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

[Gardeningmama]

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[Gardeningmama]

Just a little note before I head out to church. I finally pulled my trusty little LG out of the attic today after it's 7 month retirement. Cleaned her up, plugged her back in, woke up this morning.....steady at 102 all night. YAY!!! Now to work on that humidity...... It's saying 16, but that's the lowest reading on these Acurites, so I'm thinking it's MUCH lower, Grrr...

 

[chicken farmer]

What's the earliest you can candle an egg and start to see growth?

 

[Myfourladies]

The snow is pouring down here, almost 4 inches since daylight! Can hardly see the chicken coop from the house. It is so pretty! The incubator is staying steady, and all is well here. HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE!!

 

[ronott1]

Questions:

1) I have a still air incubator that I want to add a pc fan into, I have the link and know how to do this. My question is:

"What changes should I make in temperature & humidity between still air and circulated air, and when should the vent plugs be in or out?"

2) I want to add some sort of turner, I'm thinking about making something like this:



My question is:

"Which would be better to use, Styrofoam or Paper cartons?"

I am planning to set 24 eggs for the hatch-a-long, 11 assorted Brahma's (light, dark & buff) plus 1 green egg, unsure of the breed, as I stopped at a local seller of fresh eggs and picked up a dozen. The Grandma took me to the coop and we gathered eggs and she said her daughter had one chicken with feathers on its head but knew the main flock was the Brahma's. Woo-Hoo Surprise breed!!

12 from my flock (roo is RIR, hens are RIR, red sex links & 2 black australorps) I know I have 2 eggs saved from my lorps as I snagged the eggs from them after they laid them.

I would love to set some type of white layer also, I will be doing a mad search in the next couple of days - wish me luck!

The biggest difference is to keep the temperature the same for the whole incubator--no top temperature and no low temperature. The hatch 101 instructions will work. Click on them in my Signature file a the bottom of this post.

I have never used a still air, but what I've read is that with the fan you can keep the set temp a bit lower since theoretically all the air in the box is the same temperature, where with a still air the air at the top is warmer than the air at the egg level. Most people say never put the plugs in, for me that doesn't work because it is so arid here, so I leave them in, but I have yet to have a great hatch, so you might not want to go by me LOL. It's tough to hatch at this elevation (5400+) and aridity, but usually if my own birds lay eggs that are fertile I do okay. Still have failures but not nearly as bad as with shipped eggs. Anyway, for just about everyone else I'd say leave the plugs out to improve air flow.

I would use stout paper just in case there's any condensation when setting eggs. Sounds like you will have an interesting hatch!

Oxygen is very important for the chicks starting somewhere after the second week. Maybe earlier. Keeping the plugs in during the first part of incubation may even be good for the hatch rate. The recommendation to remove the plugs is to make sure the plugs are not blocking the air exchange at the point in incubation where low air exchange will kill chicks and lower the hatch rate.

To get humidity up for hatching(lockdown), fill all of the channels. If humidity does not reach 65 to 75%, add glass storage container bottoms just big enough for a clean sponge. Fill them with water up to the top of the sponge so that the chicks do not fall in and drown. You may need to run a cool mist humidifier in the room where the incubator is if the humidity will not get to 65%.

Caution: if you see condensation on the top of the incubator, you have too much humidity. The hygrometer is probably not measuring correctly and needs to be calibrate. Chick will die of suffocation if there is too much humidity(This is not drowning).

 

[ronott1]

What's the earliest you can candle an egg and start to see growth?

Veins start developing on day 3. Day 5 for white eggs works: you often see development then. I try to be good and wait until day 7. I do not pull obvious clear eggs until day 10 to 14.

 

[SoManyHats]

I'm feeling really guilty about putting my baby chicks in the garage permanently. Last night was their first night out, and it dropped below 30. They have a heat lamp and an Ecoglow, but I'm still feeling like a bad momma.
But I needed to make room in the bathroom for incubating.

 

[ronott1]

I'm feeling really guilty about putting my baby chicks in the garage permanently. Last night was their first night out, and it dropped below 30. They have a heat lamp and an Ecoglow, but I'm still feeling like a bad momma.

But I needed to make room in the bathroom for incubating.

They will be fine!

They will be big and outside before you know it too.

 

[Pozees]

I'm feeling really guilty about putting my baby chicks in the garage permanently. Last night was their first night out, and it dropped below 30. They have a heat lamp and an Ecoglow, but I'm still feeling like a bad momma.

But I needed to make room in the bathroom for incubating.

I don't know if this will help you feel better or not, but here it's been near or below zero the last five nights. I have 5 chicks in a brooder in the unheated, uninsulated coop, they have a heat lamp, their 1 qt waterer is no more than 18 inches away from the heat lamp and it has frozen every night. The chicks are fine. The thermometer said it was 10 degrees in there this morning, 5 outside. I keep a 1/2 patio block wrapped in a throwaway towel under the heat lamp, which helps I think. The towel has to be replaced every few days for the obvious reason. Worth it to me. The block keeps their little feet warm. The chicks are 3 Silkies and 2 Egyptian Fayoumis ranging in age from 2-4 weeks.

 

[chickydee64]

Veins start developing on day 3. Day 5 for white eggs works: you often see development then. I try to be good and wait until day 7. I do not pull obvious clear eggs until day 10 to 14.

x's two.I candle on days 11 and 18