6th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2015 Hatch-A-Long

[Kaylish]

Incubator is warming up; eggs are scheduled for pickup tomorrow; now I have to wait

and HOPE

the power stays on. I should be getting 7 red Orpingtons; 3 Swedish Flower Hens (having a heck of a time getting ahold of these) and I will also be setting some pullet eggs from my bantam Silkie/Cochin cross (she just started laying).

Getting super excited!

 

[Cynthia12]

Ron! You rock.

So speaking of air cells. I have some BLRW in the bator now - one has it's air cell on the side, weird, huh? These were not shipped eggs.

Not shipped?? Wow, that is strange. Ron really likes the carton method. He has good success with it.

 

[Cynthia12]

And yes,,,,Ron rocks!!

 

[Amberjem]

 

[ronott1]

Well, I can add to the real shock of opening ... eggs got shook up. This was the first part of the yr.

Box within a box..hey, that's great, but something didn't smell right..literally.


And now I see why!





In all of the yrs. that I've hatched, I had never seen anything like this. This was not done by an occasional bad handler. Someone had to have shaken or kicked,,or did both to this package. I cleaned a few that weren't broken...few..with water very carefully. I actually got two chicks from this box.

The packing was good.

Did the box say live embryos on it? Some cruel folks will purposely damage boxes like that. It is best to put just fragile on hatching egg packages.

 

[ronott1]

This is a blue Aussie? I want one! Or two.

She is a sweet heart too!

They are from hupp farm in Arizona. Sadly he does not ship egg any more--only local pickup. Due to eggs getting destroyed like yours.

The shipper needs to get the $50.00 insurance money on that one.

 

[ronott1]

Not shipped?? Wow, that is strange. Ron really likes the carton method. He has good success with it.

The picture I posted has some SG dorking eggs in tomato baskets with eggs on the side too. They hatch fine also.

 

[Canadianislupus]

Okay so I got my bator up and running yesterday around 6 or so. before bed around 11 I checked the temps and recorded them as well as this morning. Besides the digital thermometer/hygrometer that is built into the machine I have an incutherm digital thermometer/hygrometer, A kestrel weather meter(reads temp,wind speed,alt, and pressure), and a fish tank thermometer that was about 1.5 degrees above 32 when calibrated to the freezing point. I could use some help figuring out what the actual temp is. I cannot keep the kestrel in for incubating as it is too big but the others can stay. Also for now all the thermometers are close together near the heating element. I will move them around once I figure out which ones are off and which are accurate. There is alos a serious discrepancy between the two hygrometers. Okay here are the temps from last night Bator: 99.8f 43%humidity Kestrel: 99.2f Incutherm: 97.2f 25% Fish: 98.5f And from this morning Bator: 99.5f 45% Kestrel: 99.0f Incutherm: 97.0f 13% Fish: 99.0f. Could really use some advice on what the temp actually is and which hygrometer to trust.

 

[ronott1]

Okay so I got my bator up and running yesterday around 6 or so. before bed around 11 I checked the temps and recorded them as well as this morning. Besides the digital thermometer/hygrometer that is built into the machine I have an incutherm digital thermometer/hygrometer, A kestrel weather meter(reads temp,wind speed,alt, and pressure), and a fish tank thermometer that was about 1.5 degrees above 32 when calibrated to the freezing point. I could use some help figuring out what the actual temp is. I cannot keep the kestrel in for incubating as it is too big but the others can stay. Also for now all the thermometers are close together near the heating element. I will move them around once I figure out which ones are off and which are accurate. There is alos a serious discrepancy between the two hygrometers. Okay here are the temps from last night Bator: 99.8f 43%humidity Kestrel: 99.2f Incutherm: 97.2f 25% Fish: 98.5f And from this morning Bator: 99.5f 45% Kestrel: 99.0f Incutherm: 97.0f 13% Fish: 99.0f. Could really use some advice on what the temp actually is and which hygrometer to trust.

Which thermometer is the most accurate for temperature range.

All of the temperatures are within safe incubating range or plus or minus one degree from 99.5. I would leave it at the current setting and see how the hatch goes. If they hatch close to on time and are healthy, then the temps are fine.

Humidity should work too. You can calibrate the hybrometers by putting them on the front porch and using intellicast to see what the humidity is at your house. That should be close enough for hatching eggs.

 

[Roan]

Ron, is there anything that you don't know about hatching eggs? You seem to have an answer for every question! If you don't mind answering, how long have you been incubating?

And thanks for the info about the Blue Australorps but I guess my "dibs" on half your chicks is a no-go? lol