day 1 i think with 18 eggs in bator

[lindy]

so, this was not planned! but i couldnt toss perfectly nice eggs so my friend let me borrow her bator.
Received the incubator the following day and sanitized it. All eggs are in and i believe the incubator auto counts down days but not sure. the humidity seems to be staying around 42-45% so far which i believe is ok so i haven't added any water.
I have 4 Shetland hen eggs, four or five cream legbars(they are real cream not the crele), and the rest are dark brahmas. All from nice stock. I do not need any more birds as i am up to 19 in one coop and can not find a nice used kennel to build another coop in on cl.
Hopefully, if chicks hatch i will be able to sell. I have an incubator but i have had no luck hatching any birds from it so i gave up (brinsea eco). I still cant believe i was lucky enough to borrow one.
The brahmas i totally can't keep as they get way too big,but i may keep a Shetland or two if i am lucky enough to get girls and possibly a legbar pullet to cross with my silverudd's blue roo

 

[muddy75]

Good luck with your hatch! Is your hygrometer salt-tested for accuracy? Do you have additional thermometers to identify cold spots?

 

[lindy]

Good luck with your hatch! Is your hygrometer salt-tested for accuracy? Do you have additional thermometers to identify cold spots?

No it says it on the top and my friend said it’s preety accurate so wasn’t even checking, my luck since I don’t care I will get a 100 percent hatch….

 

[lindy]

so, before i left i put water in the bator as it said 37%, was i wrong to do that? i probably should of waited until i was home to check? should i try a dry hatch? i did open the vent to half way before i left just in case it would get too high.

 

[muddy75]

37 is a good number as long as it’s reading accurately here’s a really good article on incubation humidity
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/incubation-humidity.73386/

 

[lindy]

thanks, filled up a channel for lock down, its sitting at 60-65% now. down to 11 eggs

 

[RcoM]

No it says it on the top and my friend said it’s preety accurate so wasn’t even checking, my luck since I don’t care I will get a 100 percent hatch….

So true!!

 

[lindy]

i forgot to update. I cant remember how many h atched. not many. I ended up with one brahma GIRL so i kept her haha. she is so sweet and BIG. 4 shetland hen chicks, one was a girl but she was the only one that got stepped on by the horse. two boys found someone who would take them but they butchered them and kept the super sweet male, i dont know why so now i have four roosters with my hens. Hens are not thrilled. O and the cream legbars were actually crosses she told me later she stuck a different roo in there and i guess he bred all the hens. so they were sex-linked ALL boys.

 

[RcoM]

i forgot to update. I cant remember how many h atched. not many. I ended up with one brahma GIRL so i kept her haha. she is so sweet and BIG. 4 shetland hen chicks, one was a girl but she was the only one that got stepped on by the horse. two boys found someone who would take them but they butchered them and kept the super sweet male, i dont know why so now i have four roosters with my hens. Hens are not thrilled. O and the cream legbars were actually crosses she told me later she stuck a different roo in there and i guess he bred all the hens. so they were sex-linked ALL boys.

Oh my gosh! The rollercoaster of chicken sexing! Am I right?! The first time I hatched seven the only other suspected girl was the one that disappeared into a Goanna’s mouth! However, I think this time round I have scored the jackpot – betting on four hens and one rooster. They are 5 weeks. You get better at this with each clutch. Also these are straight run.