Chic Chick 'Bator *UPDATED*

[aran]

missprissy...there looks to be 5 good eggs out of 11 in the bator although several of the "bad" ones it may just be too early or the eggs too dark for me to see...none the less im figuring 50/50 boys and girls even if the 5 do all hatch--> 2-3 roos or 2-3 pullets.

I dunno...maybe they will be all be boys or all girls...we will see...exciting isnt it!

 

[4boysmom]

I'm finished with mine except for the ventilation holes....how many & how big should they be?

For now, I'm planning on turning by tilting each end of the cooler at different times of the day. Mainly, I hope this to be a hatcher, so I won't need to worry about turning.


Thanks for the clear directions & pictures.....I'll post pictures of mine later!

 

[MissPrissy]

I made 4 (2 in front and 2 in back) cone shaped holes and used wine corks as plugs.

 

[4boysmom]

I have it up & running, but my temp is not leveling out....how long did it take for yours to level out?

 

[MissPrissy]

I had to fiddle around with mine maybe a day or so to get the temp set where it was 99.5 (99.7) temperature using a sensor inside of a water wiggler. Once I got that set I haven't worried with the air temp. It still flunctuates but the interior water wiggler temperature doesn't change. It takes alot to make even a 1 degree change in the water wiggler.

Where I live is very humid. Sometimes I don't even need water to keep the humidity at 60% inside there. The bouncing humidity has been my trouble. I have difficulty keeping it below 70% most days.

Aran, how is your hatch doing? Is your humidity stable?

 

[aran]

hey missprissy...funny i was just coming here to check your post to see how YOUR bator was doing lol.
My bator is performing fantastically well so far. Still have 5 developing silkies at day 14 now. I set another 8 silkie eggs 2 days ago which JJ very kindly sent me. I have another 12 buff laced polish standards coming tomorrow! ( phew this getting out of hand lol).

I totally agree with you about the air temp vs the water weasel...my bator ranges between 98.4 and 101.6 on the air temp ( stable at about 50% HUMIDITY...im trying to not keep it too humid after reading the post about dry incubation, at least until the end when i will crank up the humidity) but the water weasel sits beautifully in the 99.2-99.8 range constantly.

The whole thing from design to watching it operate has been a lot of fun...if anything hatches that will be even better still but as i said the whole process of building this bator with my 6 year old son william has been fantastic!

So how many did you hatch?

 

[aran]

as far as the ventilation holes are concerned I poked about 4 holes in the top of the walls all the way around the top and on two sides of the bottom with a screwdriver...so there is no plugs in there...i guess i didnt think of that...oh well its all functioning ok so far

 

[aran]

the egg turning issue still needs to be addressed...it is driving me nuts especially now that i have 13 and soon to be 25 eggs in the bator...i wonder if a commercially bought turner would be able to be adapted to fit our home made bators?

 

[redneck]

The egg turner is 15x15x3 inches.
http://search.ebay.com/egg-turner_W0QQfrppZ50QQfsopZ1QQmaxrecordsreturnedZ300

I am thinking of buying one and building a plywood bator for it.

 

[MissPrissy]

I haven't hatched any yet, Aran. My mother is getting married next week and I didn't have time to set eggs and hatch them in time for me to be here at home. I plan to set eggs after next weekend so that I can be here everyday and tend to them personally.

I am very excited as the time gets near. My kids want silkies and cochins and my husband wants some of those polish with the top hat feathers. The possibilities seem to be endless right now.

Redneck, I am seriously considering just buying a turner instead of trying to make one from scratch.