December Hatch-A-Long 2014

[Purpletie3]

interesting!
The directions on the box said to keep it at 99.5. Weird. Is it too late in the process for me to kick it up or should I still do it for the lock down? And at this point, is there such thing as too humid?

I would go with the box directions for your specific incubator.

 

[Purpletie3]

so one of my sets of eggs has been in the mail since monday and it says they wont be here till friday. any chance they are still good?

I sure hope so!!! Such a coin toss...I rooting for you!

 

[Purpletie3]

This was my little Rhodebars...I had to put the other one down...so sad. Does this even look like a rhodebar? Can't tell sex bc it has a spot on head and stripe down the back...

 

[Debs55]

no one in my house seems to understand how frustrated I am lol so I had planned to put 2 batches of shipped eggs in my cooler bator and fill my new bator with mixes for a tea hatch. and lock down everything in the new bator cause its easiest to keep the humidity up in. so today I noticed something didn't look right with my new incubator..the top of the display wasn't showing up. so I told my dad and he said he'd contact the seller. no problem. I figured I could rig up my old cooler bator and get it working. cleaned it and calibrated the thermostat and couldn't figure out why the temps were so high...apparently the fan was broken. about this same time the power cord on the new incubator starts coming out too..seriously I am so stressed right now. I know my shipped eggs can go in the cooler bator no problem (still worried about lockdown but I can only do my best). But I had already promised a friend to set a batch of mixed eggs and I have about 3 dozen saved up. I really didn't want to have to disappoint her.


ok done venting now

 

[PD-Riverman]

no one in my house seems to understand how frustrated I am lol so I had planned to put 2 batches of shipped eggs in my cooler bator and fill my new bator with mixes for a tea hatch. and lock down everything in the new bator cause its easiest to keep the humidity up in. so today I noticed something didn't look right with my new incubator..the top of the display wasn't showing up. so I told my dad and he said he'd contact the seller. no problem. I figured I could rig up my old cooler bator and get it working. cleaned it and calibrated the thermostat and couldn't figure out why the temps were so high...apparently the fan was broken. about this same time the power cord on the new incubator starts coming out too..seriously I am so stressed right now. I know my shipped eggs can go in the cooler bator no problem (still worried about lockdown but I can only do my best). But I had already promised a friend to set a batch of mixed eggs and I have about 3 dozen saved up. I really didn't want to have to disappoint her.


ok done venting now

If you were close to me I would loan you a Incubator---or hatch them for you--no charge---Sorry about the problems!!

 

[ftpagain]

day 18 would have been the 15th. Hmm I think still air you are supposed to keep between 100 and 101, I kept mine at 100 and First pip was on day 19, first hatch was day 20 (only hatch, I had humidity too low during lockdown so the others didn't make it).

Well I guess I miscounted and they went on lockdown a day late cause today would be day 20 for the 11/27. There are 4 of them that r out now and a few others are peeping. My problem has been the humidity being too high. Right now I have to keep taking the plugs in and out because the humidity is getting to 90-100%.

Are you using several incubators?

Day 1 is 24 hours after you put them in the heated incubator so get you a calender---if you put them in on Sunday at 3pm---day 1 would be Monday at 3pm, tuesday would be day 2 and wednesday day 3 etc. Stop turning them and increase moisture, lock-down on day 18.

But I sure hope you got these in 3 incubators from your set-time above.

yep all of the dates get a different incubator

 

[FoxholeFarm]

My eggs are only three days in the bator and already there's development!

I got my eggs from Aarron Hunsinger. Paid a really awesome price a dozen bantam red cochin eggs and got 25 reds and 4 BBS!!!! He was incredibly generous! I'm splitting the eggs(and then also the hatch) with an acquaintance and judging by my candling today, I will end up with way more then I can keep! I'm excited!!!

 

[Renee572]

Well I guess I miscounted and they went on lockdown a day late cause today would be day 20 for the 11/27. There are 4 of them that r out now and a few others are peeping. My problem has been the humidity being too high. Right now I have to keep taking the plugs in and out because the humidity is getting to 90-100%.
yep all of the dates get a different incubator

Sorry you are having issues. My hatch did not go well due to low humidity during lockdown. I was afraid to get it too high because prior I had read that you could drown your chicks if humidity was too high. Anyway, since I had mine at the minimum of 65% and my poor chicks got shrink wrapped in their shells I decided to research what humidity is too high during lock down. I got some pretty good info which I am going to apply to my next hatch in January. Here is what I found out, whether it works for you or not I can't speak to... If your humidity is at a correct amount through days 1-18, and air cells look good then high humidity at lock down is not as big a deal as too low humidity which is when they will get shrink wrapped in their shells upon internally pipping because it will be too dry in the air cell. Now if you had high humidity throughout days 1-18 then you will have excess fluid in the air cell and when the chick goes to internally pip that is where it will drown. So basically high humidity during lockdown = fine so long ad humidity was correct days 1-18, high humdity during days 1-18= not good.

That's just the research I came up with and I am going to apply that to my next hatch as I definitely do not want to shrink wrap my babies again.

Good luck.

 

[ochochicas]

Quote: My eggs are weighed weekly to keep track of moisture loss. It works really well for me. I kept my humidity around 35-40 and then cranked it up to 70 for hatch. I opened the incubator several times to remove chicks. All 20 eggs that went into lockdown hatched. None were shrink wrapped. If you can't keep your humidity high enough, try spraying warm water on the inside of the incubator.

 

[The Colonel]

Day 14 here. Just candled and had two quitters(one that was rather smelly), that makes 17 happy healthy dancing chicks left.