First go-round with the incubator!

[CoopDeDoo]

Good luck, I hope this will serve as a reference for anyone with this incubator. I try to be as detailed as I can because when I was pondering incubation I really didn't know some of the finer things of incubation with this certain incubator. What kind of chickens are you hatching?

BBS Jersey Giants and Silver Penciled Plymouth Rocks - 12 of each. I plan on running the incubator for several days to a week (in the location where it will be in use) prior to get all of the bugs worked out. We did a test run on this past weekend and discovered just how sensitive the thermostat dial is - that has me a bit freaked out. Have you had that same issue?

 

[Beanzie]

Once you get the thermostat dial set to run steady you can pretty much leave it alone where it is and it will bring it back to the same temp when you open and close it. My suggestion is get a meat thermometer and make a hole in the middle and put it through the styrofoam so you have an accurate reading of the temp. (The built in thermometer varies, sometimes it is only two degrees off, sometimes it is ten degrees off.) I calibrated two thermometers; one meat thermometer and one very accurate probe thermometer. I also have an extra hydrometer, (costed about $3.00) from Menards in there to see the humidity. It IS touchy, but once you have it adjusted to the proper temp I would just leave it be. It takes a while to get up to the right temperature when eggs are in there, so patience get you a long ways.

Neat breeds; I might be getting some Silver Penciled Rock eggs later in spring. Let me know how your hatch goes, and feel free to ask any questions.

I now have two whole hens laying in my mixed flock, and thus far have four eggs set aside for hatching next round. I'm going to keep collecting and marking them until I have enough set aside, then I will have 'judgement day' to decide what eggs are too old and should be tossed. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

 

[JWEBB]

Once you get the thermostat dial set to run steady you can pretty much leave it alone where it is and it will bring it back to the same temp when you open and close it. My suggestion is get a meat thermometer and make a hole in the middle and put it through the styrofoam so you have an accurate reading of the temp. (The built in thermometer varies, sometimes it is only two degrees off, sometimes it is ten degrees off.) I calibrated two thermometers; one meat thermometer and one very accurate probe thermometer. I also have an extra hydrometer, (costed about $3.00) from Menards in there to see the humidity. It IS touchy, but once you have it adjusted to the proper temp I would just leave it be. It takes a while to get up to the right temperature when eggs are in there, so patience get you a long ways.

Neat breeds; I might be getting some Silver Penciled Rock eggs later in spring. Let me know how your hatch goes, and feel free to ask any questions.

I now have two whole hens laying in my mixed flock, and thus far have four eggs set aside for hatching next round. I'm going to keep collecting and marking them until I have enough set aside, then I will have 'judgement day' to decide what eggs are too old and should be tossed. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

GOOD JOB!! I just got my coolerbator going its very exciting to start your first eggs me too! Good luck!

 

[Beanzie]

With my new phone I can conquer the world! Well at least takes good pictures. Here are some pictures of candling the egg, it turned out pretty good and you can kind of see the veins.

Everything is still going well. I set up my brooder pen for next week when the chicks hatch I figured it's better to be too prepared than not enough. I plan to recandle my eggs because I candled one and I found it had a blood ring, hopefully not too many that way. Or none at all.

Here's my pen on the bathroom floor;

I also found the culprit, well, baby mama, of my two eggs. I found Cochin hen laying in the box when I got there.

 

[Beanzie]

And we've made it to lockdown. Huzzah! Today is day twenty, and the eggs are already nestled nicely in their humble abode. Now it will be a matter of keeping the humidity up and playing the waiting game. I woke up this morning praying for a pip, but the eggs haven't moved a bit. At first I had the humidity a tad high (75%) on day 17/18 so I truly hope that has not messed them up. It is my first time, so of course I must worry. But now I have kept them pretty steady at 65%, and I hope and pray that they will start hatching tomorrow, or even better, tonight! C'mon chickies! I know they can take even longer, but I pray that considering some of the eggs are bantams that I will get some eggs to hatch on time or 'early'.

To follow this hatch, I have 42 more eggs in storage waiting for their turn. Actually, I have even more, but my bator is maxed out at 42 in the egg turners and I sure as heck can't turn them by hand. I do have a lead on another styrofoam incubator for a decent price, it is still air with egg turners. Though if I can't get that one I am just going to make a hatcher. Well, anyway, prayers for my sanity's sake the eggs hatch soon. I need some fluffy little puff nuggets to get me through the week!

 

[Beanzie]

Just in case anyone was wondering, this is what unhatched eggs at day twenty look like. I might be a tad facetious.

I got their pen set up with all of the bells and whistles. Now all I need is a few chicks to put in there! Checked the temp with both lights on and it was perfect, all I have to do is remove a light when they are older. They should be up and out of this pen when the next batch hatches.

 

[jorey]

This is a nice thread. Thank you for posting it. I also use the farmers innovator. Love it. On my second hatch with it. And have more eggs coming.

 

[Beanzie]

This is a nice thread. Thank you for posting it. I also use the farmers innovator. Love it. On my second hatch with it. And have more eggs coming.

Thank you, I am very happy to help others with a detailed reference on these incubators. First hatches can be a lot of guess work, and I hope by my second time around I will have improved. I am picking up another incubator today, it's an LG, styrofoam just like this one. Hopefully I can offer advice on that one as well.

 

[foxvalleyfarm]

Any babies yet?

 

[Beanzie]

Any babies yet?

Nothing yet, just got home with my second incubator. I was pretty good at convincing myself they'd be pipped. Hope they hatch soon.