Building an incubator!!!!!

[FatTom]

Update have incubator built and put in first hatch. Kept temps between 99-100 and humidity around 45 for first 18 then bumped up to 75-78 for last 3 days. Started with 30 eggs candled at day 8 (have dark shells) and all but 12 were looking good. On the 3rd day of lock down had 2 start to hatch one had small beak sized hole other had half of shell cracked open left to hatch over night and checked next morning. The one that had half of shell broken had stoped moving so checked and was dead. The one that had small hole had made no progress so assumed was dead too. Checked anyway and was still alive but very weak. (had to help told my self not to but had to) Checked the rest 2 days later and all but 2-3 were full developed. (Happened on last hatch with LG incubator I bought) Any one have an idea of what happened?

 

[yo burrill]

I am having the same issue with my hatches too. Would love to hear what other people think too!!!

 

[fried green eggs]

Sorry about your last hatch not going well. I have been kind of using the dry hatch method and have been having really good hatch rates for the most part. I add some water and try to keep the humidity between 25% - 35% for the first 18 days. I would rather have large chicks that might need help hatching, than chicks that drown with too high of humidity. I have been doing 58% - 65% in my hatching incubator for chicken eggs for day 19 -21. Outside weather seems to effect my incubators humidity a little. I haven't weighed any of my hatching eggs, I just go by candling and hope for the best.

I did 4 turkey eggs that I was given my last hatch a few weeks ago. I put them in my large hatcher incubator because, I had already packed away my other incubator to get it out of my kitchen. I candled the eggs and guessed their approx. day. The person that gave them to me, didn't know how far along they were. I put them on the auto-turner with humidity at 25% and just left them go. I looked at the eggs, temp and humidity each morning and in the evening. I figuring they wouldn't hatch anyway so, I wasn't too concerned and candling didn't help once they got past day 18, I did see movement in 3 of the eggs but, nothing moving in the 4th egg. I read that you are suppose to take turkey eggs out of a auto-turner at day 25 and raise humidity but, I didn't know when day 25 was.

I told the eggs they better peep loud in the evening when I'm around to hear them - But, they didn't. I came home from working one evening and my dog was going nuts. She was looking at the window on the incubator so, I was surprised

to see - I had 3 fluffy little turkeys. They didn't get humidity raised at all and had no problem hatching with the auto-turner still running. The 4th egg died on about day 12? which is about the day I was given the eggs. So, this made me realize that some chicks are just strong and they will hatch regardless of what I did wrong. LOL

Were the chicks that started to hatch for you but died, really wet? Or did they look shrink wrapped ? Were they really big - like they couldn't get into position to hatch? If you can evaluate what happened, it can help you know what to adjust for your next hatch. But, if the eggs are shipped it makes it harder to determining what went wrong.

 

[cluck-cluck]

I have to admit that my incubator is a bit small. I can hold 15 eggs, that's it. BUT I do think it's more forgiving in the heating department as it gets back to temp pretty quickly.

I use an electric waterheater lower thermostat. I drilled holes in the back (into the ceramic black backing) It's hard as heck, but just keep drilling away and you will get through it. I hang the thermostat with the main central hole (on the side not shown in link) right next to the light bulb and try out different settings until the 'bator holds a good range. This is because, the light bulb will quickly heat the thermostat, and when it's off, the difference in temperature is greater than if the thermostat sits farther away so it will turn back on again faster. Before I hung it close to the lightbulb, I got temperature varience of 10 degrees! WAY off. Now it's a matter of 0.2 degrees. I think I have it set just above 125 degrees mark. I use a 40 watt mini bulb (the small round ones you see in bathrooms or theater mirrors) and a computer fan set at 5 volts (I was worried it wouldn't be enough air movement in my tiny setup , but it seems to be doing very well.) I used an old cel phone charger which is 5v to plug it in but you can use anything up to 12v. Now that I discovered that I need to have the thermostat right on the bulb, I don't think it was necessary to drill holes in the back for air movement through it. If I did it over again, I would at least try it out without the extra holes. However, the extra holes may be helping the thing cool off faster so that it switches the lights back on sooner?

I hope that was semi clear? It was really easy to set up and I did take pictures, but saw so many with photos of their setups, and mine was just another of the same idea, but I must say I didn't understand the wiring on most of the tutorials until it clicked (like a lightbulb over my head, LOL) So I don't know if it's because I'm dense, which I am, or if "normal" people would have just as hard a time understanding as I did. I may just make another tutorial 'cause I fancy myself as a good tutorial writer for the mentally challenged, ROFL

NOTE: I may have the temperature varience of .0.2 degrees, but the room temperature is always affecting the interior of my box, so I'm keeping an eye on it all the time, got to know what time of day it tends to get hot, and what time of night it tends to get cold (6PM and 5AM respectively) and I just plug my air holes or open them up to accomodate this. I'm constantly watching the bator, so it's definitely NOT automatic ;P Gotta stay near home for 3 weeks to do this ;P

 

[FatTom]

They really wern't wet or shrink wraped but were pretty good sized. I don't buy eggs my hens produce enought to collect 1/2 a dozen a day.

 

[FatTom]

cluck-cluck I have the set up with 40watt mini bulb and hot water heater thermostat and had to put pretty close to bulb to get good results. It also looks alot like most of the one's already on BYC. My wife thinks next time I should take then out of egg holder just before lock down. ( the one I use is the purple one that holds 2 1/2 doz )

 

[cluck-cluck]

Yah, I have them in a converted carton (with holes cut out of the bottoms). I'll be taking them out at lockdown and laying them on the wire mesh so they can move around better . Just hope it works! I'm on day 4+ with my very first batch of eggs and out of 8 eggs, I see spider veins on 7 and one not yet. Might be a little behind the others? Or may have quit? We'll see. Just hope some hatch!

 

[FatTom]

Good luck. What kind are you trying to hatch?