Can someone please double check my info for my first hatch

[EricH]

thats an awesome attitude to have. and this site will teach you all you need to know!

 

[SimplySplendidSilkies]

Gryeyes it sounds like you have done this before though. I am a little worried! Did you not get all antsy when you were setting your first eggs? I am a worry wart, and not sure if there will ever come a time when I just set eggs with the ease some of the more experienced people do. Good luck with your hatch!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Plastic BBs in the reserver makes it where you can see how full it is.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Well, my very first hatch wasn't very long ago: six of seven eggs in my first incubator (Brinsea Mini Advance, chosen because it's practically fool-proof) hatched about five and a half weeks ago. I've since incubated two other small sets of 7 and 3 hatched out of each of those. I have a set of 7 going into lockdown tomorrow, and I JUST received two more sets which are currently "resting" to be set tomorrow.

I was absolutely, totally positive I would do something wrong with that first set. That all would die during incubation due to something stupid I did or did not do. I had to set the incubator up in the guest room so I wouldn't see it all the time. I did NOT candle any of those eggs because I didn't want to be disappointed early (before the 21st day). Just one disappointment, please, not several little ones. For the first two weeks, I never even saw the automatic turner work (other than when it was first set up, without the eggs in it). I would hear it from the living room but not make it into the guest room before it stopped. It was set for every 45 minutes, so..... I only tried to make it in there a few times before I just gave up on that task.

Couldn't figure out how to check humidity - turns out I needed to buy a small hygrometer. (Why isn't that word "hydrometer?" Oh. Just looked it up, hydrometer measures specific gravity of a liquid or solid. Huh.) Went to PetSmart and obsessed over the various options; not much space in the incubator for it.

Then I forgot to check it for 3 days after I'd checked it 3 TIMES a day for a few days, and discovered the humidity had really dropped; the water reservoir was empty. Filled it, and was positive I'd killed all the eggs.

Faithfully monitored the humidity from then on, once a day. The incubator turned the auto-turner off on schedule for lockdown. On day 19, quite late at night, there was a pip - OMG. But nothing after that for 2 days. Nada. Nothing. I figured that chick had died in the egg. The morning of the 21st day, there was a living, breathing, fully hatched chick in the incubator - from THAT first pipped egg!

And later that night, another chick. The next morning, four more. Then in the space of 20 minutes, while I was making sure the brooder was ready for them all, one of the chicks with its oh-so-wobbly neck drowned in the water reservoir. I felt absolutely horrible.

But hearing the first peep sound from eggs in the incubator, and then tiny tapping sounds.... and then watching a pipped egg actually start to zip. It's a miracle. My pulse raced and I could have whirled and danced if I wasn't such a "large boned" woman of more than half a century.

I glory in the fact that I have five healthy chicks from that hatch. And six more, total, from the subsequent TWO hatches (3 out of 7 each). I purchased two more incubators, but upgraded to the Mini Advance EX model with the humidity pump, so no chick would EVER die in another water reservoir. (No standing water in the EX models.)

The EX models are more than fool-proof, they are STUPID-proof. The only thing I do not like about the EX model is the fact that the digital display does NOT count down the days, nor does the auto-turner automatically turn off on day 18, you have to pay enough attention to it to turn it off. But it's worth not drowning chicks.... or messing with varying humidity levels.

The temp and humidity levels are rock solid.

So, yes, Letisha, I have done this before. But not very many times, and I absolutely, positively still believe SOMETHING will go wrong, and it will be my fault. I think ANY hatchling that makes it is a GOOD hatch.

I'm just impressed that you are testing your incubator knowledge so far in advance. Good job!

 

[SimplySplendidSilkies]

Gryeyes Wow on the first hatch. And only 5 weeks ago. I was assuming you had been doing this for years. As far and the 2 other hatches what do you think could have happend? Seems to me like you did everything right. That is the scenario that worries me. I no longer have a job outside the house so I will be able to monitor the eggs very closely but I just really hope nothing comes up that can not be answered here on the boards in a timely manner. Watcha gonna do with the Brineas Mini Advanced, put it in a box and ship it straight to me? My friend has a huge Sportsman with a matching hatcher that her husband (since passed away) no longer uses and I have eye balled it for over a year, not sure I would ever hatch out that many chicks but it is very nice. She is just not ready to let it go. As far as the the little Hoba-bator it is set solid at 99.8 and holding humidity at 43% and did all night. I checked first thing this morning, when I went to get my coffee. I can not wait till there are acutally eggs in there, it will feel like Christmas I am sure. Not knowing what will pop out of those little eggs. I still have loads of time to study and learn and am willing so I hope I have given myself and the eggs the best shot at sucess.
I noitced you had your bator in the spare bedroom, I thought about it but I do not spend much time in there and wanted somewhere I could keep a close eye on it, so it is on my kitchen table. I do not use the stove much so I don't think the heat from that will affect it, and it is not in direct sunlight. haha just another excuse to not cook. And I could boil water in the kitchen if the humidity being too low became a problem. That was a tip from someone who hatches out a lot of OE's. I did read that inside an inner wall helps hold the temps/ humidity but putting it in a closet was not an option. I did spring for the digital hygrometer (it is a wierd word), and I may get a back up before the eggs get here. Should I just put it in one of the empty slots for eggs? I saw the mercury ones laying on top of the eggs but not sure where to put this one.
I really enjoyed reading about your first hatch thank you for sharing. And good luck on the 4th and 5th hatches.

 

[SimplySplendidSilkies]

Quote:
Thanks I will look for them before the eggs get here.
I love your website, very informative. I wish you lived close by I would love to have you mentor me, you seem very handy with gadgets. Haha the auto door opener has been on my wish list since getting chickens, you make it sound so easy, yet I still do not get it. I do not understand the termanology when dealing with mechanics.

 

[stanglover2001]

Quote:
Yeah, I think I've seen a craigslist posting from you once in the knoxville section

not that I stalk craigslist or anything

 

[SimplySplendidSilkies]

Quick question about lock down and humidity.
So right now I am doing a trial lockdown and bring humidity up before lockdown. I know I need to bring it up to 65 to 70% but what if the humidity drops down to the 50's during lock down? Do I very quickly add some warm water? How low is too low during lockdown? I have been adding water about every 36 hours at this point. I will bring it to 45 let it drop down to 39 and then add more warm water. Would I need to bring humidity up to 75 or so that way I will not have to open the bator or risk having to open the bator to add more water? See this is the reason I was doing a practice run through without eggs. I appreciate all the help so far, you guys really are great!

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Lockdown is only 3 days. If you add water at the beginning of it, it will probably NOT fall too much. The other thing to understand is that as chicks hatch, the humidity jumps up very high as the little wet bodies break out of the egg shells. DON'T open the 'bator to lower humidity at that time! You could "shrink-wrap" still-hatching chicks in eggs.

Hope that helps.

And, not only am I not divesting myself of the Mini Advance (sorry!), I'm strongly considering adding an Octagon 20 to my arsenal.

Ummm, what I think happened to the other eggs in the 2nd and 3rd hatches is some didn't develop, and some developed part way. But I didn't do any eggtopsies. As I've said, a hatch of ONE chick is something I consider successful. Remember, I'm always positive something will go wrong, anyway. Maybe when I have been doing this for years, I will feel differently. Right now, I'm just amazed at the process and awed by the Miracle of Life.

 

[CindyG]

I use a Brinsea Mini Advance, got a little round hygrometer at the pet store in the reptile dept and I just lean it against the eggs if the tray is full, or lay it in one of the egg slots if there is room. I have done a few hatches now, and found that it works better if I keep it fairly dry for the first two weeks or so, then I add water to the reservoir and get the humidity up around 65-70%. And yes, the hatching chicks are wet and bring it up even higher. I have broken the cardinal rule of not opening during hatch to just quickly snatch out the empty eggshells to give them more room and keep them from getting stuck back in the shells. Also, when I've had more than two days from the first to the last hatching, I have taken the first ones out. The Mini Advance is very good at getting the temp and humidity right back up there. Good Luck.