27th or 28th May hatch, looking for buddies

[MSH]

I have eggs hatching everyday from 5/22 - 6/4 lol I have domoniques . RIR , mutt , red pyle , blue pyle and self blue the last 3 are bantams lol wouldn't you know I have them all in the same incubator so I have one I'm using for a hatching box then to the brooder lol my first time I have a crazy mess going lol

 

[Lightfoote]

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Lightfoote this is awesome. Well done Sir. I really like the drawer you put there. What a great idea. I wish I had a table saw like that. Man, that looks like a stable piece of machinery.

I use to have a waterbed many moons ago. I remember those heating pads. They do put out the heat as I recall.

Will you be putting some kind of light in the cabinet? I suppose you could just shine a flashlight in the top.

Very well done. I would be proud of that. I don't think the chicks care what it looks like. Mine is functional. I didn't make it to look pretty.

When will you get it up and running?

Thanks, GeoKan.

The drawer (and the center divider, too) were sort of afterthoughts. I was looking at the basic framed box, and I thought, "If I have to incubate more than one set of eggs on different timetables, and have to put one clutch on 'lockdown' while still turning others, and all I have is one wide open cabinet, I'm kind of screwed! I have to have a partition in the middle, and I think I want a top drawer on one side or the other..."

So I pulled out my tape, measured for the vertical front frame piece to divide it equally, drilled and screwed it into place, then did the same for the horizontal frame piece that supports the bottom rails of the drawer, and it somehow worked! Those things weren't in the original concept...or on the graph paper, for that matter.

I do like my table saw! And yes, it is a very stable piece of machinery. I can set my 25' measuring tape on the deck of the saw while ripping a piece of lumber, and it will not vibrate off the edge. That's saying something - no "Craftsman" saw will do that little trick.

Mine's an "Inca" (Swiss made) - they're not real common; this one was a blessing for me to find at a time when I had been looking for a decent table saw for a couple months.

Yes, the waterbed heating pads do put out the heat. They really had to, in order to keep (on Cal King mattresses) over 250 gallons of water at a comfortable temperatures!

I likely will put light in the cabinet - heaven knows, there's plenty of room...and if the chicks care too much about the aesthetics of the cabinet, they'll end up in a (very small) bowl of soup!

LOL!! Not really...

 

[Lightfoote]

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Welcome to our happy hatch-watch crew - and to BYC as well. Glad you're here; the more the merrier!

best regards,

Lightfoote

 

[natchlaly]

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Welcome to our hatchalong

glad you could join us

We will all be waiting t see pics of all your fuzz butts as they hatch. This is getting sooooo exciting

 

[natchlaly]

Where abouts are you located Lightfoote and what time are you at. Here in the ux it is 18:18 on the 18th May

 

[Lightfoote]

Natchlaly, I'm in eastern Washington (state, not district of Columbia) on the U.S. west coast. It is 10:39 AM, Pacific time zone.

 

[natchlaly]

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Asked because usually by the time I get home from work and have fed and watered the kids everyone following this post who is in the US are off line

 

[youngjedi32002]

My eggs are due to hatch a little later than everyone else here, June 1-2, but I hope it's okay to join in! I could use a few hatch buddies because this is my third hatch, the first two being total failures (3 eggs first time, 4 eggs, the second), and I'm so nervous this time! I used a teeny, cheapo incubator the first two times, my son got it for his birthday. This time, I made my own incubator from a styrofoam cooler and a light fixture kit!

The temperature was very high when I was using a 25 watt bulb and even though I poked holes in the sides, it was too hot. I switched to a 15 watt and blocked some of the holes and got it to hold a nice even 100 degree temp. My humidity was 48% and on another thread I was told that this was too high! I flipped out and tinkered some more but I almost lost my mind because no matter what I did, the temp went down and the humidity went UP! I finally put everything back to the way it was in the first place and the temp stayed at 100 and humidity between 48 and 50%, so I decided that is where it wanted to be and it was best to leave it alone before I broke it completely!!! I ordered 10 Araucana eggs from a member here on BYC and she packaged them perfectly! None were broken so now I am just praying that the postal service didn't scramble them! I let them rest for 24 hours after they got here and then, into the incubator they went!

Tomorrow is day 7 and I am going to candle. I am worried about handling them too much but I love looking at all your pics and would like to see what I can see! I am also a little worried about their placement in the incubator. I have them on their sides right on the wire shelf. I have to say, I am more than a little worried about those tiny little chicks feet falling through the hardware cloth and I see pictures of everyone else's eggs in their incubators standing upright on racks or in egg cartons. Am I doing this wrong? Should I get cartons and stand them up? Since my hatch rate is 0%, at this point, I need all the help I can get!!!

 

[Lightfoote]

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Welcome to our hatch-watch, youngjedi. Don't be discouraged by the "nattering nabobs of negativity" - your combo of 50% humidity and 99 to 100 degree F. temps is actually spot-on for the first 18 days.

The last 3 or 4 days...'lockdown' as many on this site refer to it, humidity is adjusted upward to about 70% and the temp goes down a nominal amount, and unlike the previous days, no turning. I've done the hand turning 3 times daily (eggs on their sides, fat air cell end tilted slightly upward, red 'X' on one side and black 'O' on the 180 degr. opposite side) but I stayed away from candling until day 8, at which time I checked some but not all. Last night (day ten since setting the clutch) I candled all 15 of my Ameraucanas, with what I consider good results. Very good veining in 4 - 5 of them, large dark 'masses' in a half dozen +, with movement in 4 of those...

All that is no guarantee for the next 11 days, nor does it promise a great hatch rate - but it is encouraging, and it does improve the odds for the chicks-in-the-making...

Lightfoote

"Thy word, O Lord, is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

 

[youngjedi32002]

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Thank you, Lightfoote! That is one of very few positive reinforcements I have gotten! I have been getting a lot of advice, some criticism, and enjoying the forum very much but it helps to get a little pat on the back once in a while! Especially since I am so nervous about this hatch! I can't really get my eggs to tilt up at all. They kind of roll all together. Should I get the egg cartons for safety and tilting?