Fanci's Chick Log 2019

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Day 3 for me with 7 silkie eggs! I can already see beating hearts in 6 of them!

Wow that's good! I've only ever seen veins. Never incubated a white egg before.

 

[Chicks 'n ducks]

Yeah, white eggs are very fun to incubate!

 

[Onslow's Hens]

I just set 10 eggs on Jan 18th. My rooster is a Blue Splash Orpington. Never incubated eggs before so giving it a try. Not sure which hens layed the eggs and I have many different breeds. Pretty sure I have at least 1 Australorp egg, definately have 3 Blue Cuckoo Marans eggs in there. One is probably from my Buff Orp, one from my Barred Rock and might have 2 from my speckeled sussex hens. One from my Welsummer and I one is a total mystery of who layed it. I candled last night. Welsummer egg not fertile, and one of the marans eggs can't tell anything yet. The other eight eggs I can definately see the dark spot with veins coming out from it. Keeping temp at 99-100 and trying to keep humidity at 45-50. Humidity has been really hard to keep up since the house is so dry from our heat running.

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

I just set 10 eggs on Jan 18th. My rooster is a Blue Splash Orpington. Never incubated eggs before so giving it a try. Not sure which hens layed the eggs and I have many different breeds. Pretty sure I have at least 1 Australorp egg, definately have 3 Blue Cuckoo Marans eggs in there. One is probably from my Buff Orp, one from my Barred Rock and might have 2 from my speckeled sussex hens. One from my Welsummer and I one is a total mystery of who layed it. I candled last night. Welsummer egg not fertile, and one of the marans eggs can't tell anything yet. The other eight eggs I can definately see the dark spot with veins coming out from it. Keeping temp at 99-100 and trying to keep humidity at 45-50. Humidity has been really hard to keep up since the house is so dry from our heat running.

Yeah our house is dry, too. Try putting a folded, damp cloth in there if your bator is big enough. It keeps mine in the 50's for hours, though I've recently had to add a second cloth.

 

[Onslow's Hens]

My bator is a cheapy 60.00 one. The water just gets poured in the bottom, eggs sit on a plastic grate about 2 inches above that. It does have a tray that moves the eggs and i am really glad I got one with that feature. The temp fluctuates a bit so we wrapped a towel around the the base about 1/2 way up the sides. Instead of adjusting the bator temp, we adjust the height of the towel to increase or decrease. Has been working pretty good for the few days it has been running. I will try placing a cloth in the bottom and see it that helps. The instructions (very bad) said to add 100ml water. When we did that the humidity was at 99%. I have to check the humidity constantly and add more with a straw thru the air vent hole. 1 straw of warm water raises the humidity by about 5%. When you say cloth - are you using material or a paper towel? Slightly damp or wet?

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

My bator is a cheapy 60.00 one. The water just gets poured in the bottom, eggs sit on a plastic grate about 2 inches above that. It does have a tray that moves the eggs and i am really glad I got one with that feature. The temp fluctuates a bit so we wrapped a towel around the the base about 1/2 way up the sides. Instead of adjusting the bator temp, we adjust the height of the towel to increase or decrease. Has been working pretty good for the few days it has been running. I will try placing a cloth in the bottom and see it that helps. The instructions (very bad) said to add 100ml water. When we did that the humidity was at 99%. I have to check the humidity constantly and add more with a straw thru the air vent hole. 1 straw of warm water raises the humidity by about 5%. When you say cloth - are you using material or a paper towel? Slightly damp or wet?

Like a washcloth or even a dishrag.
See if your egg turning trays are removable, and take out the middle one to make room for it. Most you can change out because there are different egg sizes that require different trays.

 

[Onslow's Hens]

Will give that a try. If the humidity does drop from time to time, is that the end for the eggs?? I have seen people comment about "dry" incubating. Any idea what that is?

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

Will give that a try. If the humidity does drop from time to time, is that the end for the eggs?? I have seen people comment about "dry" incubating. Any idea what that is?

Dry incubating is fine in the summer when its more humid, but I can't imagine doing it in the winter. Less humidity makes the aircells bigger, but its not the end of the eggs. The only thing that would be concerning is lots of fluctuation, (like 31% for a few hours then back up to 60% for a few hours, ect. ect. ) and too much humidity in the starting days.
Humidity at 99% for an hour isn't much. 30% overnight isn't much, either.
The only thing that would kill your chicks that quick is cooking them to death, but it seems you have a hold of that.

 

[Onslow's Hens]

Thanks Fanci. Good to know. I will follow along with your thread and let you know if I get any to hatch. I have an Australorp that is broody alot and bought fertile eggs last summer for her to hatch. She did a great job and was a terrific mother hen. Of 8 eggs I gave her, 7 hatched. All Easter Eggers I got from a guy down the way. Was a fun project. Eva (the broody) did all the work of course. Just wanted to try using the bator to see how it works and to get to see them actually hatch. When Eva did it, I left her alone and let her handle everything so I did'nt really see much until see brought them out to eat and drink. Thanks again!

 

[Rose Quartz]

Will give that a try. If the humidity does drop from time to time, is that the end for the eggs?? I have seen people comment about "dry" incubating. Any idea what that is?

I do dry incubation ever time. But local humidity is always high. It's 67% outside today and that's super dry for here. I'd still run my incubator at 12% no water added for the first week and based on air cell sizes adjust the humidity at first candle if needed. I havent needed to add water during the first 18 days at all in the last 3 years.