27th or 28th May hatch, looking for buddies

[kraftyladies]

Ok I do have a question.... my eggs are in an incubator with a auto-turner and I have separator bars to keep the eggs in a row. I know I take the incubator off of the auto turner at 18 days. But do I take the separator racks out and just lay the eggs down in the incubator in the egg holder tray? Don't they still need to have the pointy side down? Or is it Ok to have them laying on their sides? I don't want to do anything to mess it up!!

 

[natchlaly]

Quote:
I hatch mine laying on their side so cant see it being a problem but if you are worried put them in egg cartons to hatch

 

[GeoKan]

Hey all! I've been busy trying to get my other hatching incubator up and running. I think I'm close to getting it nailed down. I'm trying to figure out the ventilation/humidity ratio. I have three vents open. I'm hoping it's enough for the eggs and chicks to get fresh air/oxygen.

Here are some pics. Let me know if it's not enough before lockdown.

This is an angle view. You can see the two rows of vents in front and back. I have two open in the front and one open in the back.

This is the front view.

Here's a close-up of the back right vents.

This is my hydration system. I have a small container just before the fan in the heat chamber and the other tube opens up to the shallow tray with sponges and a wash clothe covering them.

This is a view of the inside vents with my thermal mass jars and digital thermometer.

This is a better view of my fan. You can see it pushes air below to the sponges as well as above into the egg chamber.

I have positioned my cartons in the chamber to get an idea how the eggs will be arranged and how much room will be left once they hatch. I figured since they've been in the turner for this long, I might as well keep it this way. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Mrs.brown]

Quote:
Wow! That looks awesome! Whats the heat source?

 

[GeoKan]

Mrs.brown :

Wow! That looks awesome! Whats the heat source?

Greetings Mrs. Brown. I'm using two incandescent bulbs. One is 100 watt and the other is 75 in conjunction with a water-heater thermostat.

 

[Mrs.brown]

That looks nice ! Have you tried it out yet?

 

[GeoKan]

Mrs.brown :

That looks nice ! Have you tried it out yet?

This is my first hatch. I have about 30 eggs in my other homemade incubator sitting next to this one and it's been keeping the temps within .7 degrees. It's been performing very well so far.

I just need 5 good days out of her.
Lockdown for me is this Wednesday. I'm getting nervous.

 

[Mrs.brown]

Sounds good! Lockdown for me is Wednesday afternoon.

 

[GeoKan]

Well, heck! I spoke too soon.

Gosh-darn (@#$*&%*) midwest storms.

My DW call me today around 3:30 from home to tell me the power went out in our small podunk little town. At the time, it wasn't storming in our area, but since our illustrious town officials decided to purchase electricity hundreds of miles away a few years back, it goes out more than I care. I found out that some storms hit that area and that's why our power went out for about 2 hours.

My temps dropped down to 92 degrees within a half an hour. Luckily — my brothers place outside the city limits had power. His juice is supplied by the local REA.

My DW and DD threw a blanket over the incubator, loaded it up and drove about 10 blocks to plug it in at my brother's shop. She babysat the incubator to get it back to normal. The storms got to our area around 7 p.m. and she stayed with them just like a brooder hen.

When I finally got home from work, we loaded it back up and came home — diving very slowly.

I hope they're not ruined. Not now. Not 3 days from lockdown.

I guess momma hens get off their nests every once in a while, so maybe I might still be safe?

Egads, I don't care to have another day like this one!

 

[natchlaly]

GeoKan I have every confidence that your eggs will be absolutly fine

If mine can drop to 69 degrees and survive I am sure you have nothing to worry about. Will

for you never the less. Are you gonna do a final candle before you lock down not sure if I am or not

might just wait n see. This is getting so exciting now

within the week we will all have fuzz butts