Basics to incubating for the first time??

[ChickensAreSweet]

"The incubation handbook" is available free on the brinsea website. It is printable and thick. I recommend it.

 

[jenlynn4]

thats great to know!

 

[sben451]

Quote:
This is good advice. Your Brinsea should come with good instructions, too. As for shipped eggs--yes you can have a lower hatch rate than, say, eggs from your own flock, but you can also have an excellent hatch ( I got 100% on 24 shipped eggs the first time I used my Brinsea Eco 20). Happy hatching!!!

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts. I would add, mark the eggs with an X on one side and an O the other side and when you turn the eggs always turn them in the same direction. When you turn the eggs either the O's will be up and the next turn the X's will be up to make sure you don't miss turnning any of the eggs. Just a suggestion. This is probably posted here somewhere.

 

[wsdareme]

I have the Brinsea Mini Advance, and the only difference is mine has auto egg turning and yours does not. The temperature is set digitally, and mine holds steady as a rock. I have never monitored my humidity (I did just order a tiny hygrometer to try) but if you follow Brinsea's instructions, you will be successful. It has a little reservoir in the center that is divided in half; you put water in one half until lockdown, and then in both sides after lockdown to keep humidity up. I wish I'd had the money to get the Advance with the humidity control, but it was a lot more money. But, like I say, I've had great success with mine.

 

[cmom]

another thing you can do for raising the humidity is put a small clean piece of damp cloth in the bottom of the incubator and tuck in into the water reservoir. The water will wick into the cloth and help bring the humidity up. This is on the Brinsea website.

 

[dbcooper02]

How about giving the silkies another try? I bet the reason they just stood guard instead of setting on the eggs is because there weren't enough in the nest. Adding the rocks to their "clutch" pretty well confirms that. Chickens assemble a clutch of eggs before they start setting. I think if you isolated one of the hens so the others wouldn't interfere and gave her a nice clutch of eggs she'd probably get the job done for you.

 

[CammieSilkie]

My silkies were just hatched over the summer of 10', so they are new to the whole mothering thing. LOL. i gave them each space, waited a week or so, but they aren't going to hatch any rocks anytime soon. LOL.

So, later tonight i am going to order the mini eco. thanks everybody for all the advice!! it was super helpful. also, one more thing.. where can i get a tiny hydrometer for the mini eco? also the mini eco is fan assisted right? so the temp should be at 99.5, right?

 

[MuscovyMad]

I read somewhere to candle on days 3 and 8. The after that you can't really see anything because the chicks are getting big.

I think on day 3 you should see blood vessels and therfore at an early stage you can ditch any infertile eggs.
Day 8 you should be able to see the chick moving about a bit. Basically a dark shadow.
I think you can also candle to observe if any have pipped internally (pecked into the internal air sac). But i can't remember the exact day for that and i'm sure many people are against it due to opening the incubator at a late stage in incubation.

Never used your incubator type so can't comment on your other questions but hope this helps.

 

[cmom]

I candle on day 10 here is a video, click on the image.