Cinco-de-Mayo Hatch-A-Long celebration!

[knoturavggrl]

Hello I just set 21 shipped eggs today, one was lost during shipping as it was cracked. Its my first go at hatching eggs ever. 7 Silver Laced English Orpington and 14 Jubilee English Orpington. My incubator is a NR360. It is early but I am really having issues with the temp readings vs my Govee.
I candled once before I set they amazingly all look pretty good, no cracks.

 

[junior67]

Hello I just set 21 shipped eggs today, one was lost during shipping as it was cracked. Its my first go at hatching eggs ever. 7 Silver Laced English Orpington and 14 Jubilee English Orpington. My incubator is a NR360. It is early but I am really having issues with the temp readings vs my Govee.
I candled once before I set they amazingly all look pretty good, no cracks.

Did you calibrate your govee before using it? Also I have found I need my NR360 around 100 to average out around 99.5. But it was much warmer today than it has been so 99.5 seemed good today. If u need help with calibrating it since it can't get wet I can share the directions I found. Also you want the govee standing up so it is egg level and not laying flat. I try to keep mine in an outer ring.

Since the NR360 rotates the tray around you will have hot and cold spots, mine can fluctuate from 98-100.5. And that is fine since the eggs are hitting all spots. The ave temp that the govee shows should be around 99.5. I have found humidity around 45 works best in the NR360.


I also set 21 today but only 7 of those are shipped. Mine are lavender Orpingtons. Then I have a couple mystery eggs from my girls and I hatch some for a guy that lives near me so 12 are his eggs.

 

[kurby22]

I can join! I set 34 and plan to set more tomorrow! I think it’s a great idea to have a Cinco de Mayo HAL So far I set 17 wheaten bantam Ameraucanas, 14 self-blue or black d’Anvers, 11 modern game bantams and 9 mottled d’Anvers. The MGs are mostly a fertility check, so I will not be holding my breath on their viability! We will see I guess!

 

[kurby22]

Hello I just set 21 shipped eggs today, one was lost during shipping as it was cracked. Its my first go at hatching eggs ever. 7 Silver Laced English Orpington and 14 Jubilee English Orpington. My incubator is a NR360. It is early but I am really having issues with the temp readings vs my Govee.
I candled once before I set they amazingly all look pretty good, no cracks.

Try wrapping the NR with a blanket so that the seam is covered and clear lid has more layers to keep in the heat. Just make sure to keep the vent uncovered. I have found that to be super helpful in keeping my NR temps/humidity consistent. I also found someone on Etsy who makes covers for them, so I’m trying that next!

 

[knoturavggrl]

Did you calibrate your govee before using it? Also I have found I need my NR360 around 100 to average out around 99.5. But it was much warmer today than it has been so 99.5 seemed good today. If u need help with calibrating it since it can't get wet I can share the directions I found. Also you want the govee standing up so it is egg level and not laying flat. I try to keep mine in an outer ring.

Since the NR360 rotates the tray around you will have hot and cold spots, mine can fluctuate from 98-100.5. And that is fine since the eggs are hitting all spots. The ave temp that the govee shows should be around 99.5. I have found humidity around 45 works best in the NR360.


I also set 21 today but only 7 of those are shipped. Mine are lavender Orpingtons. Then I have a couple mystery eggs from my girls and I hatch some for a guy that lives near me so 12 are his eggs.

I did attempt to calibrate the govee by using my meat thermometer and they both agree the NR is running low. If you have another method for calibrating it I am all ears!
Currently all my eggs are in carton cups so they can remain upright for the first three days of incubation. The turner is not in.
The Govee is standing up in there not laying on its side middle tray position.
The NR is set at 100.5 and the Govee says its 98.6 and that with the towel around it(see below)
I bought the protection plan I think I am going to go grab a new one at tractor supply and a manual temperature reader as a control. Then I will return this one. Something really does seem to be amiss with it sadly. Better to do the exchange now I think then make do with a wonky unit.

View attachment 3466959

Great idea! I took the idea and cut a towel in similar fashion as the picture to see if it would help at all. It did make a difference! One degree gained and only a bit of a raise to the humidity which was fine before the towel. But sadly this still puts me a degree lower and its sitting at 98.6 currently. I am gonna run to tractor supply and get a replacement then return my current one after I move the eggs. I think something really is not quite right with it.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Just set 11 more eggs! 10 banty Cochin ones, and one from one of my BYM/EE. No idea if they'll be fertile, but my three roos certainly have been trying! One is also a banty Cochin, one is an EE, and the biggest one (who seems to be the boss) is a complete mutt. He's also my favourite.

Probably all going to be blue chicks, if they hatch. Because blue is dominant, and my banty hens are either splash or blue. I need to get different colours. Thankfully, some of my BYM/EE are NOT blue, nor are the EE and mutt roo.

 

[Dinoroar]

I did attempt to calibrate the govee by using my meat thermometer and they both agree the NR is running low. If you have another method for calibrating it I am all ears!
Currently all my eggs are in carton cups so they can remain upright for the first three days of incubation. The turner is not in.
The Govee is standing up in there not laying on its side middle tray position.
The NR is set at 100.5 and the Govee says its 98.6 and that with the towel around it(see below)
I bought the protection plan I think I am going to go grab a new one at tractor supply and a manual temperature reader as a control. Then I will return this one. Something really does seem to be amiss with it sadly. Better to do the exchange now I think then make do with a wonky unit.


Great idea! I took the idea and cut a towel in similar fashion as the picture to see if it would help at all. It did make a difference! One degree gained and only a bit of a raise to the humidity which was fine before the towel. But sadly this still puts me a degree lower and its sitting at 98.6 currently. I am gonna run to tractor supply and get a replacement then return my current one after I move the eggs. I think something really is not quite right with it.

That sounds like a good idea. It should be able to get up to temp!

 

[MGG]

I'd like to hear your govee calibration info too, @junior67 . I've been looking into getting one.

Good luck on your hatches everyone!

 

[Dinoroar]

Here are my cinco eggs. 98 regular sized plus 8 serama eggs.

I don’t expect a really high percentage in these… my seramas just have terrible hatch rate. I suspect there is something genetic in the line because it’s the same weather I have hatched from mine or the ones my mom keeps. Also the same hatched under serama broodies. Lots of early quitters. I’d guess 30-50 percent actually develop to hatch.

I also have 7 eggs from my lavender ameraucana. I collected those over like 2 weeks so some are pretty old. She’s in a pen atm with my cemani roo so that should be a fun cross!

There are a bunch of black Minorca eggs and those could be pure Minorca if mixed with lav ameraucana roo.

Apart from that I tried to grab eggs from bresse and naked necks. It’ll be a grab bag.


I have someone whose buying the last of my march chicks that I’m willing to part with. It gets a lot harder for me to sell them after I’ve had them a few weeks. They asked me for a discount and I was like nope usually I’m quick to give deals but it’s hard enough to let them go for what I’m asking when aren’t they really worth like a million dollars each???

 

[knoturavggrl]

Thank you all for the advice. I got to tractor supply today and grabbed another NR360 and an old fashioned thermometer the non digital kind and it confirmed the Govee was right it was running to low.
The new one is up and running and holding the correct temperature with zero issues! Eggs have been moved, its early enough I think all will be well.