First hatch is starting this week!

[bigtime400]

Well I'm going for my first hatch here soon. eggs are ordered and Im just waiting for them to arrive. I have read all the basics about hatching... not I am reading the posts in incubating and hatching to get more tips and review what people have been telling me.

I figured I would go ahead and post too for advice. Any advice for a new hatcher? I should snap a picture of the incubator that I built and post it so you all can see and tell me what you think.

 

[Suechick]

Hi Big time

I'm waiting to start my 3rd hatch this week when my eggs arrive, in my homemade bator. They should be here rested and ready to go by Thursday. I also have a first time broody hen who I'm hoping to have hatch some eggs for me. My first 2 hatches were disappointing the first had about a 30% success rate and the 2nd was lower than that. But, I did get chicks both times. My first lesson in hatching was, "don't count your chickens...."

Anyway, if you'd like to have a hatching buddy we can keep a thread going and check in to see how all is going. I ordered Easter eggers, silver laced wyandottes, orpingtons and bearded silkies. What did you order?

 

[bigtime400]

8 Frizzie easter eggers, 8 Buff Ophs., and 8 barred rocks. The biggest concern that I have is keeping my temp good. I dont know if my thermostat is going to be accurate enough. I have a dayton that I got at work. I think the accuracy is like +/- 3.5 degrees. it is for air temp at least though. I have 2 lights. one is on a dimmer and one that is on the stat. so far.... unless I upen in for an amount of time... the stat never turns it on. The problem Im worried about is buildup of heat more then it cooling down I guess.

 

[Suechick]

What a fun collection of eggs! I hope it goes well for you.

SO you have +/- 3.5 degrees? That means a 7 deg spread on air?
Don't know much about the different thermostats out there, I'm using a 60 watt bulb attatched to a wafer thermostat and an additional 25 watt bulb that is on continuously for my heat source. I also use heat sinks to reduce temp swings, so I add in several containers of water that really seem to help buffer the incubator.
I also have a probe on my thermometer that I put inside of a ziplock bag filled with water to give me an idea of what the internal egg temp might be, it doesn't have as big of a spread as the air. It takes a few days to get all the temp kinks worked out before setting eggs, then when you set the eggs the temp plummets and has to come back up. The most important thing is to have 99.5 be your avg/mean temp to give you the best success.

 

[bigtime400]

It was right at about 100 F on a probe thermometer that I got for most of the day.... Im still waiting for my other thermometers to come in the mail. Here is what the Dayton looks like. I figured it may work good because of the coil with more surface area. Maybe I ws wrong...

http://www.hobbygreenhouse.net/dayton_stage1.html

I bet they have those wafer thermostats at farm and fleet. Do they have to be mounted off the wall very much?


btw.... how many holes for vents should you have in the incubator?

 

[bigtime400]

Are these water wigglers they talk about just those balloon things you had as a kid? that you held and they kinda would jump out of your hand so to speak.

basically the idea is to surround them with water to act like the temp in the egg?

 

[Rebecca and Paul]

mind if i join first timer here!! i have a hova bator with egg turner and fan kit with a temp/humidity thingy
we're picking up our eggs from a farm tomorrow well today now lol to exited to sleep!!

 

[Suechick]

100 is perfect. If you do some searching you'll see what other folks use. Have you checked out the home made incubators pages? There is LOTS of great info there. But if your temp is holding steady at 100 I'd say don't change a thing.

I have my wafer set off the wall of the incubator by about 2 inches, I used wall anchors as spacers. It's not perfect but it gets me some chicks. I also have a computer fan attached to the lid.

yes the water wigglers are those silly toys that you just can't put down, until they slip out of your hand like you described. Yes, you just want to surround it with water so it is similar to an egg.

Hi Rebecca and Paul - thanks for joining.
I totally get your excitement.

You should do well with your hova bator. I've read a lot from others who use them.
What kind of eggs are you getting and where are they from?

 

[Suechick]

Oh and

Rebecca... or is it Paul?

 

[Rebecca and Paul]

It's Rebecca Paul is my hubby i put him on here but it's really just the Rebecca show lol he just houmors me
we are getting Cuckoo Marens, aricaunas, leghorn some mixed and some ducks they are $2 a doz fertile from a farm near us (we are just north of Dallas) so as a first timer i went for cheaper eggs lol but we got a buy one get one free on the incubators too! so if it works out i brake open the other one the lady who runs the farm has all mannor of birds even fertile peacock eggs!