DIY Incubator Adventure

[Mablethechicken]

I’m afraid I won’t be of any help personally, this is my first hatch and it’s with local eggs. I’m only on day 9 too! Hope you find the info you need and your hatch goes well!!

Thank you!!

 

[Mablethechicken]

There are lots of threads on this. Some say stand up and don't turn the first day. Others say laying them down is fine. Here are some search results.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threadloom/search?keywords=Shipped+eggs&tab=0
Here is a good recent hatch thread with assisting chicks with bad air cells.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...g-thread-with-pictures-and-questions.1356048/

Thank you!!

 

[Mablethechicken]

There are lots of threads on this. Some say stand up and don't turn the first day. Others say laying them down is fine. Here are some search results.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threadloom/search?keywords=Shipped+eggs&tab=0
Here is a good recent hatch thread with assisting chicks with bad air cells.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...g-thread-with-pictures-and-questions.1356048/

Thank you!

 

[Ghosty]

@Kafen Did you ever get your thermostat issue sorted out?

 

[Kafen]

@Kafen Did you ever get your thermostat issue sorted out?

No not yet! I'm just glad I'm home all the time lately and I can baby it. I'm going to try putting some metal tape over some of the holes, but it never seems to be consistently high or low. Just consistently inconsistent... But I don't want to mess with it too much while there's eggs in there. We'll see how this hatch goes though!

 

[Kafen]

Day 14 is candling day so I thought I’d post and update! They’re all progressing and the air sacs are right where they should be.

I’m slightly worried about my incubator tonight though. It was at a great temperature all day yesterday but then I was gone today and when I checked tonight for candling it read 96F! Not sure why it would’ve dropped if I had opened the incubator less. I’ll monitor it, but now I want to go to bed.... oh well, chickies come first!

Here’s a couple picture from the candling. Not much to see in the photo but there was lots of movement!

 

[Kafen]

Well, I think I killed my eggs. The coolerbater was dropping in heat and before I tucked into bed for the night, it was at 94F, even though I had turned it up. So I swapped the bulb and hovered by it as it heated up. Then it started cycling again around 99.5, so I figured all good.

I woke up this morning and it was at 108F. I quickly flipped the lid and it’s cooling off, but I fear they’re all gone. Luckily I only got 7 hours of sleep last night and the eggs felt kind of cold going into the night. AND they’re on day 15, instead of being in the first week.

I think this was because my bulb was flashing on and off so much. If I can’t fix that on the thermostat end I think I’ll just replace my bulb half way through next time, but do it in the morning so I can recalibrate throughout the day. This is why I wanted a maiden voyage before I get the Ameraucana eggs!

I think I’m going to keep going, but my hopes are nonexistent at this point. And I’m seriously considering getting that remote sensor that will alert me if it goes to high! Still will take ages to ship but it would give me a lot of peace of mind.

 

[Kafen]

I just candled one to be sure and it moved! This is promising! I also read in this resource that older eggs may endure 110F in the incubator for a few hours. I wonder if this will impact when they hatch at all. I’ll be watching this thing like a hawk from now on though, I have zero faith in it at this point.

 

[Ghosty]

I would get you a different thermostat before next hatch. That thing doesn't sound like it is working right at all. My inkbird has a built in alarm. It stayed between 99 and 100 all hatch, and the thermometer I bought confirmed it because it posts the high and low temps. My bulbs would stay off for minutes at a time before kicking back on at 99. It held temp very well. You should not be getting all these fluctuations or have to babysit the incubator. A guy in my thread posted a low priced dual thermostat/hygrostat controller he used to good result.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X9WD88...I53JE&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&tag=backy-20

 

[Kafen]

I would get you a different thermostat before next hatch. That thing doesn't sound like it is working right at all. My inkbird has a built in alarm. It stayed between 99 and 100 all hatch, and the thermometer I bought confirmed it because it posts the high and low temps. My bulbs would stay off for minutes at a time before kicking back on at 99. It held temp very well. You should not be getting all these fluctuations or have to babysit the incubator. A guy in my thread posted a low priced dual thermostat/hygrostat controller he used to good result.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X9WD88...I53JE&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&tag=backy-20

Yeah I don’t like this one at all. I was look at that and I think I found the equivalent for Canada (finding things that will ship here is a nightmare). The only downside is that it’ll arrive in June and that’s when I need to have the next hatch done by.

The only reason why I went with the water heater thermostat is because it was the only one I could get without waiting over a month for shipping. It’s actually held the temp okay, but a better one would be nice. Although the whole point of the coolerbater is to be budget friendly and by the time I shell out for all the extras, I may as well get an actual incubator.

Since I’ve been recalibrating this morning it’s been going in between 98.8F and 100.1F, which is pretty decent. But clearly it’s too hard on the bulb. I guess this why I was experimenting....

Also did you have a hard time getting bulbs? There was barely any selection for things that weren’t LEDs!