First Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon- Join us! Set Day: Easter

[yinepu]

Always something more to learn and tweak with the homemade incubators. Sounds like you can find a solution now that you defined the problem. I have high air flow at 2 locations and try to reduce direct air flow; I move the eggs around a lot so they have equal opportunity to get a blast of air. ANd just now, eureka! I hit a solution to try in my Henny PEnny.

I've been saying for a while now that the fan can cause problems in hatching chicks.. I just wish the incubator manufacturers would pay attention and fix their darn bators (an on/off switch for that fan which blows directly on the eggs would be a major plus and they could still have a circulating air fan in the bator.. just not have it blowing directly on the eggs)

 

[yinepu]

LOL I have a cat named Squeeker! He never touches a bird, chick or otherwise. He backs up a little and spits and spats when the adult chickens try to terrorize him. I'm getting anxious about lockdown, too.


My kids have enjoyed seeing the beautiful egg pip and hatch into the coolest bird ever!! ANd so have I.

I'll have to post some more pics later when he's got his (her?) legs under him

I'm hoping it's another female.. a little too young to vent sex so in a week or so I'll send in the DNA test just to be sure

lol. we have a barn cat who THINKS he can take down any bird alive.. he caught a duck one day.. didn't bite it.. just pounced and wrapped his paws around it.. then stopped.. like he was wondering what he was supposed to do with it now that he had caught it.. then the duck beat him with a wing causing him to let go.. so he sat back and stared at the duck like "how dare he do that to me!".. washed his face and strutted away like it had all been planned to work out as it had... he's such a wussy boy.. never kills a bird but likes to chase them.. (and has only ever caught the one.. lol)

 

[karimw]

Whenever I have broodies sharing a nest half of the eggs end up broken from them trying to steal each others.

My Iowa Blue girls won't share chicks, but apparently they will share a nest box. The Cochins are the worst. If they get out of their nest box for a potty break and another hen steals it to lay, they'll climb right in on top of them. I've had to rescue squashed hens from them before. And yes, there are broken eggs sometimes.

most are that color.. but I have also seen some that were a pale blue .. sometimes when the emu lays the egg it gets an additional coating which will change the colors.

as it is they have three basic layers, the outer layer can be anything from a deep hunter or emerald green to almost black.. the middle layer is a turquoise/blue color and the inside layer is a bright .. so they are nice for carving.. and depending on how deeply you carve the middle layer it has about 7 different shades of turquoise/blue

Really really REALLY want to see some pictures!

Didn't get here yesterday........hoping it's here today!!

I'm upping my humidity now. It's up to 65%....I'll be adding another pan of water later if it levels off there. I have the chicken eggs on a tray near the top of the cabinet and I put the turkey eggs in the bottom tray. I turned the temp down a bit, will check it later to see if I need to lower it any more....am I the only one "chicken" to lower the temp below 99.5?

I am chicken to mess with the settings on my 1588. I've never done it before and don't know what the results would be.

I've been saying for a while now that the fan can cause problems in hatching chicks.. I just wish the incubator manufacturers would pay attention and fix their darn bators (an on/off switch for that fan which blows directly on the eggs would be a major plus and they could still have a circulating air fan in the bator.. just not have it blowing directly on the eggs)

Is this why "they" say to use a still air LG for a hatcher? That makes sense.

I'll have to post some more pics later when he's got his (her?) legs under him

I'm hoping it's another female.. a little too young to vent sex so in a week or so I'll send in the DNA test just to be sure

lol. we have a barn cat who THINKS he can take down any bird alive.. he caught a duck one day.. didn't bite it.. just pounced and wrapped his paws around it.. then stopped.. like he was wondering what he was supposed to do with it now that he had caught it.. then the duck beat him with a wing causing him to let go.. so he sat back and stared at the duck like "how dare he do that to me!".. washed his face and strutted away like it had all been planned to work out as it had... he's such a wussy boy.. never kills a bird but likes to chase them.. (and has only ever caught the one.. lol)

I've got a couple cats that enjoy terrorizing the chickens. The flock all know which ones they are and know to steer clear. It's harmless fun, though I do yell at them if I see it. I worry about the young chicks a bit, but I never lost one to them that I know of.

 

[EnnisLakeFarm]

I candled my last turkey egg and it was a quitter. I originally had 7 and 6 were clear. I was really hopeful for this one. I was really good about leaving the incubator alone this whole time and only candled a couple of times. I checked the temperature every day and it was always between 99 and 101 (which is about as good as this incubator seems to get). Even all but 2 of my Turkey Tutors seem to have given up on me and those 2 are questionable. I just don't know what happened.

I think I am going to put the incubator up for a good long while before I attempt again. My DH keeps tallying up the costs of shipped eggs ect. and asking how much these chicks (or lack of) are costing. I think that is more discouraging than failed hatches.

 

[yinepu]

My Iowa Blue girls won't share chicks, but apparently they will share a nest box. The Cochins are the worst. If they get out of their nest box for a potty break and another hen steals it to lay, they'll climb right in on top of them. I've had to rescue squashed hens from them before. And yes, there are broken eggs sometimes.

Really really REALLY want to see some pictures!


I am chicken to mess with the settings on my 1588. I've never done it before and don't know what the results would be.

Is this why "they" say to use a still air LG for a hatcher? That makes sense.

I've got a couple cats that enjoy terrorizing the chickens. The flock all know which ones they are and know to steer clear. It's harmless fun, though I do yell at them if I see it. I worry about the young chicks a bit, but I never lost one to them that I know of.

I have several that like to play "stack a bird".. poor broody hen gets piled on since she claimed the favorite nest box.. then she gets upset when I have to check the eggs every day to remove any that the other girls laid on top of hers...lots get broken.. feathers get ruffled.. *sighs*

I have a couple of eggs i NEED to carve this coming week .. when I get them done I'll post pics

and yeah.. a still air bator is usually recommended for hatching.. but I think many people think it's so the mess will be contained in one bator... that's one reason for it.. but even then the incubator still needs to be disinfected between hatches just like the hatcher does. Otherwise the eggs can fail because of bacterial growth in the incubator... The main reason for having a separate still air for hatching is because there won't be a fan drying out the hatching chick's before they are ready

I have a LG.. but I modified mine for emus (they don't go into lockdown.. so a fan is fine for them throughout incubation and hatch)... It will be stored away for the summer since it has horrible temp spikes during the heat of the summer. and I'll only be using it for emus

I only have the one cat who likes to be a jerk when it comes to the birds.. the others ignore them

 

[yinepu]

I candled my last turkey egg and it was a quitter. I originally had 7 and 6 were clear. I was really hopeful for this one. I was really good about leaving the incubator alone this whole time and only candled a couple of times. I checked the temperature every day and it was always between 99 and 101 (which is about as good as this incubator seems to get). Even all but 2 of my Turkey Tutors seem to have given up on me and those 2 are questionable. I just don't know what happened.

I think I am going to put the incubator up for a good long while before I attempt again. My DH keeps tallying up the costs of shipped eggs ect. and asking how much these chicks (or lack of) are costing. I think that is more discouraging than failed hatches.

Any idea what your humidity was?
Also.. when was the last time you really disinfected the bator?
were the vents/plugs left open?
Were they all shipped eggs?

 

[EnnisLakeFarm]

Quote:

 

[Arielle]

Quote:

Quote: My homemade is indirect flow, but the fan is so strong it creates a draft a both end of the cooler. THe air pulled in is very strong and creates a draft; the aire leaves the fan, travels acroos the bottom of the cooler, hits the wall and flows up creating a small draft. I use clever devices like paper to block the flow forcing the air around or over the eggs. THe fun of creating a homemade incubator--always making it better, or worse sometimes. LOL

Quote:

Cats . . . .

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote: Thank you for this very easy to understand explanation!! Going out to the garage now to check vents, temps and humidity!

 

[debs_flock]

Well, everything is in lockdown. One of the good turkey eggs was a late quitter, so I have three left, 2 RP & 1 MW.

For the second time, I got nothing from my serama set. I had 9 eggs go into lockdown, but nothing ever pipped

When I opened them to check, 2 eggs had gone bad and the other 7 had perfectly formed dead chicks. I can't seem to get anything from shipped serama eggs.

Anyway on a happier note, I also have silkie/showgirl/araucana eggs in lockdown. This morning I have 2 DW & 1 BBS araucana tutors pipped.

Today & tomorrow are day 21 for the chickens.

Deb