First incubator full due today + some questions

[QuoVadis]

This spring I found a Brisnea mini on Craigslist for a good deal and bought it. I have hatched chicks under my bantams before but this is my first time using an incubator. I live in the city and can't have a rooster so I bought hatching eggs at a swap meet. The Brisnea only holds seven so I put the rest under my broody Sussex (I think my bantams are rubbing off on her!). One turned out be infertile, and one egg got crushed (probably because multiple hens were trying to jam themselves in with mama). I candled before lockdown and all the eggs in the incubator appeared to be alive. They should be due tonight. But the eggs under then hen all already hatched yesterday or last night. Is it normal for chicks brooded under a hen to hatch earlier? They are from the same batch, although I may have put them under her a couple hours before I put the ones in the incubator... but the ones in the incubator haven't even pipped yet, and the ones under then hen are hatched have been hatched and dry for 6-16 hours.

Also somewhere between 7-14 days I forgot to refill the water well in the incubator for a couple (?) days. Will this negatively affect the chicks or their hatching? The well if full now, as per the instructions.

 

[AtlantisPeeps]

Hatching time usually depends on temperature. If it cooler in your incubator they will hatch later, and if it's hotter, they will hatch sooner. So if your incubator is a little cooler than under broody mama, your bator eggs will hatch later!

 

[QuoVadis]

It's been running around 99.6, which I think is about .1 degree hotter than I read it is under mama - or course it has been kind of hot here, and mama is outside...

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hatching time usually depends on temperature. If it cooler in your incubator they will hatch later, and if it's hotter, they will hatch sooner. So if your incubator is a little cooler than under broody mama, your bator eggs will hatch later!

xs 2

This spring I found a Brisnea mini on Craigslist for a good deal and bought it. I have hatched chicks under my bantams before but this is my first time using an incubator. I live in the city and can't have a rooster so I bought hatching eggs at a swap meet. The Brisnea only holds seven so I put the rest under my broody Sussex (I think my bantams are rubbing off on her!). One turned out be infertile, and one egg got crushed (probably because multiple hens were trying to jam themselves in with mama). I candled before lockdown and all the eggs in the incubator appeared to be alive. They should be due tonight. But the eggs under then hen all already hatched yesterday or last night. Is it normal for chicks brooded under a hen to hatch earlier? They are from the same batch, although I may have put them under her a couple hours before I put the ones in the incubator... but the ones in the incubator haven't even pipped yet, and the ones under then hen are hatched have been hatched and dry for 6-16 hours.

Also somewhere between 7-14 days I forgot to refill the water well in the incubator for a couple (?) days. Will this negatively affect the chicks or their hatching? The well if full now, as per the instructions.

As for the water, many of us run dry the first 17 days of incubation depending on what humidity we have dry. I incubate at 30%. What was your humidity throughout the hatch?

 

[QuoVadis]

I don't know my humidity %, because I don't have a gauge, but I followed the Brisnea instructions, [trying to] keep one of the wells full, and then at lock down filling both up. As I said, at lock down they all looked alive, but now I am getting paranoid because I set them three weeks ago today and none have started to pip.

 

[Choco Maran]

Give them time. I have half of the eggs I set 22 days ago not hatching. Give them some extra time. and wait and see.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I don't know my humidity %, because I don't have a gauge, but I followed the Brisnea instructions, [trying to] keep one of the wells full, and then at lock down filling both up. As I said, at lock down they all looked alive, but now I am getting paranoid because I set them three weeks ago today and none have started to pip.

Incubator instructions on humidity isn't the best way to gauge your humidity. Just filling a channel or well has different effects on different people. Someone in a dry arid environment can fill one well and only get 20% humidity while someone in a more humid environment can fill one well and have over 50%. The best thing you can do is use a hygrometer to guide you and monitor the air cells to know if the humidity is working for your eggs. This is also helpful if you do eggs from different sources as shell quality and size will also determine if you need more or less humidity. All eggs are not equal. I use this method: http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity

Normally I run about 30% and do so dry for most eggs. The last silkies I did I had to up that to 40-45% because 30% was too low for the little eggs. Just to show how different the needs can be among eggs.

Chicks that do succumb to drowning because of high humidity usually are alive and kicking well at lockdown, but perish at hatch time. I hope the best for your chicks, please let us know the outcomes.

 

[QuoVadis]

Well last night/today all the chicks in the incubator hatched out! So they were 1-1.5 days after due date. But I have a 100% hatch rate in the incubator which I"m very happy with since it is my first time hatching! The ones under the chicken I only hatched 3/5 (one infertile, one crushed). So now I have 10 cute fuzzy butts! 1 Welsummer, 2 Rhodebars, 1 Olive egger (adorable blue with super fuzzy cheeks!), 1 Naked Neck without the nn gene, 3 Mottled Houdans, and 2 silkies! I'm very pleased overall, though I think I may have two male Rhodebars and I was really hoping for a male and female.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Well last night/today all the chicks in the incubator hatched out! So they were 1-1.5 days after due date. But I have a 100% hatch rate in the incubator which I"m very happy with since it is my first time hatching! The ones under the chicken I only hatched 3/5 (one infertile, one crushed). So now I have 10 cute fuzzy butts! 1 Welsummer, 2 Rhodebars, 1 Olive egger (adorable blue with super fuzzy cheeks!), 1 Naked Neck without the nn gene, 3 Mottled Houdans, and 2 silkies! I'm very pleased overall, though I think I may have two male Rhodebars and I was really hoping for a male and female.

That's awesome!!! Congrats! When you started your count, you didn't start counting until 24 hours after set, right?

 

[QuoVadis]

I just did 21 days after the night I set them! Id you're supposed to wait maybe that was my issue! Well I just ordered Serama eggs online, so those will be my next batch, and my first time with shipped eggs.

Do you think they will be small enough I can use the pheasant/quail turning tray? Then I can fit all of them in the incubator without having to put any under a broody!