First time hatching.... Ducklings, Home Made 'Bator

[ekalf33]

Ok, here is the story. I made my own incubator and I put a bowl of water in it to provide for some humidity. I do not have a humidity meter, I am broke and can't get one, but I stick my finger in the water and it feels cold. I have two thermometers that both read the same thing 99.5F or 37.5C one is just sitting on a tray and the other I shoved into a little bottle of water to get an internal reading. I am pretty sure that I am doing everything right but I am worried due to the coolness of my water. I have a vent that is about an inch by a half an inch.


Is there something that I am doing wrong? I have also heard of moisture being built up on the windows, but I am not seeing any of that. I live in AZ does that matter? I am just really puzzled here.

 

[kuchchicks]

Moisture building up on your window is not necessarily what you want. In my experience when moisture is on my window my humidity is WAY too high (for incubation anyway; I lock down at 75% and when the eggs start to hatch I will occasionally get moisture on the window when my humidity is above 80%).

As for the coolness of your water, going by the way it feels on your skin can be deceiving (I think water always "feels" cooler than what the temp actually is). Have you tried to measure the temp with the thermometer? How far along are you on your incubation? The "correctness" of the humidity can be checked based on what your air cells look like. If they look too big/too small you can add/remove water. If you are worried that your temps may not be correct because of the way your water feels, you need to check your thermometers. Did you check their accuracy prior to starting? If not I would suggest checking them now. Depending on how far into your incubation you are, you may be able to fix your temp. If the temp was too low and you correct early enough you may be able to save your hatch, they just may end up being a little late. If your thermometers are correct then I would try not to worry about the way the water feels too much. Also, do you have a fan or still air? If still air is the temp at the top of the eggs 102? What about on the bottom of the bator?

Hope this helps.

 

[ekalf33]

I haven't checked the accuracy yet. I just put them in yesterday. I am pretty sure they are accurate. I will test them. I found that my lid was sealing off the water so I put a different bowl in. Also it is vented pretty good so I closed that down because I heard it was good to "stress" the eggs during the first 10 days. My bator is forced air, so it is set at 99.5 to 100 degrees. I live in az so I am really worried about the moisture content. Also they are duck eggs. Any other nuggets? I only have 3 eggs in and need at least 1 to make it out. Thank you!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

A bowl of water will likely be too much surface area making for high humidity. I use a shot glass but you being in dry AZ might need up to a small coffee cup of surface area. Monitoring the air cell as stated is a good way to monitor humidity. You wont get condensation on the lid until humidity is well over 70%. When candling if you note a slow growth of air cell go to a shot glass size for water or run dry until next candling. The diagrams for air cell are based on 18 days, being 28 day duck eggs the candling days would be longer, something like day 9, 17 and 25 for same relative size air cell.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

 

[ekalf33]

Thanks for chiming in! I Checked last night for accuracy of my thermos, they read a degree and a half low so I will adjust accordingly. I also switched out the bowl for a chopped solo cup so i think it should be better now. Thank you for the diagram, they have been in the bator now for 2 full days. I think that I am seeing something in them but it might be my eyes playing trick on me. How do you guys stand waiting so long?!!! I will mark where the line is on the egg. My air bubble looks pretty close to where Day 1 is on the diagram, so that is good. Man, the first batch is hard, so many unknowns!

 

[ekalf33]

Good news! I candled. I don't know if I spelled that right.

Do you think that the "h" egg has a blood ring? I don't know this is all new to me!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Good news! I candled. I don't know if I spelled that right.




Do you think that the "h" egg has a blood ring? I don't know this is all new to me!

Really can't see well enough. If you candle down into the egg from the air cell end, you'll get a much better picture of what's going on, especially later on when there is more development. It almost appears to be, but I wouldn't say yes from the picture w/o it being more clear. I see development though, so congratulations on that!

 

[ekalf33]

I adjusted some of the contrast, I am pretty sure that this is a blood ring but I don't want to throw it out in case it isn't. Like I said I am pretty new to this whole thing. I am incubating in an old dehydrator that I got for free. I know that I don't have a lot of money invested into it but I really want to do the best I can. I have heard horror stories about rotten eggs exploding and I think that if that ever happened then I wouldn't be able to incubate anymore. I will wait till day 10 and post some more pictures. Thanks!

 

[ekalf33]

I just candled them agian and they were kicking thier little feet!