Colorado

[coop410silkies]

X2 on the hatch!

 

[megshenhut]

Thanks everyone. Yes, I live in a beautiful place. Sometimes frustrating when you can't buy the stuff you want anywhere close, but for the most part great. I have my first bator of eggs set for the season and hurrah, candled eggs and they are fertile. I have bantam cochin and welsummers in there. 2 weeks to go!!. I'm ready for peeps.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Yes, yes, yes ! I have 3 baby chicks this morning. I am absolutely beside myself. Don't know what to do. I'm hyperventilating.

I will calm down in time.

I read that I should not open the lid for 3 -5 days....so I'm going to wait for the photos, as I doubt they will turn out very well through the foggy 'bator windows, yes?

18 more eggs in there, and I can see one zipping now, and can see 4 more external PIPs !!!

And I was SO anxious, hearing the horror stories about high altitude, and temperatures, and humidity. i nearly worried myself sick.

Thanks for the support and help !

Jan

How fun! I opened the incubator as soon as the already hatched chicks were dry and moved them into the brooder, but I'm terrible at waiting and they were my first chicks.

Congrats!

 

[lomine]

Congrats @jmdes ! I'm also waiting to see some cute chick photos!

 

[Mtn Margie]

Quote:
"I read that I should not open the lid for 3 -5 days....so I'm going to wait for the photos, as I doubt they will turn out very well through the foggy 'bator windows, yes?"


Not quite right. Three days would be the most, and pushing it I might add, for the very first hatched.
As long as you keep things humid enough, quickly opening the bator is not so bad. Keep it to a bare minimum though.
Glad that you are having a good hatch!

 

[Percheron chick]

e   Yes, yes, yes !   I have 3 baby chicks this morning.   I am absolutely beside myself.  Don't know what to do.  I'm hyperventilating.    

I will calm down in time.        

I read that I should not open the lid for 3 -5 days....so I'm going to wait for the photos, as I doubt they will turn out very well through the foggy 'bator windows, yes?

18 more eggs in there, and I can see one zipping now, and can see 4 more external PIPs !!!

And I was SO anxious, hearing the horror stories about high altitude, and temperatures, and humidity.  i nearly worried myself sick.    

Thanks for the support and help !

Jan

3-5 days? No. Wait for the eggs to hatch. The peeping and chirping help motivate the unhatched ones but after 2-3 days get them out so they can drink and eat. After 3 days chances are the others will not hatch.

 

[coop410silkies]

3-5 days? No. Wait for the eggs to hatch. The peeping and chirping help motivate the unhatched ones but after 2-3 days get them out begso they can drink and eat. After 3 days chances are the others will not hatch.

@jmdes:
There is sooo much controversy over when to open the incubator and take out chicks. I worry that the hatched chicks will roll the pipping eggs into a position where they can't finish. Normally the eggs will roll so that the light end (the pipping end) lands up; that's especially true if they are on a surface where they can roll easily and if there aren't obstructions to their roll. But with a lot of eggs around, the pipping eggs could lodge against one upside down. At least I worried about that. What Percheron Chick says about the hatched chicks motivating the un hatched is true, in my experience. So one of the things I tried was setting the eggs in those plastic egg trays at lockdown. I think this works OK, and I don't worry about the chicks playing polo with the unhatched eggs when I do it this way. If you haven't locked your hatch down in one of these egg trays, you might want to take some of the more active fluffed up chicks out, but be sure to leave in two chicks, at the very least, one for company, and one to wake up and inspire the sleepers. As mentioned by others here, you will lose warm moist air every time you open the incubator, so you may want to compensate with misting or adding hot water to your water reservoir (that's what I've done in the past), or doing something else. (I am personally considering using a little nebulizer with a drop or two of Oxine.). Some people report good results just leaving everything alone for 3-4 days, some people are comfortable opening up the incubator as often as it takes to remove finished chicks. In the end it will be your informed decision. You might want to read through some of HatchAlong posts as the participants go through lockdown and hatching. These HALs have excellent moderators and support, plus more available experience and information than you might ever imagine. Beware, though, getting through a HAL will take a wealth of reading. Might help with the waiting, though. Happy Hatching! I can get excited about your first hatch.

 

[samsr]

Today is Day #20.     Huge thanks friends for the replies on my incubation project.  Your support is so helpful and reassuring.  Yes, I am wondering if my hydrometer is wrong.  I've decided to not believe it anymore, but I don't have a backup right now, so I'll have to just carry on.

and, yes, I also checked the size of the air pockets until lockdown.  They were advancing nicely at low humidity in the 'bator, as the various guidelines describe, aiming for a 13% weightloss.  I kept it around 25% or less, and carefully checked the air pockets.  They looked great.  And, I saw plenty of embryos, and movement, and veins and such, except for in the 6 eggs with dark shells, I could not see inside the dark ones.     

On day #17, I added all the water and the shamwows, and on day #18, I sprayed some warm water inside, and locked er down.  I haven't opened the lid at all yet.   I'm trying hard to follow instructions to leave it alone during lockdown.   I am just hovering and peering in there every hour or so, and fretting.   This is HARD !!!!  

One of you said you kept your bator at 60% humidity the whole time.  Question 1:  How did you get the %% so high and keep it high at our altitude?  and Question 2:   Did you have nice/proper sized air pockets in your eggs with this much humidity?

Experienced incubator friends.... do you usually see pips in the outer shell on Day#20 ?   Or do they come on Day#21, or later?   

  I don't see any pips yet.    Should I worry?

Kind regards,  Hovering chicky moma - Jan

My bator is an old wine refigerator and quite large. I made it last spring. It hold temp and humidity very well. I think because of its size. The air pockets are normal from what i have read. I have 12 or 13 days before hatch time. Then another 7 for the second batch.
This home made bator can hatch out 168 eggs at a time if need be.

 

[rf12345]

do you have pictures of your home made incubator?

 

[thebesticanbe]

@ MountainManfowl. I know you said Silly but I have a new coaching rooster about 6 months old. If your interested let me know or if you know anybody that is interested let me know I'm living Colorado Springs