5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[abmaddox1981]

Okay so I just spent 45 min. Trying to catch up to y'all! I will be posting pics of my 30 some odd eggs in a few. I have 4 pure ameracuana, I forget how many silkies and the rest are red sexlink hen with ameracuana roo or yard hens with Jersey Giant roo.

 

[roostereggs]

Brahma...I will post photos after work tonite...I am late already. Stupid job getting in the way of my chickens!

 

[Myfourladies]

I have some good news, I guess. After the mess with my lost hatching eggs, they were found today! They are being delivered to my ever patient mother as we speak.... job getting in the way of chickens here too! LOL
Will they really be worth anything now after a week of sitting in Arkansas sort facility?

 

[mstricer]

Okay 3 pages behind but wanted to get my set amount in. Couldn't post picture from my phone, brick building. But any who set 9 then added 2 more I found in the cabinet as hatching eggs we will see if they hatch

 

[chickengirl1193]

It is hard to find one that is reliable. If you keep the center water well full your humidity should be fine.
I think they are around $44 dollars if you buy it direct from Brinsea. A friend lent me hers and I like it so much I am going to buy my own

okay thank you. im hoping my ones for incubators will be more reliable when they come...

Ok what you want to do is take a Tupperware container you can see through with a lid. put your walmart combo in there then take like a baby food jar lid fill it with salt then add water to the salt until its like a slurry paste. I think of cream of wheat. Put that in the container don't spill it on your combo set up. Put the lid on tightly! In about 12-15 hours I think it is check the humidity it should read 75%. I did this with one of my combo's from walmart and it was dead on. I didn't do it with my other one and they are both in my bator right now and one is reading 42% th other is reading 43%. There is a youtube video on how to calibrate them if you google it.

thank you for this! i wasnt sure exactly how to calibrate a hydrometer and i was going to ask lol. Ill calibrate it and then hopefully ill have more accurate readings...

You are just fine. Don't change anything until your new hygrometers come in the mail. I'd trust the incubator for now.

Okay. Im just so worried cuz i want little chickies!!! Im glad i joined this hatch-a-long or else i would be completely lost...

I just got totally impatient and couldn't wait until tomorrow night to candle. I know, I know! Most are shipped but I am just learning so much with this process and really fascinated with the day-to-day changes! Today is day 6. My 13yo is sick and not enjoying this too much the past few days, but surprisingly dh (who hates birds) is really interested...asking me questions about breeds and encouraging me and even talking about a spring hatch. Who *IS* this man???

So I saw 23/32 embryos about the size of the end of a pencil eraser...some bigger! Two of my light browns are clear. We have two green eggs and one is from our EE named "Brainless" who is lowest in the pecking order. Baby Brainless was going strong but I don't see it anymore, unless it is hiding under the air cell now. There is still veining, but I would be so sad to not have a Baby Brainless.

The other six I can't see because they are Marans, but there was a lighter Marans egg with a babe inside!

So we have:
12 CCL/super blue layers
9 Marans or 8 Marans + an OE (I need to ask DMRippy)
11 barnyard mixes-RIR over----> 3 mystery (BO or red prod), 3 BR, 2 red prod, and 2 EE.

I am super happy, but a little anxious now because I planned it expecting to hatch 8-10 and now wondering what I would do with that many chickies! Panic time thinking about how much they will eat! Medicated or non-medicated chick food? Should I order gro gel online since they don't have it at the feed store...or do they not need it? And will I get attached to the roos and not want dh to BBQ them? And do I really have everything I need for my brooder? What if they knock over the water while nobody is home?

Is this normal to start stressing about everything???

im stressing about all the same things how big of a brooder i should make? how i get the temp just right? what kind of litter? what kind of food? should i buy a bag 50 lb bag of feed if i only end up with a few chicks... so stressed lol

I think it's time for you to relax. Sounds like everything is working perfectly for you.

yeah its hard for me to relax i always stress too much about everything lol. my boyfriend told me that if i keep staring at the eggs that they are going to explode....

 

[SunnySkies]

Between a swim meet, work for me on Saturday, and bad weather that may make me have to leave tonight and sleep at work and stay overnight, with no internet access, I know I'm going to get behind, and I won't even try to catch up!

After that first weird temperature spike, everything seems to be going well. I'll candle on Monday.

 

[abmaddox1981]

I give up. I can't seem to get pics to post. Ggggrrrr.

 

[ronott1]

I can't find the discussion in this thread regarding temps at different levels for the Genesis HB 1588. Can someone help me out with this?
At about 15 hrs after set there are three temp readings. This temp reading has held consistent for 6 hrs.
Digital reading via probe set at wire mesh level = 101
Thermometer set on turning tray = 100
1588 digital reader = 100.1

Two questions:
Is there really going to be a temperature discrepancy of an entire degree from the top to bottom?
Is this temp too high?

First time hatchers over here - thanks so much for all the hand-holding!

Yes, there will be a temperature difference. 99.5 to 100 at the turning tray is what you want for now. The temp can go down a bit during lockdown.

101 is a bit high but all of the other temps are within the safe hatching range.

 

[Pozees]

chickengirl1193, brooders can be as simple as you want - even a cardboard box, although my preference is larger plastic storage containers (washable and easy to disinfect). I line the bottom with newspaper, then a layer of shavings, then cover with paper towels (the papr towel is removed after the first few days). Before I put in shavings I put in a couple pieces of 2x4 or a half patio block for the waterer to sit on so it is less likely to tip over. Heat lamp suspended/clamped over one end. Put a thermometer under it and turn it on. Should not take more than an hour to come to temp, more like 15 minutes - should be ~95 degrees right under it. Warmer - move the lamp higher, cooler, move it lower. As long as the heat is at one end the chicks can get away from it as they need to. I put food and water about midway between warm and cool ends. Sprinkle some starter crumble on the paper towels so the chicks spot it and pick it up.



I would start looking for starter now, I always buy a 50 lb bag because I have given in to the reality that I will hatch year round. I prefer a locally ground starter, and they only grind once a year, so once they're out I have to use one of the commercial brands (Purina, Nutrena, etc.).



I pull the paper towel up once I know they are eating from the feeder. It's handy to have two brooders so you can just move the chicks from the dirty one to the clean one when necessary. When you are ready to clean, you roll the whole mess (minus chicks and whatever the waterer is sitting on) up inside the newspaper like a burrito and put in the trash bag.

 

[BoereMeisie]

chickengirl1193, brooders can be as simple as you want - even a cardboard box, although my preference is larger plastic storage containers (washable and easy to disinfect). I line the bottom with newspaper, then a layer of shavings, then cover with paper towels (the papr towel is removed after the first few days). Before I put in shavings I put in a couple pieces of 2x4 or a half patio block for the waterer to sit on so it is less likely to tip over. Heat lamp suspended/clamped over one end. Put a thermometer under it and turn it on. Should not take more than an hour to come to temp, more like 15 minutes - should be ~95 degrees right under it. Warmer - move the lamp higher, cooler, move it lower. As long as the heat is at one end the chicks can get away from it as they need to. I put food and water about midway between warm and cool ends. Sprinkle some starter crumble on the paper towels so the chicks spot it and pick it up.



I would start looking for starter now, I always buy a 50 lb bag because I have given in to the reality that I will hatch year round. I prefer a locally ground starter, and they only grind once a year, so once they're out I have to use one of the commercial brands (Purina, Nutrena, etc.).



I pull the paper towel up once I know they are eating from the feeder. It's handy to have two brooders so you can just move the chicks from the dirty one to the clean one when necessary. When you are ready to clean, you roll the whole mess (minus chicks and whatever the waterer is sitting on) up inside the newspaper like a burrito and put in the trash bag.

Wowee, this is great advice

I like the idea of having a clean brooder to move the chicks to before cleaning their current brooder. And I LOVE the newspaper-burrito roll-up idea!