First time! Hello! :D

[MyMonsters91]

So I just started my first batch of eggs today! Did all the precautions- started the bator up 2 days before, collected 3 days worth of eggs, stored them in a 50ish F room, tilted them by propping the carton up on each side several times a day, handled the eggs with plastic gloves to prevent my germs from leaching into the pores. So excited! So far the bator is staying at a good temp and humidity. If this batch hatches well then I'll see what I can do about collecting some from neighbors and fellow bird friends that live within driving distance and do a 2nd batch to add a variety to my coop.

 

[swtmelissa]

Good luck to you. I just ordered my incubator and I have eggs on standby for when it arrives. I'll be in my first set of hatching

 

[Knigge]

I am on my first hatch with the exact same incubator. Do you have other thermometers in there? I have 2 other digital thermometers in there that agree on temp and humidity but my LG is set at like 97.7 to keep the other two around 100. The LG aren't the best and everything I've read says not to trust the thermometer that comes with it. I have not hatched out of this yet though so we shall see what I end up with. I like the incubator so far and i knew ahead of time to use different thermometers. This afternoon im going to candle the eggs and see how they are progressing at day 7. Good luck!

 

[MyMonsters91]

Knigge, no I don't, though I know it was recommended.. my husband didn't know what to buy when he got it and I was impatient to start. I have a friend with the same one and she was successful and only used the one that comes with it. We shall see. 6 days before I can do my first candling. Let me know how your candling goes!

 

[Knigge]

Knigge, no I don't, though I know it was recommended.. my husband didn't know what to buy when he got it and I was impatient to start. I have a friend with the same one and she was successful and only used the one that comes with it. We shall see. 6 days before I can do my first candling. Let me know how your candling goes!

I will let ya know. Also I got my hygrometer at homedepot.

It seems to work very well and it's only $10. Walmart had some too. I also ordered this one

It seems to read very accurate with my HD one. I'm glad I got them both since the LG humidity doesn't read well unless it's between 50-60% (per the enclosed instructions) so these others are good for measuring that accurately. If I had relied only on my LG I'd be eating scrambled eggs lol.

 

[Knigge]

I candled my eggs! It looks like I have 7 for sure good growing eggs. We even got to see movement and eyes on a few of them. The kids were really excited. I had 1 that had a blood ring for sure and we opened it up and sure enough there was a blood ring all the way around and the yolk was all over the place. What would cause that? I know it happens but wondered exactly what causes it. Oddly enough the shipped eggs I got are better than the ones I picked up locally, but the shipped are silkies and the local eggs are olive eggers. They are sort of hard to look through and this is the first time I have ever candled or hatched eggs so that changes things too. I am feeling pretty good about our hatch so far. Now we wait until next Friday to candle again and see where we are then. Why does it seem like 21 days is so short, but when we are waiting for candle time or hatch time it seems like it takes forever. How did I ever wait 9 months lol. Here is a blurry picture of the egg, but you can see the eye dot!

 

[MyMonsters91]

Awesome, thanks for updating me! I think I'll save the next few days eggs and carton them, just in case this batch is messed up at 7 days because of the thermometer reading wrong.. if that happens I'll run out and get one and start again. The delay will suck, but it's all part of the learning process I guess. Ha.

 

[MyMonsters91]

Do you think this looks normal for day 2? I plan on leaving them alone until day 7 now, was just curious. There's a tiny black spot swirling around in the inside- could that be the chick developing?

 

[antwon911]

Good luck!! My hatch day for my bourbon red turkeys are February 6th and its my first time so hopefully everything will go good for the both of us.

 

[Knigge]

Do you think this looks normal for day 2? I plan on leaving them alone until day 7 now, was just curious. There's a tiny black spot swirling around in the inside- could that be the chick developing?

This is my first hatch and my first time candling, but I would think yes that is a chick developing.
http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/embryology/candlingphotos.shtml
I found this site very interesting. Day 2 is probably a tad early to check things out, but day 7 should show you something. Resisting the urge to candle is pretty hard I know, I want to look at it every day...and magically speed up to day like 20 lol.