Completly lost. Trying to hatch eggs

[feedman77]

Your still kind of early in the process usually you are looking for veining and embryo at day 7.

You can store eggs up to 10 to 14 days before you set them so your hatch isn't staggered.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Good to know. Thank you.

One of the eggs looks just like a pic labeled porous egg. I cant really see anything inside. Should i let it ride or throw it out?

 

[Chic Rustler]

Got home from work and found the temp spiked to 103.5°F. I dont know how long they were that hot. Probably 6 or 8 hours. Should i throw them out and start over?

 

[feedman77]

Knowing the incubator I think you have.

Your eggs are on day 8 to 10

I would candle them. But not throw them out. I believe they will be fine

 

[Chic Rustler]

Yeah its a cheapo foam one. Still air. Temp swings are terrible. I have spent the past 3 hours trying to slowly get it to 101.5-102. Right now its 101 but it will probably over shoot and i will have to start over.

I candled them. Dont really know what im looking for but i see blobs with veins. Not sure what a dead one looks like. Still only a couple had air sacks.


Is there an incubator that will try to hold a desired set point? Maybe one with a thermostat that has temperature settings? This is rediculous

 

[Chic Rustler]

So the eggs are at day 9,10,& 11. I candled them tonight and found them to have nice looking blobs, some viens, some of them had movement and they all had small air sacks......well all but 2. Two of them just had blood rings so i threw them out.


So far it seems they are going pretty good inspite of my inexperience and a 1/2 day in the refrigerator before incubation because my wife didnt know i was going to hatch them.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

So the eggs are at day 9,10,& 11. I candled them tonight and found them to have nice looking blobs, some viens, some of them had movement and they all had small air sacks......well all but 2. Two of them just had blood rings so i threw them out.


So far it seems they are going pretty good inspite of my inexperience and a 1/2 day in the refrigerator before incubation because my wife didnt know i was going to hatch them.

Hi there! Good to see things are developing. I want to chime in here, especially where humidity is concerned. You've already been confirmed that yes still air should be 101-102 with temps taken at the top of the eggs. If your incubator is not digital, chances are it's the LG 9200. I used that model for the last 2 1/2 years very successfully. It can be done, but it's more work and they do need to be monitored more closely. Keeping them away from windows and in an area where there is not a lot of temp fluctuations will help greatly. I just moved up to the Hovabator 1583, and boy what a difference.

Humidity-it's really best to have a hygrometer for guidance. Many people use the cheap reptile ones found in pet shops. They can be tested for accuracy through the salt test. But, if you monitor your air cells for growth you can tell when and if the humidity needs to go up or down. For my standard eggs I run dry if the humidity stays above 25%, I prefer 30% for the first 17 days. For my silkies I find 40-45% works better. I'm a hands on hatcher so I run high for hatch time. I'm going to give you a couple links to look at. The first will help you with humidity and judging air cells. When you candle, make sure that you are candling down into the egg from the air cell end. That will help to see everything more clear. The second link is an overall hatching guide from hands on perspective. Hope you find them useful.
http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity
http://hatching411.weebly.com/

 

[Egghead_Jr]

People can get 100% hath rate in that cheapo LG. It just takes patients and getting to know your equipment.

Biggest problem is the operator constantly moving the temp dial for every little thing....this is going to get you into big trouble. Little change and wait a good 8 hours to see what it does. Once eggs are in there is mass holding temp. The change made will take a ling time to lower or raise temp of all that egg mass, the cooler or hotter than setting eggs will effect your reading until they are to temp. People like to nudge up, hour later nudge up more and finally get the temp they want then go to bed only to awake to the eggs finally getting up to temp resulting in air temp in incubator spiked to incredible highs. Relax, baby steps in temp changes. Use a marker to have reference line of a known setting. The adjustment on LG is very finicky and such a small diameter a little nudge goes a long way. TO remedy that cut small hole in milk cap to fit over the stick dial and super glue in place. Now you've a large diameter for fine adjustments.

Keep incubator away from windows, drafts and sunlight are going to swing that baby all over the place. Solar radiation being the big no no. Keep away from windows....

Salt test. And the the second rule of hatch club is salt test. And the third rule of hatch club is...do a salt test. Ay cheapo hygrometer will do. From $5 to $30 unit none will be accurate. Relax, so a salt test to calibrate it. It will accurately give you a wrong reading up and down the scale. If your unit is off by 9% RH at 75% RH it will be off by 9% at 30% RH. With a salt test you know how far off it's reading. Then what the unit is telling you actually means something.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Thank you for the information. At this point i need all the help i can get. I will look into a reptile hygrometer. I have a fluke 971, but i need it for work (hvac technician) so i dont bring it home. I got lucky and had an extra fluke thermometer and thats pretty much all i have been using to monitor.
I keep the incubator in my bedroom because it is closest to the thermostat and has less swing. The main thing i have found is keeping the home at 72 helps most, which is kinda tuff this time of year. I have to run heat in the morning and cool in the afternoon.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thank you for the information. At this point i need all the help i can get. I will look into a reptile hygrometer. I have a fluke 971, but i need it for work (hvac technician) so i dont bring it home. I got lucky and had an extra fluke thermometer and thats pretty much all i have been using to monitor.
I keep the incubator in my bedroom because it is closest to the thermostat and has less swing. The main thing i have found is keeping the home at 72 helps most, which is kinda tuff this time of year. I have to run heat in the morning and cool in the afternoon.

Keep us posted how it goes.