Early February 2016 Hatch - Who's In?

[CoopDeDoo]

This makes me feel better too. My temps seem all over the place. My eggs were shipped so I decided to keep them verticle and not turn for three days based on research, what do you guys think about that? So sorry for my random replies I'm not familiar with this page, hopefully I incubate better than I group chat

Resting eggs in their carton (prior to setting) or upright in the incubator seems to be the consensus. I rested mine prior. What incubator do you have?

 

[TurkenMomma]

:yiipchick Welcome! I love silkies

Silkies are my favorite! I have a splash and a buff one right now. I've never heard of a paint... Is it similar to a splash?

 

[CoopDeDoo]

I may adjust my plan and run the RH% in the 40s. Went to bed last night with it at 36% and got up to 19-20%. That is too low for my comfort... I am off the next 3 days so I will see how much "hand-on" it needs to stay in the 30s. I work full time with a half hour commute each and don't want to spend all day anxious

Good luck with that right?

 

[LalaG]

Resting eggs in their carton (prior to setting) or upright in the incubator seems to be the consensus. I rested mine prior. What incubator do you have?

Staying calm is not my strong suit in general so this should be great

Glad to have people to talk to about my worries! Thank you

I'm using (after tons of research and putting the Brinsea in my Amazon cart 59x and not being able to stomach the cost) the Farm Innovators 2150 still air. I've read and read and read but nothing I've read mentioned how important the placement of the internal temp gauge (aka black hangy thing) is for the temp. It needs to be directly placed in the carton near the eggs (part of the reason I like to use the carton and not sit eggs right on screen) or it will hang to low into the water wells and read low and the motor will go on to compensate and blow the temps to 105+. (I have three thermometers in there and they are all reading different and I don't trust any of them!). This happened once and I caught it immediately and HOPE I was able to save. I haven't read anyone having this problem, have any of you? Have temp at 101.5 and humidity between 30-35 until lockdown is my plan based on everything I've read. Also any thoughts on minimal turning (slightly shifting back and forth) for the first few days to try to repair some shipping damages? I tried to candle but only one egg was clearly showing an air pocket and the others I think my amateur status prevents me from being able to see what I should.

 

[CoopDeDoo]

Staying calm is not my strong suit in general so this should be great

Glad to have people to talk to about my worries! Thank you

I'm using (after tons of research and putting the Brinsea in my Amazon cart 59x and not being able to stomach the cost) the Farm Innovators 2150 still air. I've read and read and read but nothing I've read mentioned how important the placement of the internal temp gauge (aka black hangy thing) is for the temp. It needs to be directly placed in the carton near the eggs (part of the reason I like to use the carton and not sit eggs right on screen) or it will hang to low into the water wells and read low and the motor will go on to compensate and blow the temps to 105+. (I have three thermometers in there and they are all reading different and I don't trust any of them!). Always use your own - if you three, I would use the two that are closest to each other. I just bought a new digital one at HomeDepot and use another one that I purchased last time from incubator warehouse that sits outside and has a long cord with a probe that I put in the turning tray with the eggs. This happened once and I caught it immediately and HOPE I was able to save. I haven't read anyone having this problem, have any of you? Have temp at 101.5 and humidity between 30-35 until lockdown is my plan based on everything I've read. Also any thoughts on minimal turning (slightly shifting back and forth) for the first few days to try to repair some shipping damages? I use a thin book under one end and change it to the other end every 8-12 hours.I tried to candle but only one egg was clearly showing an air pocket and the others I think my amateur status prevents me from being able to see what I should.

 

[LalaG]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!' I don't know anyone who has done this so having your advice is awesome and makes my life a lot easier.

Do you think the 105 blowing for a few mins was enough to cook my babies or is that not enough time for the internal egg temp to jump? Also if you were me what would you set temp to? So many differences of opinion here. I have it in a downstairs basement office, cool 68 degrees with next to no traffic (besides me staring at the eggs 21hrs a day

)

 

[CoopDeDoo]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!' I don't know anyone who has done this so having your advice is awesome and makes my life a lot easier.

Do you think the 105 blowing for a few mins was enough to cook my babies or is that not enough time for the internal egg temp to jump? Also if you were me what would you set temp to? So many differences of opinion here. I have it in a downstairs basement office, cool 68 degrees with next to no traffic (besides me staring at the eggs 21hrs a day

)

I have a forced air - not still but I think short bursts of highs and lows doesn't really hurt anything. The book I have says optimal is 102 for still air. My forced air is running at 100 and optimal is 99.5. My knob for adjusting it is so sensitive that it the "swings" are not worth it for my peace of mind so I am leaving it be. One of my thermometers display "history" so I can see that it is always between 99-100 degrees. I am no expert - only my second time incubating.

It is obvious that the Styrofoam incubators take more practice and monitoring than the Brinsea

 

[LalaG]

I am also trying a dry hatch for the first 18 days, between the 30-39% humidity range.

If I may ask, where did you buy your previous shipped eggs from?

Im interested in how everyone got their eggs also if not your backyard. I was able to find my silkie eggs on eBay from a farm not far from me but I was thinking about using mypetchicken next time and also using a few TJ eggs because why not . Id love to find some locally but nothing listed on craiglist. I may post in one of the Facebook yard sale sites And see what I can find I know there are a lot of farms around and I bet that's a good way to get them. Has anyone ever tried to incubate the fresh farm eggs from a roadside farm stand? I'd imagine there may be some fertile eggs there if they have a rooster in the flock?

 

[LalaG]

I have a forced air - not still but I think short bursts of highs and lows doesn't really hurt anything. The book I have says optimal is 102 for still air. My forced air is running at 100 and optimal is 99.5. My knob for adjusting it is so sensitive that it the "swings" are not worth it for my peace of mind so I am leaving it be. One of my thermometers display "history" so I can see that it is always between 99-100 degrees. I am no expert - only my second time incubating. It is obvious that the Styrofoam incubators take more practice and monitoring than the Brinsea:/

Ok I may bump it up a notch to 102. And probably buy three more therms haha. I loved the weeble trick (water filler toy) from Amazon with a meat therm inserted to mimic interior egg temp had you seen that one? How did your first hatch go?

 

[TurkenMomma]

Im interested in how everyone got their eggs also if not your backyard. I was able to find my silkie eggs on eBay from a farm not far from me but I was thinking about using mypetchicken next time and also using a few TJ eggs because why not

. Id love to find some locally but nothing listed on craiglist. I may post in one of the Facebook yard sale sites And see what I can find I know there are a lot of farms around and I bet that's a good way to get them. Has anyone ever tried to incubate the fresh farm eggs from a roadside farm stand? I'd imagine there may be some fertile eggs there if they have a rooster in the flock?

I got mine from MPC. Since my DH warned me about chicken math, I only ordered 3 eggs and when they arrived, I was surprised to see 1 extra. They shipped on a Saturday and were at my post office by Tuesday. They were packaged well but no where on the box did it say "Fragile" or anything like that! Yikes!!! Luckily, there were all intact. Where I live, there aren't many options for "different" or funky breeds from locals. I felt that I didn't really have any other options other than to have them shipped. But I am more of a fan of "lawn ornaments" than egg layers.

Much to the dismay of my DH...