December Hatch-A-Long 2014

[Purpletie3]

Ok. Phew.
One at first looked like my husband's chubby hands broke another eggs because a big chunck of the shell is missing so I thought it was dead but there is noise and movement so yay not dead and the other one is cracked from the inside like normal. BUT if they hatch tonight and the others won't hatch for the next three days do I just let them sit there for this long like 4 day? Causing other eggs to turn flip and possibly crack or should I snag them really quick? And of course I turned them before closing for lock down which now I kind of regret.

I am glad they are okay! Maybe you will have an incubator full soon of peeping chicks! As far as opening the incubator I can't answer that for you. I sat on my hands til day almost 22 on the last hatch...but, longest a chick was in there was like 2 days

 

[Renee572]

My poor little chick I just helped hatch is cross beaked and has two huge sacks where his eyes should be. I am completely beside myself.... What a day

Oh my gosh, poor chick. So sad. So it doesn't have eyes at all? And with a crossed beak it won't be able to eat right? So sorry!

 

[KDob521]

Question! I have the Styrofoam incubator with the heating element attached to the lid with the 2 windows to peer into on top. Anyways, is it safe for the hatched ones to stay in there once hatched until they dry? Will that heating element up top cause any type of injuries? I know to raise the humidity for lockdown but does the temperature stay normal like it has been during the whole incubation process?

 

[Renee572]

Alright decision has been made! I am going to try again and set some eggs on January 17th (have to figure out the days just so because my neighbor is divorced and her kids are with their dad every other weekend and we'd want them to be at her house on hatch day). Anyway, now I am on the search for some more local eggs, I may ask the person I got the others from or I may just find someone else but I am so not ready to deal with shipped eggs. I need to make sure I know exactly what I am doing before I open that can of worms.

My hubby wasn't too keen on the whole hatching eggs in the first place. It probably took me a couple months to convince him to let me do it. Anyway, he said it would be a 1 time thing, bahahaha. I just msgd him and asked if he would be made if we all wanted to try again and he said go for it. I think he actually enjoyed it in the end! Uh oh, he may be my enabler! :/

Anyway I'm thinking I will probably spend that whole week before setting working on the incubator, making sure my thermometer is calibrated and making sure I get it to the right temp and humidity and also seeing how full I need to get the reservoirs for it to get to a certain humidity. I am NOT going to mess up on the humidity a second time around.

 

[bantambury]

I set eggs for the 26th! originally for the 25th, but my broody broke the day I set....LOL

 

[ftpagain]

Was it going through it's cooling cycle? Mine has a cooling cycle built in. I wish I had a broody hen. Hopefully things will be fine.

no I don't have a cooling cycle. Should I turn the temp down or do I keep it at 99.5?

 

[ftpagain]

Question! I have the Styrofoam incubator with the heating element attached to the lid with the 2 windows to peer into on top. Anyways, is it safe for the hatched ones to stay in there once hatched until they dry? Will that heating element up top cause any type of injuries? I know to raise the humidity for lockdown but does the temperature stay normal like it has been during the whole incubation process?

I have the same one. I didn't have any problems with it causeing injuries the last hatch I used it. The heater is pretty high up there. Maybe if it was baby geese hatching then their heads could reach but I haven't tried it with geese yet. It's not very easy for me to keep temp steady all the time in those and I rely more on the thermometer inside then the one outside. The humidity is kind of unstable as well at least for me so I regulate it by popping one of those red plugs.

 

[The Colonel]

no I don't have a cooling cycle. Should I turn the temp down or do I keep it at 99.5?

Keep it steady where it's at. Should be perfect. Question, is it still air?

 

[KDob521]

I have the same one. I didn't have any problems with it causeing injuries the last hatch I used it. The heater is pretty high up there. Maybe if it was baby geese hatching then their heads could reach but I haven't tried it with geese yet. It's not very easy for me to keep temp steady all the time in those and I rely more on the thermometer inside then the one outside. The humidity is kind of unstable as well at least for me so I regulate it by popping one of those red plugs.

Mine seems rather old (it's a hand-me-down from my father-in-law). Didn't come with the red plugs. And my husband popped a small hole in the side and has a thermometer sticking out of it to check the temperature (as in an oral thermometer). Mine was just up to 103. I don't like this incubator. I definitely plan on getting a better one after this group because I have plans for more groups of hatches in the near future

 

[The Colonel]

Mine seems rather old (it's a hand-me-down from my father-in-law). Didn't come with the red plugs. And my husband popped a small hole in the side and has a thermometer sticking out of it to check the temperature (as in an oral thermometer). Mine was just up to 103. I don't like this incubator. I definitely plan on getting a better one after this group because I have plans for more groups of hatches in the near future

If it's an older model it probably has the temperature knob, instead of the digital screen button set method. It's my understanding they changed to the buttons for the heat fluctuation/leveling problem. Don't hold me to it but it seems I read that somewhere.