Anxious 1st time hatcher & I'm freaking out!

[StacyTN]

Today is day 18 and I'm freaking out what really to do. I think

I have about 6-7 viable eggs & 9 I don't think are good.

Am I right?
: tomorrow day 19, I take them off the turner and place them on the metal rack/grate
do nothing to temp., maintain @ 99.5
do I keep adding water to maintain humidity between 50-60 or so??????
place ALL eggs on grate, even if I think there are not viable ones ????
Don't touch/open incubator again until hatching is done?????

I currently have 3 week olds (not my hatch) in brooder, I assume I need to keep the new ones away from these for some time ????

I am so nervous. I would not like to think I do something wrong at this point.

Tips & suggestions welcome, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[fried green eggs]

Hi &

! Go to the Learning Center on this site and look at the candling pictures. Candle again in a totally dark room with a very bright flash light. Developing eggs will have a large dark area like the pictures. Hold the egg upright over light with small end down and your hand around bottom and you may be able to see some movement in the eggs. If there is no large dark area or chick developing in your eggs - you need to toss them. Put in incubator laying on side with raised humidity to 60% - 65% and then don't open the incubator and wait. When you open incubator you let heat and humidity out and you don't want that to happen. Once they all hatched and they are dry and fluffy - you can open incubator. Wait until they are all moving around well - to transfer to brooder. You will need to dip each one's beak into water and chick feed to teach them to eat and drink. 3 week olds only need 80 deg heat but new babies need 95 degs so you will need to keep apart for a week to two. Good Luck! I hope you have a great hatch.

 

[StacyTN]

Thank you FGE - I have been to the learning area & it has been helpful.

1st - yes, see I'm freaking out, I knew about the temp. difference for the newbies, duh. So, yes we will build another smaller brooder.
2nd - yep, i've been all throught the candling thing and probably hace candled more than I should. I did actally brave it last week and broke open two that I had been questioning from very early on and I was spot on in determining that I had one with a blood ring & one that probably was never fertile. But these others I question, i just don't know, some are dark eggs, others I'm just leary of making the call. The 6 or 7 I mentioned I can see movement etc. so feel real good about those.

I think the thing I am freaking out about is the humidity. I have kept it this whole time between 45-58 or so, but that is with me filling up the tray below every couple of days. I am not sure how to increase it. It has been consistent with me filling it up but has never gone over like 61. So, if by filling up the tray doesn't increase it, how else can I get it up to 65 or so?

I bought a used hovabator styrofoam incubator from a breeder and all has worked great but after looking online, it appears there are some kind of plugs that may be missing maybe. He did say, there were vent holes towards the bottom but to make sure to keep them open to allow fresh air to be pulled in.

Yesterday after reading about high humidity for the last few days, I did add much more water, BUT evidently I added too much and later I noticed it ran over onto the table it is sitting on and ran in the floor. So, I assumed I filled it to or over it's capacity but I never noticed the humidity get over 61.

What can i do to increase the humidity that will maintain it higher for 3 days so that I don't have to open until all hatch?

These were freebie eggs given to me and I hate to say they are my guinea pigs but I have 18 more being shipped out Monday that I've paid for and really want to get this done right this first time, so I have more luck with these nxt ones.

 

[fried green eggs]

Ok so I'm betting your humidity gage is off and not calibrated. So your humidity is probably fine for now and it will raise some once the first egg starts to hatch. A couple months ago I hatched turkey eggs that were given to me. They hatched with the auto-turner running and with just 43% humidity. So don't panic. I have been having pretty good hatch rates using the dry incubation method but, 43% is not normal during lock down.

You need to look at this as a learning thing and don't beat yourself up if, they all don't hatch. And remember they all don't hatch when a broody hen does it either. So, when you get done with this hatch you need to calibrate your hygrometer using salt and water. Just type in "How to calibrate a hygrometer with salt" in the Incubating and Hatching forum and it will bring up how to do it. It's simple to do but, takes 8-12 hours and find out how far yours is off. You have time.

If they are shipping your eggs out on Monday, you won't get them till Tuesday or Wednesday and you want to let them sit after shipping. Set them on the counter or whatever near the incubator for 12-24 hours. The eggs need to slowly come to room temp and the air sack needs to settle after shipping. You can read threads on this forum for shipped eggs. Just understand shipped eggs are tough and not great hatch rates. You are dealing with something very fragile and shipping it through the Postal Service and even if the eggs aren't visibly broken, the insides can be damaged. Good Luck

 

[StacyTN]

FGE - once again thanks.
See freaking out because yes, it does now make sense that the humidity will go up once they start breaking through.

So they are now on the metal grate, filled the water tray and added a bowl with water and two sponges, been at 61 every since.

It was nerve racking for me to take them out, remove from turner & place on rack.

Thanks for the tip on the calibration and I will do that as soon as this hatch is done

, before the others go in.

and thanks for the tip about the shipped eggs, Right now it appears I will have some 28 to put in.
Last question concerning the shipped eggs: I will be having two seperate batches coming from two different breeders, both shipping out from different locations, so i assume I may not get on the same day.
How long can I sit (haha -no pun intended) on them before I put ALL in the incubator together?

DAY 19, FINGERS CROSSED, hoping to see some action soon

 

[fried green eggs]

Glad you got the humidity up but, the Bowl of water that you added for humidity - Can a chick get or fall into it and drown? Or is it out of their area? If they could get to the bowl of water, you should cover it with hardware cloth or sponges, something - to prevent them from getting in it before, they start to pip. Chicks just lived in water and will be drawn to it.
To hold eggs before hatching - I've used my cool basement and turned off the dehumidifier to hold eggs before incubating and just turned them once a day. You can do a search on the site and type in " how to store eggs before incubating" and it will bring up threads of info. Some people will let shipped eggs sit at room temp for several days, others think storing at cooler temp is better. Some have even bought eggs at Whole Foods that were refridgerated and had some hatch but, I would Not recommend refridgerating. If you store them in a basement for a day or two - let them sit outside of your incubator for a few hours after so, you don't shock the eggs with sudden temp change.

Once chicks are put in brooder put marbles and /or small shells in the waterer so, they don't drowned in it. Dip each chicks beak in water and feeder to teach them how to eat and drink. Good Luck

 

[fiveladybugs]

I would suggest putting paper towels over the metal grate in the future though...trust me, they make a huge mess when hatching

I just completed my first hatch & had a hard time controlling humidity after they started hatching, so I learned my lesson...not so much water next time.

I had staggered deliveries of shipped eggs too and had no problems. Only 11 out of 39 failed to develop.

Good luck!

 

[StacyTN]

Day 20 as of 2am this morning, still no action. I am getting soooooo worried

 

[fried green eggs]

No worries. Day 21 should be hatch day if, temp was a steady 99.5., If your thermometer was off and a degree high they could hatch on day 20 or day 22 if they incubated with temp at 98.5.

 

[StacyTN]

Starting at 2am this morning I now have 3 speckled sussex and anytime now I should have at least one, maybe 2 welsummers