August Hatch-A-Long

[calichicken]

Keep in mind that a hen gets off the nest anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours roughly every day so I wouldn't be concerned at all if temperature in the bator drops to 95. The internal egg temp is still way up there. As hatch approaches the embryo is also generating some of its own metabolic heat.

I just had a chick hatch a few minutes ago. There's a couple more eggs in the hatcher. When I walked into the cellar I saw condensation on the glass door so I knew something was up.

I've been adding eggs to the incubator roughly every 3 days and I got pretty lax on a few of those in recording date and time of setting. I was guestimating when to move them to the hatcher and then cross referencing with candling. I've been moving them when I guess they're about 3 days away and turning slightly each day in case they were further away. For the last 3 settings, I've kept a chart plus writing the date on the egg.

Good point about the broody breaks Chickencanoe! I think we get so focus on trying to keep everything perfect we forget the natural process of the broody! I have read some incubators now have a "natural cooling" feature to imitate the broody getting off/on the nest...but mine is the good old simple still air, no frills bator

 

[calichicken]

Congrats on your new chick by the way!!!

 

[Iko127]

LOL..posted too slow!!! Good!!!

hmmmm now I'm a little concerned

I have both thermometers on top of the eggs now. the one that came with the bator is flat mercury type, not a problem but my hygrometer/therm. is digital and now with all the eggs and turner in I'm having trouble with where it should be... maybe my temp isn't high enough...uggg. Should I go back and move the digital to the side more level with the eggs?

 

[WendyF]

Yeah to all the wigglers out there! Candled last night but was so late and so tired that I didn't get all the posts in that I wanted. I have 55 left in the bator. About a dozen of those are simply hopefuls as they were too dark for me to see. I am very dissapointed with my silkie ratio. Pulled 13/17 eggs. I believe the greeder said he had a new roo so I plan to report that his roo isn't working hard enough. I can't complain too much because the eggs were free, if I had paid I would be upset

Here is a pic.

So cool! What day was this candle?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

......but mine is the good old simple still air, no frills bator

Lots of people have hatched thousands of eggs from those. I've had both good and bad luck. I still have one for emergencies and have a behemoth combination cabinet that I built. It's amazing how differently one must consider readings when looking at both. I also have a couple instant read and several slower thermometers. That's freaky to see the different readings from the same spot - especially with forced air. It takes a while to get used to.

Congrats on your new chick by the way!!!

Thanks.

 

[Iko127]

Lots of people have hatched thousands of eggs from those. I've had both good and bad luck. I still have one for emergencies and have a behemoth combination cabinet that I built. It's amazing how differently one must consider readings when looking at both. I also have a couple instant read and several slower thermometers. That's freaky to see the different readings from the same spot - especially with forced air. It takes a while to get used to.

Thanks.

Well

hmmmm now I'm a little concerned

I have both thermometers on top of the eggs now. the one that came with the bator is flat mercury type, not a problem but my hygrometer/therm. is digital and now with all the eggs and turner in I'm having trouble with where it should be... maybe my temp isn't high enough...uggg. Should I go back and move the digital to the side more level with the eggs?

Good point about the broody breaks Chickencanoe! I think we get so focus on trying to keep everything perfect we forget the natural process of the broody! I have read some incubators now have a "natural cooling" feature to imitate the broody getting off/on the nest...but mine is the good old simple still air, no frills bator

Well I added a third thermometer!!! lol... I moved the digital to the side, more level with the eggs and have the thermometers that came with the bator on top of the eggs...I'm going to give it a couple hrs and try not to worry about it...the temps I'm seeing should all be ok..lol I think

 

[ChickenCanoe]

As long as you don't have huge temperature spikes, I'd try not to worry.

I've had lots of trouble with thermometers over the years. I finally found two that are very accurate and I now rely on them exclusively. I use one in the incubator and one in the hatcher. I have others but don't trust them.

One is this probe that can be calibrated but comes with a 0.9 F accuracy range.
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt301wa.html
It's on sale now.

One is the Brinsea spot check.
http://www.brinsea.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=106
I tried to get the link to the US site but it must be down now.

The down side of the spot check is that it has a narrow reading range and if it's too high or low it just displays and H or L. So you don't know how far off it is.

When I first got the spot check I thought it didn't work but it was all the other thermometers that were way off. Then I got the Thermoworks one and it agreed to the tenth of a degree with the spot check so now I only trust those two.

 

[Sylviaanne]

2 thermometers is good..you want to make sure readings are correct. Also, heat rises so temps at the top of your bator will be higher than at the bottom. My temps will be 99 at the bottom of the bator and 100-101 at the top. How long is it taking your bator to get back up to 100 after you get into it? Probably moving the thermometer is why it still says 95

If this is true, and I know it is, why aren't the heating elements put on the bottom of an incubator with the wire mesh high enough that the chicks can't be hurt?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Cause it's such a small space it doesn't make that much difference. The heat element would also get feces on it. Another consideration is that with a broody hen, the heat comes from above.

 

[Iko127]

As long as you don't have huge temperature spikes, I'd try not to worry.

I've had lots of trouble with thermometers over the years. I finally found two that are very accurate and I now rely on them exclusively. I use one in the incubator and one in the hatcher. I have others but don't trust them.

One is this probe that can be calibrated but comes with a 0.9 F accuracy range.
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt301wa.html
It's on sale now.

One is the Brinsea spot check.
http://www.brinsea.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=106
I tried to get the link to the US site but it must be down now.

The down side of the spot check is that it has a narrow reading range and if it's too high or low it just displays and H or L. So you don't know how far off it is.

When I first got the spot check I thought it didn't work but it was all the other thermometers that were way off. Then I got the Thermoworks one and it agreed to the tenth of a degree with the spot check so now I only trust those two.

Thank you! My bator is a styrofoam still air...I think I have a slight draft from the side that has the cord coming out from turner, which is why I didn't have a temp difference with the one batch of eggs on the opposite side, until I added my second batch of eggs and my digital therm. was close to side. I have a towel around that side now and will keep check on it... rt now I have my digital at 98...the left side therm. at 99 and the rt side at 100...humidity at 51... Thank you all for your help and input