FEBRUARY Hatch-A-Long, come join in!!

[Illia]

Quote:
I've candled over 6 dozen Marans eggs before, and none were too hard for me. I think the key is a powerful enough flashlight. The next, naturally, as a dark room.

What I do is cup my fist around the flashlight, then cradle the egg in on its side as if in a nest. Make sure no light escapes. With a powerful enough flashlight, you should see the beating heart from a white egg, the eyes from a green, blue, or brown egg, and nothing more than a large black mass from a dark Marans egg. That's all I need to see.

By day 5 and beyond, an infertile Marans egg will light up a solid red color, possibly with a faint dark blob (the yolk) floating around. A fertile egg will not light up at all, except on the pointed end. You should see a fine line where the black mass ends and the glowing red of the egg begins around there, too. That's a fertile one.

Beyond that, some eggs are light enough for me to see an even darker mass - the chick inside. But, in most occasions I just look for the black cloud that is the embryo.

 

[dldolan]

OK! I'll try at day...10? THanks for the encouragement!

 

[Shelly_WNC]

I'm so EGGcited!!!

I drove 70+ miles yesterday to pick up some mixed EE type eggs and set the 10 eggs in my new Little Gaint forced air bator. This is my FIRST time ever incubating and can't believe how exciting this is.

Of course I have no idea what I'm doing so reading like crazy here on BYC. I am planning on keeping the bator temp at 100-101 f. I am real confused about the humidity. I was thinking I should keep it about 30% until day 18 then bump it was up. I put a little water in the channels at the start and the humidity read about 42% (yikes - is that to high for day 1?). Then this morning humidity showed 0. Hmmmm . Does the Little Giant suck up the water that fast? I put a little more water in this morning and humidity went up to 40% again.

Oh boy - how do we set the humidity at the beginning and keep it steady? any tricks or things I should be doing? ... My house temp is 71 degrees , we only have space heaters in the house because our broiler furnace broke. So, it's probably dry in the house as well. Should I turn on a humidifier in the room with the bator?

THANKS!!! for any help ... and hatch date should be Feb. 5th.... count down continues *smile*. I will be happy with a 50-40% hatch as this is my first and it's freezing out.

 

[Illia]

Yes, Little Giants are pretty terrible about water. Do you have the vent plugs open? Is the incubator ajar at all? Do you think you have time in the night, perhaps right before bed, to check it and refill it with some water? 0% is pretty bad; If that continues up you're not going to get chicks.

Do you have a fan for the bator?

41 percent is perfectly fine, I like to keep mine at 50-60 percent, that way by night time it drops to 40 or lower, I can refill it a little, so in the morning it doesn't go too low.

 

[bunnibird55]

I'm in! I just set 30 NH eggs in my LG yesterday. I have five thermometers in there and one hygrometer.....working very hard to keep it stable on all counts! This is my first hatch kind of a trial run for some Buckeye eggs I will be getting in February! This is nerve-wracking!

 

[Shelly_WNC]

Quote:
I have one of the two red plugs open. I don't think the incubator is ajar but will check better. It does have the fan (heard that makes the water go away faster too). Thanks for your help - I will check a close eye on it day and night to keep it 40%.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Close both red plugs. It helps a lot. When you add water, open the bator to do it. This way, you won't lose so much humidity, but your eggs still get fresh air when you open the incubator to add water.

 

[Livinwright Farm]

Quote:
I had both the vent plugs open in the first two weeks with the first clutch, had to keep the cover down due to a cold window. I think my mistake was putting too much water in during the first 16-18 days... I was making sure both channels and the ring were filled to brim with water. There was never a lack of humidity for us. and during the last 3-5 days I closed one of the vent plugs, put our weather station in with the eggs and it was reading between 55-65% RH. We opted out of getting the fan kit, due to monetary issues.

Basically I need to know whether I should only fill 1 channel, both, or just the ring during the first 16-18 days...

 

[Illia]

As I said, I'm honestly not sure.

I will agree and advise though, the fan kit is indeed expensive, and the last one I bought for my old LG didn't work.

Well, the days are rolling in, should expect to see more people participating. Anyone else hatching eggs and expecting chicks in February?

 

[sweetchicks]

I'm in! I set 13 eggs a few min. ago, hoping these hatch. This is my second attempt, the first round I set 17 eggs on Christmas night. Candled them on day 4, so then we had 14 in bator that were fertile. I'm guessing that the temp was off cause no baby chicks

I have a still air incubator with an egg turner. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to send some advice this way.