Doing it wrong (so you don't have to)

[chiques chicks]

Congratulations!

They are fine on the incubator for 24 hours. If you have to get them out, own in quickly, get them out and closer it back up.

 

[kss1113]

One more just hatched and two more pips!

 

[kss1113]

So, 24 hours would be 2am. I still have 3 pips. Should I rush and and get these guys out or should I wait a bit longer?

 

[dekel18042]

So, 24 hours would be 2am. I still have 3 pips. Should I rush and and get these guys out or should I wait a bit longer?

I always let mine in for 24 hours (sometimes more depending on what is happening) but I've read and heard they should be fine for up to 72 hours. After all they ship day olds to you in the mail with no feed and water and how long does it take them to arrive?

 

[chiques chicks]

Personally, I'd wait. They don't need food or water yet.

 

[BantyChooks]

Following... Cool experiment!

 

[chiques chicks]

Noticed both thermometers settled at 97° so I bumped it up to 39.5C, and eight hours later it's starting stable at 99. I'll remove the thermometers tomorrow when I set the eggs, who needs to monitor, right?

The humidity has been all over, from what I can tell, but honestly, I've dry hatched and not monitored before, so it's not unusual to me.

Note: two years ago I threw some excess quail eggs in this incubator without monitoring and got a 50℅ hatch on shipped eggs. Not sure how with the temperature being so far off.

 

[ForrestGump]

This experiment is a great idea! I'm excited to see how it all turns out.

I've done a few experiments myself, but on more controlled matters. Eggs I got from a friend were covered in mud and poop. There were 4 clean eggs which I set, and I washed four and left four really dirty. There were a couple of infertile eggs, but everything else hatched. No difference at all between washed and unwashed.

One time I saved eggs for a month from my favorite hen. The four week old eggs had a 100% hatch rate. The 1 - 2 week old eggs only had a 60% hatch rate. They were handled with care, turned twice a day and stored at 55 degrees while waiting to be incubated.

 

[chiques chicks]

Ended up with 12 eggs, laid over four days, Monday through Thursday. There were none this morning yet. Here they are ready to go, thermometer pulled.

The eggs weren't real dirty, so I didn't to any cleaning. To the best of my knowledge, none were frozen, although some may have gotten down in the thirties. No cracks or leaks that I noticed.

Over the last 24 hours, the room temperature has varied from 57-72°F. Ambient humidity will vary depending on temperature outside since on warmer days, snow will be melting. There is also precipitation in the forecast next week.

I likely will not be candling before five days, maybe seven, and then primarily checking for blood rings.

 

[chiques chicks]

Make it 13. Freshly laid egg when I feed, so it went in.