4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[coldupnorth]

5Days Till Hatch Day!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Just went checked my incubator and fan died and temps only reading 59 at where eggs were.

The wafer is still working there is heat at the top. I have sportsman but fan is not blowing warm air around and so only the top is heated where the water goes.

So looks like I wont be having a hatch. I only had 7 eggs that were growing and they were my Bantam welsummers.

now I just need to figure how to get the fan fixed. I am dumb when comes to fixing things.

awww I am so sorry!!!! How can we tell when a wafer is shot? how long do they last?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Bored... gonna start posting up the



Opportune time Contest 3 thread.....



any takers???


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/728887/nydh-contest-3-an-opportune-time-award/160

 

[missydcpc]

Poor Sally...that's how I was this morning..I opted for a nap.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Poor Sally...that's how I was this morning..I opted for a nap.

I was gonna go play with the peeps but waiting for Ray to answer on here lol

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I really want to take the plunge with the cabinet incubator, but would like opinions from people who have had them...any opinions? Sportsman vs. Dickey?

 

[Bettacreek]

Nobody is enjoying lock up today, but not a single one of them tried to escape today! Still no cornish cross hennie. roads are still awful. The bird room had 2ft drift across the door. I shoveled just enough away to wedge meself through the door. The inmates then came over and shoveled the rest of the doorway out for us. The driveway was plowed a few times between yesterday and today but those drifts have some spots filled back in. I keep wanting to put my eggs in lock-down already!

I did wear two coats today, under orders from G, I had to wear his huge heavy coat plus my regular winter coat underneath. Plus my fleece hunting mask, lol. I might've looked like a goof, but I stayed warm!

 

[missydcpc]

My coop door was frozen shut! The birds are none too impressed with being stuck inside again...but the wind keeps closing their door.

 

[FeyRaine]

Ignoring the current ice storm, & the don't count them b/f they hatch rule,
I've gone & invited a few friends to come over on NYD to stare at the incubator window,
eat pot luck, sip hot tea, have a seed swap & talk about our 2013 diy project plans.

Now I REALLY have to clean house...

 

[Cynthia12]

I like the regular ones because you can calibrate them. I was using a digital one I bought at Walmart and there is no way to calibrate the thermometer part. When I placed a regular, calibrated thermometer in with the digital one, the reading on the digital was off by 3 degrees. On my glass thermometer I just took a fine point Sharpie and marked where the temp should be. That way it was just a quick glance and I knew if the temp was right or not.

I have one that is able to be calibrated..but..I also have the walmart kind..I just use the walmart kind. I am not bragging by no means, but it's just that I have hatched for so many years, that I can pretty much go by touching. I know "how" I like my eggs to feel. When I go to turn, I am thinking, this is just right. Sometimes, oh, too warm, or oh, needs to be up a bit, it's too cool. I know, some are going to say..what? I sound like Goldilocks in the three bears.

I do put the thermometers in the bator, kind of go with that once I feel how they are, and keep the temp where it is reading at the time..works pretty good. Humidity. I don't go real high with that anyway, so if it is reading 60 to 62, I know I'm close enough. Just want to give all of those out there that are worrying, don't worry too much, you are probably doing better than you think. Keep the thermostat as close as to what your bator suggests. Have fun!
I'm just one that hasn't worried to much about a couple of degrees difference in the bator throughout the day. I've had some great hatches, I've had some bad, the bad ones were usually shipped ones that took too long to get here. I find that past three days, I could be in trouble having having a decent hatch. Also, shipping in the cold..worse than shipping in the warm. Cold temps on those eggs, then they sit in a P.O. ... warm up, sweat/weep..not a good thing. Could also be bad in real warm temps. Hot outside, then sit in air condition. Shipped eggs are a gamble for sure. And it isn't just because of handling.

But oh yeah, that counts too.