First incubation for 2020!

[rascal66]

It's finally day 18 and I did some candling.

Of the 71 eggs, 3 died early (One was a twin egg!). Unfortunately.
Here are some pics of the early death eggs being candled

(this last one was the twin egg. Looks like it died around day 6-9 somewhere in between? I'm not very sure.)

and here are the 3 bad eggs unfortunately had to be my blue/green eggs!

However, here is a pic of a good egg

For some reason the phone wanted to take the pics extra dark, so I didn't get to snap many good pics.

All is well so far! Sunday is hatch day. Can't wait!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I look forward to seeing your hatch updates tomorrow!

 

[rascal66]

I look forward to seeing your hatch updates tomorrow!

I already had 1 hatch a day early! I'll make sure to snap plenty of pictures

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I already had 1 hatch a day early! I'll make sure to snap plenty of pictures

 

[rascal66]

Here are a few that made it out early!

 

[rascal66]

And here are the majority that made it out so far! Still had like 5 hatching, but left them in the incubator of course, until they're finished and fluffy. I'll have to wait until the end of today to get a final count of everything.

My blue/green eggs gave me really colorful chicks so far!!! Ahh I love them. Some kept the beards and even got the fluffy feet!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

And here are the majority that made it out so far! Still had like 5 hatching, but left them in the incubator of course, until they're finished and fluffy. I'll have to wait until the end of today to get a final count of everything.
View attachment 2011825View attachment 2011827View attachment 2011829

My blue/green eggs gave me really colorful chicks so far!!! Ahh I love them. Some kept the beards and even got the fluffy feet!

Oh my gosh, those must be the cutest little balls of fluff in existence!!!

 

[rascal66]

Oh my gosh, those must be the cutest little balls of fluff in existence!!!

They're the best!! I'm in love with them they're so precious
I love the surprise with hatching Barnyard mixes. You really never know what you're going to get!

 

[Mossy Dell]

I feel like I'm addicted to chickens...!!!

Anyways, just this past Sunday I popped 72 eggs into the incubator!

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I'm using a Brinsea Ovaeasy 100. This thing has been amazing and I'm almost always at a high hatch/success rate. The last round i did only had 2 eggs out of 54 that didn't hatch. Best investment ever!

Because its been super rainy here and I had a couple eggs laid in mud, I had to do a bit of washing.View attachment 1996396
And despite the belief that it ruins success, I'm happy to say with as many rounds I've had with successful hatching, washing eggs doesn't make a difference for me. I run the eggs briefly through warm water and rub out any debris. Of course, I only wash if I need to. Here is to hoping I still get a good hatch this time around!

I have 4 Roos out with my many hens, so these eggs are all mostly barnyard mixes. I'm obsessed with Easter eggers and blue feathers, so I'm hoping for more blue babies!

Rascal, you seem to be having amazing success. I just got a Brinsea Ovation 56 Ex and have my first eggs due soon.

I have a couple questions. First, do you warm the eggs up somehow before putting them in the incubator to avoid the "thermal shock" I've read about?

Second, do you keep the temp steady at the 99.5 Brinsea recommends or vary it in any way? I recently read about lowering it a degree or so the last few days because the chicks generate some heat. But if you don't monkey with your temp I probably won't because your hatch rate is incredible!

 

[rascal66]

Rascal, you seem to be having amazing success. I just got a Brinsea Ovation 56 Ex and have my first eggs due soon.

I have a couple questions. First, do you warm the eggs up somehow before putting them in the incubator to avoid the "thermal shock" I've read about?

Second, do you keep the temp steady at the 99.5 Brinsea recommends or vary it in any way? I recently read about lowering it a degree or so the last few days because the chicks generate some heat. But if you don't monkey with your temp I probably won't because your hatch rate is incredible!

Thanks! I'd like to believe the success might come from decent equipment! My first incubator, a yellow top 'bator, was absolutely crummy, and had a bad thermometer and hydrometer.. Always lost 2/3 of my hatch before. But I've been so happy with getting a Brinsea since.. Its amazing.

Honestly, I never thought about the 'thermal shock'... I usually allow the incubator to run a little bit before I put the eggs in. At least I know that's how I normally have done it. So the eggs are typically going in when the temperature is already set and ready. No issues with that yet!

And as far as adjusting the temp, I never touched it. So yes, I believe its steady at the 99.5.

I also noticed, not a lot of people talk about the cooling feature that Brinsea has. I use it, where starting at day 7, the eggs get cooled once a day for 2 hours until day 18. Not sure if your model has that, but it seems to work great for us so far. I also did hear that you don't have to cool. Maybe its personal preference...

I wish you the best! Id love to hear about your results!