EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[Pensmaster]

Late Good Morning to everyone. Thanks to an ER visit Friday and a ton of meds, I am on the mend, time to clean clean clean and wash wash wash so the baby doesnt get this crap when she returns thurs.

Kidding starts Thurs as well, I pray it stays warm if Mother cannot come to help watch baby if a doe decides to kid on babytime. Which I am sure both that are due will, never fails their timing.

Anything new? was outside with the goats a bit this am, goose will be laying soon, she is starting to come to me again, weird how she is fine during her laying season and summer and then come fall she will refused to come near me. fickle Goose. So the way she is acting is a good promise of spring springing soon.

hugs and enjoy your days all, sunshine plentiful here, although chilly the sun felt good this am outside!

 

[Pensmaster]

thermometers are such a pain in the bum at times, it took me some time to figure out what worked for me and what didint. Its easy to tell someone to calibrate and know which is the good reading etc, but we dont have control of the environment outside our baters most times, I use a coal stove for heat, so humidity has always been a pain for me. The wafer thermostats and the coolers I used were so amazing for the situation here with such flux in humidity as well as temps. Nothing I used, even the expensive brinsea yall helped me get has been as trustworthy as my wafer thermostats. I had many times accidently left the lid on the cooler a crack open and the temp never faultered, if I had done that on the brinsea or styros those eggs be doomed lol. Good Luck and I hope you figure it out! I always ran at a calibrated 100.5 100.8 and lowered after day 18

I run the same temps but don’t lower for lockdown. However I think the eggs are a little lower in incubator for lock down. So maybe cooler. Temps actually bump up to 101.2
7 out of 12 shipped lockdown due Wednesday

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Here is an example to never assume anything when incubating. I apparently wrote the wrong set date in my incubation book. I wrote that the eggs were set on January 22nd. They should have hatched last Wednesday but they didn't. I thought it was odd they hadn't filled the space when I candled on day 18. I put them in the hatcher and when they didn't hatch, I just left them because I had nothing else going in yet. I just went up to wingband some chicks and there was a chick out and 2 or 3 more pipping. I obviously got the date wrong.
I did something similar several years ago. I was doing eggtopsies. Eggs were about 3 days past due date so I took them to the compost pile to break them open. One had a live chick in it just about to hatch.
The moral is, never assume anything when incubating. We all make mistakes. Luckily I now have enough incubators I don't have to rush eggs out for new eggs.

I put yesterday's date in the book for the eggs I set yesterday. Or was that Saturday? Duh!

 

[Pensmaster]

Here is an example to never assume anything when incubating. I apparently wrote the wrong set date in my incubation book. I wrote that the eggs were set on January 22nd. They should have hatched last Wednesday but they didn't. I thought it was odd they hadn't filled the space when I candled on day 18. I put them in the hatcher and when they didn't hatch, I just left them because I had nothing else going in yet. I just went up to wingband some chicks and there was a chick out and 2 or 3 more pipping. I obviously got the date wrong.
I did something similar several years ago. I was doing eggtopsies. Eggs were about 3 days past due date so I took them to the compost pile to break them open. One had a live chick in it just about to hatch.
The moral is, never assume anything when incubating. We all make mistakes. Luckily I now have enough incubators I don't have to rush eggs out for new eggs.

I put yesterday's date in the book for the eggs I set yesterday. Or was that Saturday? Duh!

For sure. Once when filling incubator tray I had one egg left. So I put it in a lower area than the rest knowing it may not hatch at the same time. Hatch day came and went and it was the last egg left. Not remembering It might take longer I cracked it open. Wrong move.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I run the same temps but don’t lower for lockdown. However I think the eggs are a little lower in incubator for lock down. So maybe cooler. Temps actually bump up to 101.2
7 out of 12 shipped lockdown due Wednesday

Good luck!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Here is an example to never assume anything when incubating. I apparently wrote the wrong set date in my incubation book. I wrote that the eggs were set on January 22nd. They should have hatched last Wednesday but they didn't. I thought it was odd they hadn't filled the space when I candled on day 18. I put them in the hatcher and when they didn't hatch, I just left them because I had nothing else going in yet. I just went up to wingband some chicks and there was a chick out and 2 or 3 more pipping. I obviously got the date wrong.
I did something similar several years ago. I was doing eggtopsies. Eggs were about 3 days past due date so I took them to the compost pile to break them open. One had a live chick in it just about to hatch.
The moral is, never assume anything when incubating. We all make mistakes. Luckily I now have enough incubators I don't have to rush eggs out for new eggs.

I put yesterday's date in the book for the eggs I set yesterday. Or was that Saturday? Duh!

I had issues with that, until I started using dry erase markers on my cooler. I always forgot to write set dates, I forget everything unless I have a notification set up or timers or ummm notes. Banty and I were just talking about my brain and how I went from computer programmer to stupid in an instant. Never know what life will throw

 

[Pensmaster]

I had issues with that, until I started using dry erase markers on my cooler. I always forgot to write set dates, I forget everything unless I have a notification set up or timers or ummm notes. Banty and I were just talking about my brain and how I went from computer programmer to stupid in an instant. Never know what life will throw

Very true.

 

[Uff Da]

Ok, here's an issue that has me stumped. My oldest egg in the bator is a week old, and its air cell is at least three times as big as the egg collected this morning that went in. How do I manage humidity with such huge variation in air cell size?

 

[Pensmaster]

Good question. A new egg can appear to have little to no air cell. I’d keep it at what you normally find successful and not try to adjust to each egg.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Ok, here's an issue that has me stumped. My oldest egg in the bator is a week old, and its air cell is at least three times as big as the egg collected this morning that went in. How do I manage humidity with such huge variation in air cell size?

you have to choose what number is best for the majority, or try adding that one to a small dish to protect from fan from air and keep in coolest spot in the bator.