Hello all!
First I want to say I have been reading the forums and there is so much good information here I wish I had discovered the web site sooner. So much information and knowledge to be gained.
My daughter and I rented a styro still air incubator 21 days ago from a local farm market because she has a science fair coming up and we thought it would be great to hatch chicks for our project. Every year several kids do this and it looked fascinating and fun.
We set up our incubator and got the temperature to 100 degrees and set a dozen eggs. The incubator has two "valleys" for water and we kept both with water in them because as it was explained to us....our homes here are very dry due to heating in the winter and we should keep both areas filled rather than just one as our direction sheet stated.
We had an egg turner provided for us so there was no turning needed. We were told to cover two of the vent holes with tape until Day 3 and then remove the tape. On Day 18 we were told to replace the tape to increase humidity and remove the egg turner, laying the eggs on the wire "floor" of the incubator.
We candled an egg here and there with a mag lite flashlight and sure enough the babies were developing in there.
Last night we saw that one of the eggs was moving slightly once in a while if you watched carefully. This morning the egg has not moved at all so I am worried. The water ran out in one of the valleys so we quickly lifted the lid and replenished the water this morning and while we were doing this I very quickly lifted held the flashlight to the one egg I saw moving last night to see if I could tell if the chicks beak was in the air cell. It was not.
I am constantly looking in there going blurry-eyed trying to detect any movement, but nothing so far.
I am praying that the man at the farm did not give us the wrong advice and maybe the humidity was too high?
The air cell is not as big as I have seen pictured on some web sites. The farm only provided a little thermometer to set in there for temperature reading so I have no idea what the humidity level has been. We just went on his instructions.
It's only 11am on the morning of Day 21 so maybe it's too soon to worry but I can't help myself.
Send some good vibes and thoughts this way....we will be so sad if our chicks developed but died because of something we did wrong. This is our first time doing this so it's rough waiting.
First I want to say I have been reading the forums and there is so much good information here I wish I had discovered the web site sooner. So much information and knowledge to be gained.
My daughter and I rented a styro still air incubator 21 days ago from a local farm market because she has a science fair coming up and we thought it would be great to hatch chicks for our project. Every year several kids do this and it looked fascinating and fun.
We set up our incubator and got the temperature to 100 degrees and set a dozen eggs. The incubator has two "valleys" for water and we kept both with water in them because as it was explained to us....our homes here are very dry due to heating in the winter and we should keep both areas filled rather than just one as our direction sheet stated.
We had an egg turner provided for us so there was no turning needed. We were told to cover two of the vent holes with tape until Day 3 and then remove the tape. On Day 18 we were told to replace the tape to increase humidity and remove the egg turner, laying the eggs on the wire "floor" of the incubator.
We candled an egg here and there with a mag lite flashlight and sure enough the babies were developing in there.
Last night we saw that one of the eggs was moving slightly once in a while if you watched carefully. This morning the egg has not moved at all so I am worried. The water ran out in one of the valleys so we quickly lifted the lid and replenished the water this morning and while we were doing this I very quickly lifted held the flashlight to the one egg I saw moving last night to see if I could tell if the chicks beak was in the air cell. It was not.
I am constantly looking in there going blurry-eyed trying to detect any movement, but nothing so far.
I am praying that the man at the farm did not give us the wrong advice and maybe the humidity was too high?
It's only 11am on the morning of Day 21 so maybe it's too soon to worry but I can't help myself.
Send some good vibes and thoughts this way....we will be so sad if our chicks developed but died because of something we did wrong. This is our first time doing this so it's rough waiting.
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