- Feb 17, 2011
- 27
- 0
- 22
Well, BillyB, I'm up to eleven here! Started out with 2 doz eggs, had a few "duds," a couple that had early development and then "quit," and have 6 left that could possibly have a chance yet (waiting until day 23 to discard those). I'm happy to have learned that it isn't my hatching skills (or lack thereof!) which were the problem on my first hatch! One dozen of the eggs were our own eggs, and we hatched 9 of those! Pretty good percentages there! It was the shipped eggs that didn't do well, and I think it may have something to do with the fact that the gal we got them from did not mark the box as containing eggs, merely marked them as "fragile." She has had a number of issues with the Post Office damaging/destroying boxes marked as "eggs" (and even one marked "chicks!"), and so she has stopped trying that! My local carrier was mortified that the eggs weren't marked as such, so at least I know the local P.O. is careful with shipped eggs! (What happens elsewhere is unreliable at best, I've been told!).
The most important thing to me is that we had a 75% hatch rate with our own eggs, and that is AWESOME for a second attempt (from what I've read/heard)!! Hope that we never have to have eggs shipped again (we'd planned on picking up the eggs, since hubby is drives a semi-truck), but couldn't get near to the seller.
As far as a thermostat, yes, I have one, but am using a still-air LG (cheap-o) which has a very temperamental thermostat! I was using the thermometer that came with the incubator, but then discovered AFTER our first hatch that it was a half a degree off from the settings! Plus, the manufacturer's instructions recommended 99.5 deg, and folks here recommend 100-101! Before this hatch, I calibrated the thermometer and turned the thermostat up to 100 deg. That seems to have made the difference! Oh, and I did a "dry hatch" (same as the first time) b/c our ambient air humidity in East Tenn. averages above 50%. (During the first hatch, however, it dropped as low as 16%!) This time, the ambient air humidity stayed near normal, and I did not add water until lockdown.
Hope that helps you!
Oh, and guess what....we have a newly broody hen (as of last night) who has been laying in my van! She has been so very determined to lay in the van (I've had to open the window for her to get in at least 4 times a week for a couple of weeks now!), that hubby and I have decided to just let her hatch them out! Guess you could say we're gluttons for punishment! Silly chickens!!
The most important thing to me is that we had a 75% hatch rate with our own eggs, and that is AWESOME for a second attempt (from what I've read/heard)!! Hope that we never have to have eggs shipped again (we'd planned on picking up the eggs, since hubby is drives a semi-truck), but couldn't get near to the seller.
As far as a thermostat, yes, I have one, but am using a still-air LG (cheap-o) which has a very temperamental thermostat! I was using the thermometer that came with the incubator, but then discovered AFTER our first hatch that it was a half a degree off from the settings! Plus, the manufacturer's instructions recommended 99.5 deg, and folks here recommend 100-101! Before this hatch, I calibrated the thermometer and turned the thermostat up to 100 deg. That seems to have made the difference! Oh, and I did a "dry hatch" (same as the first time) b/c our ambient air humidity in East Tenn. averages above 50%. (During the first hatch, however, it dropped as low as 16%!) This time, the ambient air humidity stayed near normal, and I did not add water until lockdown.
Hope that helps you!
Oh, and guess what....we have a newly broody hen (as of last night) who has been laying in my van! She has been so very determined to lay in the van (I've had to open the window for her to get in at least 4 times a week for a couple of weeks now!), that hubby and I have decided to just let her hatch them out! Guess you could say we're gluttons for punishment! Silly chickens!!
