Early February 2016 Hatch - Who's In?

[LilChickens2]

Today is day 7 and I candled all 24 eggs. All 12 brown eggs are showing a lot of veins. The 12 Ameraucana eggs have good looking air cells but the eggs are too dark to see veins. No clears. I traced the air cells on all 24 and will candle again on day 15.

That's great news on the brown eggs. I heard blue eggs were harder to candle. I have one in my batch but I don't candle for another 5 days.

 

[LilChickens2]

Today is day six and I decided to go ahead and candle the eggs. Of 29 eggs, 20 are fertile for sure. It's hard to tell with the Marans and Olive-Eggers since they're so dark, but we saw really good veining on the Ameraucanas. My seven-year-old is so excited! We will candle again on day 10… Hope everybody else's incubation and hatching is going well!

Yay! I love BCMs but their shells are sooooo dark. Good luck!

 

[montverdechick]

Yay! I love BCMs but their shells are sooooo dark. Good luck!

Thanks! Mine are from Eight Acres Farm. Beautiful chocolate brown eggs... I can wait!

 

[machinfarm]

I know I'm a little late to this, but I'm going to be setting eggs for the very first time tomorrow, which I think will be a Valentine's Day hatch! I have 18 buff Orpington eggs from my own backyard flock. I bought a used Little Giant with a turner, fan, and better thermostat/hygrometer and a used homemade incubator. I've had them both running for almost 24 hours and the temps are fluctuating from 98.5-100.9 but staying right in there. The humidity on the LG has been high (65%) but the homemade one has been holding steady in the low 30s all day so I guess that will be the one I use, even though I'll have to manually turn them.
I'm nervous, I went and counted my chickens before they hatched as they say and promised someone 6 chicks. Hopefully that works out.
Fingers crossed!

 

[beetandsteet]

I know I'm a little late to this, but I'm going to be setting eggs for the very first time tomorrow, which I think will be a Valentine's Day hatch! I have 18 buff Orpington eggs from my own backyard flock. I bought a used Little Giant with a turner, fan, and better thermostat/hygrometer and a used homemade incubator. I've had them both running for almost 24 hours and the temps are fluctuating from 98.5-100.9 but staying right in there. The humidity on the LG has been high (65%) but the homemade one has been holding steady in the low 30s all day so I guess that will be the one I use, even though I'll have to manually turn them.
I'm nervous, I went and counted my chickens before they hatched as they say and promised someone 6 chicks. Hopefully that works out.
Fingers crossed!

Hi!!! Welcome to the hatch!
Could you put the little giant turner into the homemade bator??

 

[machinfarm]

I can try! The homemade one has a pretty neat little tray that has pvc pipes that actually extend through the sides to the outside so you can turn them without opening it (like a foosball table), and I can't remove it but I might be able to place the LG one on top of it. If I can't that's alright, I'm a stay at home mama and I'm sure I'll be staring at these eggs all day anyway, haha! How often should I turn them? I'll just put an alarm in my phone to go off every x-amount of hours. I've heard people say as often as every four hours and others say as infrequent as two times a day.
Also I guess it's all subjective but I'm seeing a huge range in recommended humidity for the first 17 days, 30-55%! That's a big range! I guess I just have to find out what works for my environment through trial and error?
Maybe I can use the LG as a hatcher since its holding onto humidity like a champ!

 

[RookyChickMama]

Candled tonight, got to see the little embryo swimming around! So cute, my daughter loved it!

 

[beetandsteet]

I can try! The homemade one has a pretty neat little tray that has pvc pipes that actually extend through the sides to the outside so you can turn them without opening it (like a foosball table), and I can't remove it but I might be able to place the LG one on top of it. If I can't that's alright, I'm a stay at home mama and I'm sure I'll be staring at these eggs all day anyway, haha! How often should I turn them? I'll just put an alarm in my phone to go off every x-amount of hours. I've heard people say as often as every four hours and others say as infrequent as two times a day.
Also I guess it's all subjective but I'm seeing a huge range in recommended humidity for the first 17 days, 30-55%! That's a big range! I guess I just have to find out what works for my environment through trial and error?
Maybe I can use the LG as a hatcher since its holding onto humidity like a champ!

When I hand turned eggs I turned 3 times a day. You always turn an odd number of times a day so the eggs don't stay in the same position 2 nights in a row.
Hatching humidity....well, it depends on who you ask!!! Some prefer to hatch "dry" which is less than 40 per cent until lockdown. I personally have had good success with the dry method, especially in a styrofoam incubator. In the end you will need to find out what works best for you. Hope you have a great first hatch. Can't wait to see how it turns out for you!!

 

[RookyChickMama]

It's pretty dry here in north central Tx my humidity stays between 45-50% until lockdown topping off the water troughs every three days. It's staying pretty steady in my new model little giant, all dozen eggs are kicking around in there. I hand turn mine three times a day, and the temperature comes right back up in no time.

 

[LilChickens2]

Thanks! Mine are from Eight Acres Farm. Beautiful chocolate brown eggs... I can wait!

I'm not familiar with Eight Acres Farm. Are they well known or on BYC? I'm still learning about the hatching egg suppliers. I just ordered some Cochins off BYC and they will hopefully be here next week. I keep looking around for my future buys and would like to learn about new places.