April Hatch Thread--Come Join Us!

[LBKS]

Just went into lockdown! Whoo hoo! I decided to start a little bit early (about half a day) just to make sure I had enough time to get things right.

I have the Farm Innovator 4200 which has been pretty good so far but once I took the turner out I noticed the metal frame below is really cheap junk. It is rolling up at the corners and popping up at random. Ugh. I tried maneuvering it and so far it is ok but I'm afraid it well pop up and cause the eggs to slam into each other.

The other thing is that the wells down below are SMALL. And nearly impossible to see and fill easily. I didn't have any new unused sponges so I put in a couple new sanitary pads and soaked those as well as filled the wells up. Watched and waited and I'm having one heck of a time getting the heat back up even though I never adjusted the knob and have had no problems with heat up until now. But it just won't go back up so I keep adjusting the knob and watching.

As for the water, well I couldn't get the humidity to go past 50% so I kept adding more, slowly, using a plastic straw inserted in one if the vent holes, and slowly saturating the pads. No increase in humidity. An hour went by so I added more. Suddenly I hear water running out the bottom. Ugh. So the pads are SOAKED, the wells are filled and still not a very high humidity. I took a few out momentarily and put 2 more pads down below but did not saturate them, i just want them to soak up the excess that was running out the bottom. I also put a towel under the incubator.

Still, almost another half hour has gone by and I tried putting one of the air plugs in and that helped a little to get the temp back up to 97 and I'm fidgeting with the control to get it a little higher and the humidity is only 64%.

What now? Do I keep one of the air plugs in? There is no other feasible place to add more water without it running out the bottom. I have approx 30/31 eggs in there. I figure since this is the first day of lockdown I have a little time to get this figured out, but how?

I have the same model, but because we are a humid area I never worried about the humidity not getting up enough. I would recommend the warm sponge approach - I can get it to rise from 25 to 70 in under a half hour if I use hot water on the sponge (have to switch it out every day).

AND FIRST INTERNAL PIP TONIGHT! So excited! Can't figure out which egg it is but I'm sure I will know soon! Love at first peep!

 

[MadamContrary]

Just went into lockdown! Whoo hoo! I decided to start a little bit early (about half a day) just to make sure I had enough time to get things right.

I have the Farm Innovator 4200 which has been pretty good so far but once I took the turner out I noticed the metal frame below is really cheap junk. It is rolling up at the corners and popping up at random. Ugh. I tried maneuvering it and so far it is ok but I'm afraid it well pop up and cause the eggs to slam into each other.

The other thing is that the wells down below are SMALL. And nearly impossible to see and fill easily. I didn't have any new unused sponges so I put in a couple new sanitary pads and soaked those as well as filled the wells up. Watched and waited and I'm having one heck of a time getting the heat back up even though I never adjusted the knob and have had no problems with heat up until now. But it just won't go back up so I keep adjusting the knob and watching.

As for the water, well I couldn't get the humidity to go past 50% so I kept adding more, slowly, using a plastic straw inserted in one if the vent holes, and slowly saturating the pads. No increase in humidity. An hour went by so I added more. Suddenly I hear water running out the bottom. Ugh. So the pads are SOAKED, the wells are filled and still not a very high humidity. I took a few out momentarily and put 2 more pads down below but did not saturate them, i just want them to soak up the excess that was running out the bottom. I also put a towel under the incubator.

Still, almost another half hour has gone by and I tried putting one of the air plugs in and that helped a little to get the temp back up to 97 and I'm fidgeting with the control to get it a little higher and the humidity is only 64%.

What now? Do I keep one of the air plugs in? There is no other feasible place to add more water without it running out the bottom. I have approx 30/31 eggs in there. I figure since this is the first day of lockdown I have a little time to get this figured out, but how?

65% is good, I was working with a farm innovators as well, I ended up putting a humidifier next to the incubator after starting with two dixie cups full of VERY WARM water to boost the initial humidity. And I added an overnight maxi pad that I wet and popped in the microwave for 20 sec, the 2nd day of lockdown because the humidity fell back to 50%. It was pretty good after that. Take a bit of advice from everyone else here that I did not follow: Don't take the chicks out until everyone is done hatching.... My last baby had to be wrapped with a warm wet paper towel and helped out a bit, and 1 little one had membrane stuck to its behind below the vent. I had to give it a bath! Anyhoo good luck!!!!!

 

[rrrmamma]

Just went into lockdown! Whoo hoo! I decided to start a little bit early (about half a day) just to make sure I had enough time to get things right.

I have the Farm Innovator 4200 which has been pretty good so far but once I took the turner out I noticed the metal frame below is really cheap junk. It is rolling up at the corners and popping up at random. Ugh. I tried maneuvering it and so far it is ok but I'm afraid it well pop up and cause the eggs to slam into each other.

The other thing is that the wells down below are SMALL. And nearly impossible to see and fill easily. I didn't have any new unused sponges so I put in a couple new sanitary pads and soaked those as well as filled the wells up. Watched and waited and I'm having one heck of a time getting the heat back up even though I never adjusted the knob and have had no problems with heat up until now. But it just won't go back up so I keep adjusting the knob and watching.

As for the water, well I couldn't get the humidity to go past 50% so I kept adding more, slowly, using a plastic straw inserted in one if the vent holes, and slowly saturating the pads. No increase in humidity. An hour went by so I added more. Suddenly I hear water running out the bottom. Ugh. So the pads are SOAKED, the wells are filled and still not a very high humidity. I took a few out momentarily and put 2 more pads down below but did not saturate them, i just want them to soak up the excess that was running out the bottom. I also put a towel under the incubator.

Still, almost another half hour has gone by and I tried putting one of the air plugs in and that helped a little to get the temp back up to 97 and I'm fidgeting with the control to get it a little higher and the humidity is only 64%.

What now? Do I keep one of the air plugs in? There is no other feasible place to add more water without it running out the bottom. I have approx 30/31 eggs in there. I figure since this is the first day of lockdown I have a little time to get this figured out, but how?

I have the same model. I took out the mesh and turned it over and it fits better. After this hatch I will find some heavier mesh and cut it to fit to replace this one. I also covered it with the mesh shelf lining. All in all I had no problem with temperature. What humidity are you trying to maintain for lockdown.? I have 60% with just a wet sponge. Should mine be higher? Tomorrow is hatch day. I am using a syringe with no needle to put water into the front vent as needed.

 

[MadamContrary]

Well so far only bad news is none of my turkey eggs were fertile, but all the rest are doing great. I actually have to yell at my DH to quit trying to candle eggs. My maternal instinct are kicking in don't mess with my babies!!!! Quail come out on Friday. Yah

Yay! I am thinking about quail for my next hatch. Do you use them for eggs, meat and/or both? We cannot have a lot of chickens in my city so I was thinking quail would be a better option for a meat bird but, they are so cute...

I candled my Lav. and blue Ameraucunas and surprise, SURPRISE THEY ARE ALIVE! 1 blood ring and one questionable but, that means 9 obviously viable eggs. Some one had mentioned candling from the top and OMGoodness, you can really see better! I had all but given up because the post office did their best to derail me. Too happy because the birds these eggs came from are just gorgeous!!!

And as always HAPPY HATCHING MY FRIENDS!!!!

 

[crazyfarmer]

Still nothing

 

[MadamContrary]

I have the same model. I took out the mesh and turned it over and it fits better. After this hatch I will find some heavier mesh and cut it to fit to replace this one. I also covered it with the mesh shelf lining. All in all I had no problem with temperature. What humidity are you trying to maintain for lockdown.? I have 60% with just a wet sponge. Should mine be higher? Tomorrow is hatch day. I am using a syringe with no needle to put water into the front vent as needed.

You want to get just a touch higher 65-70% you will see it spike with each egg hatching and then go back down. I used the shelf liner and a couple extra tacks to hold the mesh down. The shelf liner makes clean up a breeze, also helped eggs stay in place, Good luck tomorrow!

 

[LBKS]

I think my first internal pip is coming from the one I marked "B" for Big Chick egg - the one where the chick looked like it was ready to pop in there on the day 14 candle. I can't hardly sit still now. I may have to work from home tomorrow

 

[Mtn Margie]

Yay! I am thinking about quail for my next hatch. Do you use them for eggs, meat and/or both? We cannot have a lot of chickens in my city so I was thinking quail would be a better option for a meat bird but, they are so cute...

I candled my Lav. and blue Ameraucunas and surprise, SURPRISE THEY ARE ALIVE! 1 blood ring and one questionable but, that means 9 obviously viable eggs. Some one had mentioned candling from the top and OMGoodness, you can really see better! I had all but given up because the post office did their best to derail me. Too happy because the birds these eggs came from are just gorgeous!!!

And as always HAPPY HATCHING MY FRIENDS!!!!

Check out James Marie Farms (BYC member) for very nice meat quail and also "collectibles". They are in Louisiana.

 

[LBKS]

First external pip! I'm going to be checking in all night I think.

 

[hokankai]

First external pip! I'm going to be checking in all night I think.

You have about 8-12 hours before anything else is gonna happen, so you might want to sleep while you can!