Basics to incubating for the first time??

[CammieSilkie]

I have a home-built chicken coop that holds up to 8 bantams. All was going well until a family of hawks got 3 of my silkies, unfortunatley...

I have never incubated eggs, and since i wanted 3 more chickens but i did not feel like ordering a batch of 20 and giving away a gazillion/trying to find homes for the other 17, I thought I would raise my own. well, my silkies always get mad when i take away their eggs in the morning, so i thought i would let them incubate/hatch a few for me. having a silkie mom do all the work is a great idea, I thought!

wrong!

I know the eggs are fertile because we have a rooster who likes to mate a lot,

but I would never think my silkies would be this silly!

All of them, (i let the 4 of them on sit on their own eggs) being brand-new moms, totally did not keep the eggs warm enough. they were pretty cold. they just stood guard of the eggs, and didn't even turn them! LOL. they also decided their 2-3 little group of hatching eggs wasn't gpood enough, and added some large rocks to the brood to make it larger. Silly girls! they tried harder to hatch those rocks than they did their own eggs, BAHAHAHA!

After failing with my own silkies, i figured, let's hatch my own! (because of my location, i need to order hatching eggs since they can't ship 3 chicks to me.)

I am planning on getting the mini-eco incubator by brinsea.

http://www.brinsea.com/prod-Mini_Eco_manual_10_egg_incubator-229.aspx

I don't mind turning the eggs and stuff. But this is my first incubator expirience. (i have hatched/raised robins since i was 8. I'm 13. and i have never been NOT-successful! but I have never used a real incubator, only a lizard-heat lamp and a cardboartd box with close- temperature/humidity monitoring.)

I am going to order three bantam mille flur D'uccle (thats how you spell it right? XD) fertile hatching eggs from www.mypetchicken.com and all in all, I really just need to basics to incubating chicken eggs. i know that Styrofoam incubators are very hard to use, so i am going to give the mini-eco a try. I'd like to know how to adjust the temp./ what it shopuld be kept at, humidity, etc.

also, what is lockdown? when to start it? what to do??? aah! LOL, I am so new to chicken eggs...

when should i expect them to pip? how often to candle? everything you know about the basics to incubating would be extremely helpful! Robins aren't chickens!

 

[CammieSilkie]

Also, I would like to point out that I don't really have the money for the mini advanced incubator, and that's why i am buying the mini-eco.

yah, ik I'm 13, but i'm the one who cares for/knows all about the chickens in the family! LOL! so don't be like, "maybe your parents could help?" because they won't, bahahah.

 

[latebloomer]

i'm going to eavesdrop on the advice you get if you don't mind....

 

[CammieSilkie]

go ahead.

but no body is helping out,

 

[jenlynn4]

the mini eco should work good for you. Your temp should be kept at 99.5 and your humidity about 45% Turn eggs at lest 3X a day until day 18 then stop turning at that point and raise humidit to about 65-70% so they can get in position for hatching. Best of luck with you hatch!

 

[jenlynn4]

OHH and your mini eco SHOULD come with all that info with the instructions. My Eco 20's did.

 

[latebloomer]

here's what i think i know, i hope that someone will jump in if i'm wrong

if your incubator doesn't have a fan,
for the first twenty days
the temperature should be at 102
and the humidity about 60
turn the eggs over twice a day

when you hit the end of day twenty
you increase the humidity to between 65 and 70
and don't open the incubator for anything
they should hatch

if you have an incubator with a fan looks
like everything is the same, except your temperature
for the first twenty days is about 100 degrees

i'm ignoring the whole candling thing
because that seems beyond me at this point

i've also read that the eggs should be turned
four to six times a day, but i only read that once

does this sound about right to anyone out there?

 

[CammieSilkie]

Thank for the help! With robin eggs, i candled daily. I bet this wasn't that good for the hatch rate though.

the mini eco incb. does have a fan and a thermometer, but what it doesn'rt have is humidity control. how do i know what the humidity is? and how do i raise/lower it? Also, with the mini eco and shipped eggs what's the hatch rate? plus when my eggs arrive do i place them right into the incubator or should i put them small-side down in an egg carton for a few hours or something?

 

[sonjab314]

Here is how it is done.

http://backyardchickens.yuku.com/topic/1604/t/hatching-egg-care-guide.html

 

[jenlynn4]

I think that humidity I posted is a little low...I was trying to remember myself. I will look on my instructions later. LOL (sorry)