8 full days, got movement

[chickenwhisperer]

I also want to add that these eggs were 2 weeks old when I put them in the incubator.
I was sposed to get em a week earlier but wasnt able to.
I picked the cleanest of the 20-something eggs that were saved for me, but all of them have some dirtyness to varying degrees on them.
However, these eggs were not shipped to me, they were local from a friend and from chickens I raised 2-3 years ago.

Im not gonna candle again till day 14 . . .

Hopefully these eggs go all the way!
Im pretty excited now!

 

[Kristian]

Funny I just got into another hatching thread but your due date is closer to mine (the eggs are 9 days old).

 

[Kristian]

I have an egg from one of my mixed breed chickens that never goes broody and two from my uncles farm becouse the hen had twelve eggs and could'nt cover them all. They are 8 day old and won't hatch untill a couple more weeks but I never before hatched eggs and would like to have people to count on for usefull information when I need it.

 

[Kristian]

I don't have an incubator so I had to make due with a bowl a heat lamp and a T-shirt to confort the egg from the hard bowl. I candeld them and two (one of the two groups) were fertile. But im worried about the humidity level ( becouse i cant measure it acuretly, the only thing it shows is very dry, dry, normal and humid.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

I am not measuring the humidity carefully either.
I just make sure to keep the dish full of water.

Any method of incubation could work, I like the "use whatcha got" method you got going.
Good luck Kristian!

Edit: Kristian, you live in Fl . . . I would think youd be trying to find a way to lower humidity . . .

 

[ReyM]

What kind of light did you use for the candleing??

 

[chickenwhisperer]

I took a dome light for one of my reptile cages and covered it with 4 layers of black construction paper.
I cut a hole in the middle that fits a 3/4" PVC coupling which is taped to it.
It has a 60w bulb I believe, I think Ill try a PC floro tho as they are brighter.

Ill take a pic for you . . . brb

Heres what it looks like, not much . . . kinda ugly, lotsa tape, hand-held.


And here it is in the dark, I thought about covering the pvc with black paper too, but to my eye when candling, it doesnt seem necessary


Take a wild guess how much it cost me to make . . .

 

[Lolita]

 

[chickenwhisperer]

I have also noticed that with my fan in the position it was in, blowing horizontally, the eggs closest to it had enlarged aircells compared to the eggs on the other side.
So I have turned the fan housing to blow up and have gotten better positioning for the stat and the housing, so when and if hatch day comes, the chicks wont have contact with the fan.
The new placement also allows for the water to be readily used as it gets heated and evaporates, as the fan is right there to pull across it.

So hopefully, those drier eggs will absorb the moisture that the fan drew out of them.
This is now day 10, so hopefully they have enough time and I didnt doom them.


This reconfiguration took about 82 seconds, and the new placement hasnt seemed to have affected the stat operation at all.
Temp is very stable in there.