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

[ChickenCanoe]

I wish i could join in. I didn't get to ordering in time and I don't know where to get any locally (not to mention Christmas shopping has drained me financially). Hopefully I can jump on the Valentine's day hatch.

There's someone in Bangor selling silver penciled rock roosters and hens that just started laying. They have other breeds too. I bet if you called them they would sell you some eggs.
There's also a place called Empire Acres Farm near Lewiston.

 

[mspj]

Yes if they are your own eggs or local eggs start turning on day 1. If they are eggs that were shipped from a distance they may have had a harsh journey so most people will set them in the incubator and not turn them for anywhere from 3-7days I think on average people wait 4-5 days and then start turning. Not turning shipped eggs is supposed to help the air cell settle and be stable. If your eggs were shipped I would put them upright in egg carton inside the incubator for a few days and then lay them flat so you can manually turn when its time.

Thank you, I am using eggs from my flock and local eggs, no shipped eggs. So I will start turning on day 1.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Well it looks like I'll be starting the incubation in my Little Giant.
I decided to redo all the electric and electronics in my homemade cabinet to make them more reliable. I think I'm also installing a programmable alarm thermometer with double sensing units for both the incubator and hatcher. I can add that during the incubation.
I procrastinated ordering some parts and they're in transit. Some will be here by Wednesday but probably not in time so I'll fire up the LG today so I can start on time and I'll have time to test everything.

 

[Brookhavens]

When do you start counting days? Is set day, day 1 or is the next day, day 1?

I have heard that if you set in the am count that as day 1, if set in the pm the next day is day 1. With the NYD hatch starting at noon on 12/11 would the 12th actually be day 1 or day 2?

Whatever day of the week you set your eggs on is the same day you can expect them to start hatching. (Sometimes earlier. Sometimes later.) We will set our chicken eggs at 12:00pm on Wednesday, Dec. 11th so our hatch day (Day 21) is Wednesday, Jan 1st. Another way to look at it is in hours. Wednesday, 12/11 at 12pm(noon) is 0 hours. 12/12 at 12am is 12 hours and 12pm (noon) on 12/12 is 24 hours. 24 hours = 1 day or Day 1 of incubation. When you read or hear "lock down or stop turning" on Day 18 it means after the full 24 hours of Day 18 has gone by you stop turning. So that would mean that Day 18 ends on Sunday 12/29 @11:59am. Day 19 starts @ 12:00pm (noon) Sunday and lockdown begins. Day 20 starts @ 12pm(noon) on Monday and Day 21 starts @ 12pm(noon) on Tuesday and ends on Wednesday @11:59am. So on Wednesday at 11:59am you have had 21 days (each consisting of 24 hours) of full development.

 

[chickengirl1193]

this may be a stupid question... but does anyone have a link on how exactly to clean your incubator? i have a hovabator and it just feels so fragile... but i think i do want to clean it before the hatch. and would you clean the turner also?
my eggs were shipped out yesterday

thanks so much for all the help so far!! i feel much more confident with my first hatch having you guys along!
and about counting the days, i made a little chart for each day to log the temp and humidity. Should i have the day i set labeled as day 0?

 

[Wisher1000]

Brookhaven, that is the best explaination I have heard. The question of what is day one has been long debated and I think your explaination comes closest to putting it to rest. Ron, what do you think of putting a quote on page 1?

 

[chicken pickin]

I LOVE that coop as well! Dh keeps asking me how I want my next coop built, but nothing has excited me until seeing that one! I would love to see the inside of it...any photos of it on BYC?

Here are a few. These are old pics when I just had this single coop. The coops are now set up like a chicken village lol

 

[ChickenCanoe]

this may be a stupid question... but does anyone have a link on how exactly to clean your incubator? i have a hovabator and it just feels so fragile... but i think i do want to clean it before the hatch. and would you clean the turner also?
my eggs were shipped out yesterday

thanks so much for all the help so far!! i feel much more confident with my first hatch having you guys along!
and about counting the days, i made a little chart for each day to log the temp and humidity. Should i have the day i set labeled as day 0?

If it is new, you can just use some liquid detergent. But DO NOT get any water on the thermostat or any other electronics.

If it's used, I would use Lysol or spray a dilute chlorox solution.

Whatever you use, rinse it well and some people put it in the sun to dry. That might not be an option this time of year.
Again, Keep the electronics dry.

Someone in this thread recommends using peroxide.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/138943/disinfecting-an-incubator

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/331442/how-do-you-clean-your-styrofoam-incubator
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/359793/best-way-to-clean-styrofoam-incubator

 

[chickengirl1193]

thanks! I'm going to clean it now then let it air dry and turn it on to.start seeing.how much water i need to get to the proper humidity

 

[ronott1]

One seemed to be moving around quite a bit. One just barely. And one didn't move.

My gut is telling me to leave them alone. But this is my first hatch, so not sure why I have *any* gut feeling about this process...but it serves me well in my job and as a parent. So I think I will listen to it!

Thanks!

Yes, let them rest longer. It does not sound like you have to go all the way to 7 days though.

OK, Thanks, but this leads to another question: Do you turn/rotate the eggs during the first 24 hours?

I will be manually turning my eggs.

This was answered correctly. Turn them when you start for local eggs. Wait up to a week for shipped eggs.

I have a question what do you do with all the extra chicks that you can't keep and how old they should be to rehome them I hatched a few chicks a few weeks back and they did have a home intill they back out and another person will only take females and they have to be off heat and she wants them for free

This was answered very nicely too!

Picked up my eggs yesterday! A variety pack (mostly OEGBs) of 16. Got a homemade egg turner (aka carton with a paper towel tube on the bottom) made up for most of them so I don't have to touch them all to turn (think that's contributed to all my past bad hatch rates) and cleaning out and firing up the homemade styrobator today! Will post pics when I set them tomorrow!

I don't even care if nothing hatches; it'll be fun just to participate! Though, having missed 700 posts since the last time I checked in, I doubt I'll be seeing every post, or page for that matter.

I hope the incubator works well! After the hatch, go back to the firs post and use the hatch trouble shooter pdf to help adjust for the next hatch.