Complete chicken novice, hellp!!

Demidog

Chirping
5 Years
May 16, 2014
273
25
88
Macedonia
I'v never kept chickens before so i have no idea what i am doing! Any tips and advice much appreciated :)

So here's my situation:

I bought 10 fertilized eggs from the farmers market on impulse! Completely unprepared which is highly irresponsible, i know, but i got talking to the guy and ended up coming home with eggs to care for! We've been planning for years to get chickens, we've got a shed and a fenced off area all ready for them and we've planted lots of corn and sunflower this year for feed so it was just a matter of getting the actual chickens. When i was speaking to the guy with the eggs they were so cheap i though why not give it a try! Then instantly afterwards i started panicking because i don't have an incubator and i don't know what i'm doing!

When i got home with the eggs they were cold and i thought that was bad so i put them in an egg box on top of a hot water bottle to warm them up while i googled how to make an incubator. I since read that they are supposed to be kept at room temperature before they go into the incubator, so i think i did that wrong. Do you think they will be dead either because they were cold when i bought them or because i warmed them up before incubating them?

I don't have an incubator but i have an old cupboard with a glass door which i thought would be ok. I sellotaped a light inside as well as a digital thermometer. I put the eggs in a shoe box with an old towel and positioned it under the light and put the sensor for the thermometer on top of the eggs. At first the light was too far away and the temperature was reading around 33 c over night. I thought it would heat up more and was worried about the light over heating and causing a fire so i slept in the same room and was getting up to check on it throughout the night. In the morning i re positioned the light closer to the eggs and it's now staying between 37-39 C. This is now the 3rd day and i am able to keep the temperature pretty constant by opening or closing the door very slightly if it goes up too high or down too low. I also have a dish of water inside for humidity but i don't have a humidity reader.
Is this set up adequate? I will attach a picture.

Do you think the eggs will hatch like this? Or maybe my inexperience and complete lack of knowledge has killed them? I hope not! I am also turning them several times day and night and constantly monitoring the temperature. last night it was holding at 37.7 C, then i opened the door to turn them this morning and the temp dropped but it went back up and now it's holding spot on 38 C I really hope they survive!




 
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Hi Demidog,

I think you're doing good... You've got the basics covered.

I would just raise the temperature a little bit... I believe the correct temperature in still air incubators is around 38.5ºC.... Read this, for example: http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_temp.html

If you're really worried about humidity, you can get a hygrometer in a pet shop (like this: http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/analog_hygrometer.php)... They're pretty cheap and give out a decent enough reading.

For how long and at what temperature did you heat the eggs before you started the incubation process?... If the embryos didn't have a chance to start development at that stage, I wouldn't worry about it...

Good luck!!

Cheers
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Thanks for replying!

I came home with them cold at maybe 2pm and put them on a hot water bottle. After a while i checked the temp and i think it was reading about 28 C. Then i got the light set up in the cupboard that evening, maybe about 6 or 7pm and i stuck the eggs in soon after. ( I later learned about setting the eggs first! ). The temp was reading around 33 C during the night and i adjusted the light first thing in the morning, about 7am, and it's been kept around 38 C since then.
What is the maximum temp that is safe? Just because it's been up at 39 before and I'm worried they're going to cook so i open to door slightly to let them temp drop again. Is 39 OK? What is the optimum temperature range? Is 38-39 better than 37-38? If they go up to 40 will they die?

I thought it would be simple to incubate eggs with a light in a cupboard but all the things I'm reading about how to build an incubator seems much more complicated than the way I've got it which is making me worried. And I'm reading about everyones problems which is not helping! lol
 
Hi Demidog,

I woudn't worry... You didn't heat them that much and for a long period of time before the incubation process really started... As I understand you did it kind of progressively, so they should be fine.
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40ºC is OK if not for a long period of time... In still air (like you have), I would try to keep it in the 38º-39º range... If it floats 1 or 2 degrees up or down (just) for a few hours, no problem.

Looking again at your pictures... Some eggs are laying flat, others slightly tilted... No problem, they're OK either way... But, for the ones slightly tilted, position the round end of the egg pointing up.

Oh, and pencil an X in the side of every egg... Not that many eggs, but it's easier to keep track when you turn them.

And first of all, don't worry!!
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... Like in all things, you can do it the simple way or the complicated way (I know I sometimes do the latter
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) ... Either way it's a learning process, enjoy!!!

Cheers
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Hello again Daedalus62!,

Thank you very much for your tips! I need all i can get :)

That's good to know about the temperature range. I've got a max/min reading on my digital thermometer which is really handy. The highest it's been is 39.6 and the lowest is 36.4, but that is from opening the door to turn them so they don't stay that low for long. I'm keeping the temp above 38 now by draping a towel over the door (which is wonky and closes at the bottom but not at the top, but i guess that provides ventilation!) .

And thank's for the tips on positioning the eggs. I will make sure pointy end down and round end up from now on. And I've numbered them 1-10 also to keep track.

Thanks again for your advice, you've been very helpful and I am feeling more confident now
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