which resulted in the temp being way too high. (Off to do research to see if temps around 103 can cause slow growth).

 

[Vantic]

Your elevation won't be as high as mine, but it can make a difference...
View attachment 2310551
Here's one I bought (and did not calibrate) on recommendation of another very helpful member here: https://www.thermoworks.com/RT301WA

I used it to calibrate my incubators by holding the tip near the incubator's probe and the results have been excellent.

Also remember the various areas of your incubator will have significantly varying temps. I rotate my eggs (like a volleyball team rotates players) once a day in the evening. As I do this I candle each one (yeah, I know... but I like seeing them and as far as I can tell it doesn't hurt them. Mama hen gets off the nest once or twice a day too, so....

Excellent post. I calibrated mine the same way.

 

[Vantic]

@kelseyk I have these, multiple per incubator: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DWMJKP5?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I like them because they store the temp history so you can see the fluctuations in temp and they can be calibrated.

 

[Trisseh]

@kelseyk I’ve also had hatches where some eggs are slower to develop, from the same batch, set at the same time, kept in the same conditions. I don’t know if it’s genetic or something else, but I rotate all eggs around the incubator as well as turning them so it shouldn’t be due to hot/cold spots. I think I would be more concerned with yours spiking - inconsistent temps with excursions below and above optimal will retard growth and cause some embryonic deaths for sure.
I have one of those probe thermometers that records high and low temps. One of those might be beneficial to you if you don’t already have one to see if you’re getting spikes. You put it in there and let it get to temp, then clear the hi and lo values and check it in 24 hours or so. It’ll show if you have spikes happening.