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

[Amberjem]

Yes, that is it!

It is very bad to incubate eggs small end up.

ok whew thanks I got mega nervious there for a minute I thought you were saying incubate for 14 days stick in fridge for a few then back in bator lol I was like omg nothing I read said anything bout that lol

 

[blackgoat]

I found this very interesting webpage:
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/archives/2011/09/

AnnaUneven temperatures in incubators

Does egg location in the incubator affect a chick's time of hatch and hatchability? In still air incubators, you'll find relatively wide temperature variations throughout the incubator, but even our top of the line Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance Incubator shows differences in hatch rate related to egg location in the tray. The picture to the right is the summary of my results from two hatches, suggesting that eggs in the center are less likely to hatch than those around the edges, and my notes show that central eggs also tend to hatch later.

The fan in our incubator keeps air moving, so you would think that all of the eggs would be equally warm. However, a reader on our homesteading blog suggested that radiant heat from the central heating element preferentially warms the eggs directly underneath. His hypothesis makes a lot of sense, as does his solution of using some kind of barrier like aluminum foil below the heating unit to block the radiant heat while allowing the fans to continue to circulate warmed air. It looks like I'm going to have to do some experiments with moving thermometers around inside the incubator to find out whether there really are high temperature pockets and how to fix them.

Ourchicken waterer takes the guesswork out of POOP-free water.​

Posted early Friday morning, September 2nd, 2011Tags:chicken incubation

Edited to add:
I'm not knocking the Brinsea, but I did find the article interesting since I have experienced something similar with my RCOM.

So, does rotating the eggs around improve hatchability for all the eggs? I have a still air incubator, but I would guess there would be the same issue. I have my Silkie eggs in the middle and the standard eggs all around them. I wonder if I should be rotating them to the outside?

Another interesting thing:
I happened across the Austrailian version of Backyard Chickens, called Backyard Poultry. I was looking for incubator building instructions. I noticed that many of the incubator designs had the heating element separated from the eggs, and had a fan that pushed the warm air through. I hope to build my own incubator for the Easter HAL (although my still-air is working fantastically this time. Last time I had all kinds of heat fluctuations). The separated heating element seems like the way to go.

 

[Kaylish]

Hmmmm same with mine but the one never started....my breeder had told me once the male eggs die in refrigeration so the eggs that hatch will all be females...maybe mine was a male? The one fridge egg i had hatch was a female. But i have no idea i doubt it

I think if what your breeder said was true, everyone would be refrigerating before setting eggs(I know I would). I don't know, it would be interesting to know if anyone else has heard this or if anyone has hatched out any roosters that were refrigerated.

I have. My first Trader Joes hatch I got 1 roo. The last batch I hatched 11; out of the 3 I kept I have 1 roo and 2 pullets. So refridgerating does not make a difference.

I found this very interesting webpage:
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/archives/2011/09/

AnnaUneven temperatures in incubators

Does egg location in the incubator affect a chick's time of hatch and hatchability? In still air incubators, you'll find relatively wide temperature variations throughout the incubator, but even our top of the line Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance Incubator shows differences in hatch rate related to egg location in the tray. The picture to the right is the summary of my results from two hatches, suggesting that eggs in the center are less likely to hatch than those around the edges, and my notes show that central eggs also tend to hatch later.

The fan in our incubator keeps air moving, so you would think that all of the eggs would be equally warm. However, a reader on our homesteading blog suggested that radiant heat from the central heating element preferentially warms the eggs directly underneath. His hypothesis makes a lot of sense, as does his solution of using some kind of barrier like aluminum foil below the heating unit to block the radiant heat while allowing the fans to continue to circulate warmed air. It looks like I'm going to have to do some experiments with moving thermometers around inside the incubator to find out whether there really are high temperature pockets and how to fix them.

Ourchicken waterer takes the guesswork out of POOP-free water.​

Posted early Friday morning, September 2nd, 2011Tags:chicken incubation

Edited to add:
I'm not knocking the Brinsea, but I did find the article interesting since I have experienced something similar with my RCOM.

Very interesting! I will have to keep records on this and see if mine does the same.

Wow! All my ducks hatched! Now I have 4 ducks,8 bantams, 3 quail and 1 chick. Now to wait for the HAL.

Thank you for sharing!

Sorry for the confusion!

Big end up for the first 14 days and the small end up in the refrigerator.

Of course you should set all the eggs before day 14!

Ok, good...I was getting worried there for a minute.

 

[EastTXChickens]

For Chicken Picken and others who may be interested: http://www.livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/spanish

I feel kinda bad that I don't have my birds segregated to keep the breeds pure, but I just don't have the umph to get into the effort required.

 

[casportpony]

Quote:

Does egg location in the incubator affect a chick's time of hatch and hatchability? In still air incubators, you'll find relatively wide temperature variations throughout the incubator, but even our top of the line Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance Incubator shows differences in hatch rate related to egg location in the tray. The picture to the right is the summary of my results from two hatches, suggesting that eggs in the center are less likely to hatch than those around the edges, and my notes show that central eggs also tend to hatch later.

The fan in our incubator keeps air moving, so you would think that all of the eggs would be equally warm. However, a reader on our homesteading blog suggested that radiant heat from the central heating element preferentially warms the eggs directly underneath. His hypothesis makes a lot of sense, as does his solution of using some kind of barrier like aluminum foil below the heating unit to block the radiant heat while allowing the fans to continue to circulate warmed air. It looks like I'm going to have to do some experiments with moving thermometers around inside the incubator to find out whether there really are high temperature pockets and how to fix them.

Ourchicken waterer takes the guesswork out of POOP-free water.​

​

Posted early Friday morning, September 2nd, 2011Tags:chicken incubation

Edited to add:
I'm not knocking the Brinsea, but I did find the article interesting since I have experienced something similar with my RCOM.

So, does rotating the eggs around improve hatchability for all the eggs? I have a still air incubator, but I would guess there would be the same issue. I have my Silkie eggs in the middle and the standard eggs all around them. I wonder if I should be rotating them to the outside?

Another interesting thing:
I happened across the Austrailian version of Backyard Chickens, called Backyard Poultry. I was looking for incubator building instructions. I noticed that many of the incubator designs had the heating element separated from the eggs, and had a fan that pushed the warm air through. I hope to build my own incubator for the Easter HAL (although my still-air is working fantastically this time. Last time I had all kinds of heat fluctuations). The separated heating element seem like the way to go.
I need to do more experiments in mine, but I think it might improve hatch rates. In mine it seems that the left and right most sides kill the eggs.

-Kathy

 

[blackgoat]

Yay! I'm finally getting my late eggs! They were supposed to go in for this HAL. I guess I'll join the January HAL, too. LOL! XD

 

[Roan]

ok whew thanks I got mega nervious there for a minute I thought you were saying incubate for 14 days stick in fridge for a few then back in bator lol I was like omg nothing I read said anything bout that lol

Wow, that would be bad! Don't do that! There can be a "cool down" period but not a "freeze out" period!

 

[blackgoat]

Quote:

Man, I want to try this experiment. But I really want to win Best Hatch Rate. Lol!

 

[Peep_Show]

Hmmmm same with mine but the one never started....my breeder had told me once the male eggs die in refrigeration so the eggs that hatch will all be females...maybe mine was a male? The one fridge egg i had hatch was a female. But i have no idea i doubt it

Did you end up getting any roos from that hatch??

I know store eggs have a little more of a resistance to the cold bc of all the stuff put in them

Hmmm.... Come to think of it, all of my TJ eggs that hatched were pullets. Hmmm.....

I have rearranged my "preferred" eggs accordingly.

 

[bamadude]

I rotate my top 180 degrees every day on my still air