Susan10
In the Brooder
- Apr 15, 2015
- 47
- 2
- 36
So I incubated and hatched quail and chicken in those cheap incubators as a kid. As an adult I was gifted for Easter a slightly better incubator, and a pre-order of 6 white, and 6 regular mandarin eggs from Ebay. I was notified that the white ones were being shipped on a Monday.
Well things went wrong. First, the eggs got stuck in shipping for a whole 5 days. That terrified me. I thought without proper temperature and turning, they were surely goners. I've heard mandarins don't ship well and are not easy to incubate, so I was beside myself in greif.
Anyway, 5 going on six days of incubation, I candles to find 4 developing embryos!!!!!! I'm not giving up on the others yet. I'll do more candling a few days later, and still a few more after that.
Of the 4 alive, two look great and 2 look odd. This is only my first time candling, so I'm not sure what to make of the odd ones. Maybe one has a detached air cell and the other one a butterfly shaped air cell. But the embryos are developing so im hoping it sorts itself out. Anyway, I'm just so grateful for these 4 so far!
I'd love to get an Rcom 20 for when the regular mandarin eggs arrive but I'll have to see about finances.
In any case, here's what I'm doing so far. Please let me know what I might be doing wrong or should be doing to insure the eggs have the best chance possible:
First of all, I read to wash dirty eggs with a regular antibacterial wash. So because they were very dirty, I did. I used Palmalive antibacterial dish soap in a very light mixture with water. THEN I read not to wash eggs because it removes the natural germ barrier that was left in it by the coating of slime from when it was being laid. So I don't know which is right. Are filthy eggs to be washed before going in the incubator or not?
I have definitely been scrubbing my hands with Palmolive antibacterial dish soap before handling the eggs, and two days ago I bought and started using latex gloves for handling as well.
Anyway, the incubator is called "Rite Farm 3600". It's got the fan and auto turner (which is preset to every two hours). It only lets me set the temperature to whole numbers (not 99.5) so I had to set it to 100, and every once in a while it flickers to 99, so I'm guessing it's staying between the two.
There is no auto humidity pump, just a digital humidity % display. I am trying to keep
The humidity at 57.5%, but it's very difficult to keep the humidity stable. I am adding water through the ventilation holes with a baby syringe like 5 times a day. The humidity fluctuates usually between 55-60, but can sometimes be a bit higher just after adding water and drop a bit lower as I sleep overnight. But I'm doing the best I can to keep it as close to 57.5% as much of the time as I can. On day 4 I began to cool the eggs until the temperature of my eyelid (approximately 10-15 minutes), then misting and returning to the incubator.
Is there anything I'm missing, doing wrong, or could be doing better?
Well things went wrong. First, the eggs got stuck in shipping for a whole 5 days. That terrified me. I thought without proper temperature and turning, they were surely goners. I've heard mandarins don't ship well and are not easy to incubate, so I was beside myself in greif.
Anyway, 5 going on six days of incubation, I candles to find 4 developing embryos!!!!!! I'm not giving up on the others yet. I'll do more candling a few days later, and still a few more after that.
Of the 4 alive, two look great and 2 look odd. This is only my first time candling, so I'm not sure what to make of the odd ones. Maybe one has a detached air cell and the other one a butterfly shaped air cell. But the embryos are developing so im hoping it sorts itself out. Anyway, I'm just so grateful for these 4 so far!
I'd love to get an Rcom 20 for when the regular mandarin eggs arrive but I'll have to see about finances.
In any case, here's what I'm doing so far. Please let me know what I might be doing wrong or should be doing to insure the eggs have the best chance possible:
First of all, I read to wash dirty eggs with a regular antibacterial wash. So because they were very dirty, I did. I used Palmalive antibacterial dish soap in a very light mixture with water. THEN I read not to wash eggs because it removes the natural germ barrier that was left in it by the coating of slime from when it was being laid. So I don't know which is right. Are filthy eggs to be washed before going in the incubator or not?
I have definitely been scrubbing my hands with Palmolive antibacterial dish soap before handling the eggs, and two days ago I bought and started using latex gloves for handling as well.
Anyway, the incubator is called "Rite Farm 3600". It's got the fan and auto turner (which is preset to every two hours). It only lets me set the temperature to whole numbers (not 99.5) so I had to set it to 100, and every once in a while it flickers to 99, so I'm guessing it's staying between the two.
There is no auto humidity pump, just a digital humidity % display. I am trying to keep
The humidity at 57.5%, but it's very difficult to keep the humidity stable. I am adding water through the ventilation holes with a baby syringe like 5 times a day. The humidity fluctuates usually between 55-60, but can sometimes be a bit higher just after adding water and drop a bit lower as I sleep overnight. But I'm doing the best I can to keep it as close to 57.5% as much of the time as I can. On day 4 I began to cool the eggs until the temperature of my eyelid (approximately 10-15 minutes), then misting and returning to the incubator.
Is there anything I'm missing, doing wrong, or could be doing better?
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