Anyone who hatches in a Little Giant

[Zookeeper9000]

Thanks George Happy Hatching

 

[Vamp-A-Billy Princess]

I am heating up my new LG right now. I am going to pick up my eggs in a few hours. Thanks for all the tips. How long should the eggs set to get to room temp?

 

[championny]

I have an LG and I have confirmed at least 4 of the 12 are moving inside the shell. We'll see what happens as this is day 20.

 

[Vamp-A-Billy Princess]

Good luck w your babies. I'm going to get my sizzle eggs in 2 hours. I am way too impatient for this...I dont know how I'll make it through the whole process. My nerves are already shot.

 

[RoostersCrow]

Quote:
Whoa there Vamp-A-Billly....

I would normally suggest you run that LG for "awhile" (i.e. several days) to get the initial adjustment dialed in before putting in the eggs. However, if you have eggs in hand you are a bit stuck. Still, I certainly would not want to see you put egss in there until you have run and dialed it in for at least 24 hours.

Once you do have it dialed in .... Keep in mind that when you pop those eggs in it will take some time for the whole thing to stabilize again.... Again, saying that another way.... When you put those eggs in the temp will drop and it may stay down or bounce down-up-down-up-down-up-down-up..... for a number of hours.... The key here is:

Do Not Start Adjusting That Temp Knob For A Low Temp Reading! Not yet.....

I would resist adjusting that knob at all for the first day after I put eggs in unless it were to adjust the temp downward! Adjusting the temp upwards too soon after loading eggs runs the risk of overshooting the mark and returning to find an overheated incubator..

Good luck....

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Hey all I thought I would update ya on how my incubating in the LG is going.

I found the advice to not touch that dial to adjust temps was the best info. I had very little temp changes til the last week. I am on day 18, I have the still air and today it went up to almost 103 for about 20 minutes, (hope I didn't cook them). I never had to add water for humitity it stayed on the average 40 to 50 with out help, I even had to leave the vent plugs out as the humitity went way high if I put them in. I am using the egg cartons to hatch them in and I turned by hand 3 times a day (thanks George). I have 18 shipped eggs in there as well as 21 local eggs. I added water today for the first time and am trying to bring my humitity to the right stage (I am trying for 65 to 70 is that right I have read so many different things on this). Right now I am fighting to bring it back down I have both vent plugs out and it is still 80 so I been removing water with a syringe. Man this is nerve racking LOL.
I did candle as I put them in the carton but could only see the air sac and a dark mass and some veins. Man I need a new flash light LOL. Happy Hatching all

 

[RoostersCrow]

Hi Jean,

Humidity for hatch period of 65 to 70 is best. A little higher is better than too low though.

The results with my shipped eggs this year have been horrid. My turkey eggs were >80% infertile and my sebrights..... The postal service (?) decided in their case that 2-3 days meant two weeks! Eighteen eggs... TOTAL LOSS!

On the positive side .. MotherGoose is sending me some more turkey eggs today and she reports near 100% fertility in her birds. So I get one more chance for Turkeys this year...

It sounds like things are going good on your end though! Crossing my fingers for a bumper hatch for you

 

[Zookeeper9000]

George my humitity is running 80 I have less then a tsp of water in there and took the water out last night but it is still holding at 80. I don't have the little red plugs in and can't begin to imagine how to bring it down, it is only on one side of the bator. One side reads 72 and no consendation, the other side reads 80 and has slight consendation around the inside of the window not much about 1/4 in by about 2 inches. What do I do LOL

 

[RoostersCrow]

Hi Jean,

You must have pretty good humidity in the room. I think you are in the range of "a little higher is better than lower". Also, unless you are actually using a calibrated wet-bulb/ dry-bulb setup it is hard to really know the humidity. Digital hygrometers are quite limited in accuracy, easily displaying +/- 5% RH errors, even expensive "lab grade" units. So add a grain of salt to those readings. If you are seeing a little condensation on the windows that is fine... much more fortunate than folks who can't get the RH up. What you describe suggests it might be a littel high but not much.


At this point I would say sit back and wait for pips and hatch! Be sure to resist temptations to open the hatcher. The chicks should stay in there until they are fully dry, easily 24 hours after hatch. Keep us posted.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

 

[wegotchickens]

This thread is perfect timing for me to find!
I just got one to use as a hatcher and have questions.
If you use the egg carton method, does that put the chicks too close to the heating elements?

BTW, Zookeeper. Good luck today!!!