April 1st. setting.. *hatching*| need a buddy.

[magoochie]

It should be interesting since most of us are newbies.

Good luck everybody!

 

[magoochie]

of course as soon as I put my eggs in my husband cranks up the fireplace so the furnace wont kick in.

GRRRR I told him that it messes with the temp in that room because the furnace doesnt kick in. he just rolls his eyes

He better not screw me up before I even get started!

 

[tia]

16 Indian Runner Duck eggs and 5 Rhode Island Reds, 5 Barred Rock, and 5 Black Sexlink..... and I have a whole classroom of excited kids.
This teacher is pretty excited too.

 

[artathart]

I set mine yesterday (Thursday) so can I join? This is my first ever hatch as well. Here are move eggs. I am doing Americaunas, Welsummers and Black copper marans.

And here they are set in the incubator

Expected hatch date April 21st. If they hatch

 

[youngbiddy]

Hint for first timers.

Pay close attention to the size of the air cells in your eggs. Candle right before you put the eggs in to see how big the air cell is at starting. Take a picture if you can. When you candle at day 7, look to see how much the air cell has grown. If it hasn't grown much, lower your humidity. If it has grown a lot, raise your humidity.

I used the Dry Incubation method with my first set of eggs, and while I got a 66% hatch rate with shipped eggs, I think it would have been higher if I'd upped the humidity a bit for the second half of the incubation period. Shipped eggs are generally a little old so they'll be a bit on the dry side anyway, and if an egg is porous as well it loses moisture faster. I got some nice Lavender Orp eggs for my second go-round, and they're rather porous. I've kept the humidity 15% higher on average than my last incubation, and the air cells on some still look like they're growing too much.

You'll see people advocate for both high and low humidity averages, but the most important thing is how much humidity your eggs need. And that varies from egg to egg and batch to batch. Watch your air cells.

 

[Azriel]

Can I join this party too. This is my 1st time hatching also, I set 24 in my eco20 last night 4-1. I have 21 shipped EE eggs, and 3 from my mixed flock. My temps were rock solid untill I put my eggs in, now its high down by the eggs, low up where the built in thermometer is. Humidity is about 35%. Is it normal to go look at the eggs every hour just to be sure their ok?

 

[youngbiddy]

Quote:
You're only looking every hour? What's wrong with you?

 

[artathart]

Quote:
You're only looking every hour? What's wrong with you?

Lol. I watch my digital meter all the time and I check at least every 20 mins. I am sooooooo obsessed at this point. Temps at 100.3 and humidity is 38% so I am happy.

 

[Louise's Country Closet]

I set eggs yesterday too! Mine are ducks though, can I still keep you company??

I'm so excited! I promised myself that I would wait until the first to set any and I actually stuck to it this year lol

 

[fshinggrl]

The more the merrier! Looks like we have a great group here! Thanks for the tips about the humidity youngbiddy!

Dark eggs are hard to candle though... I'll be trying though!