Apologizing in advance for the long post...thanks to those that stick w/me and read the whole thing.
I'm new to raising chickens and this is my first attempt at hatching eggs. Odds are against me that this will turn out ok since I'm buying eggs from Texas (I live in Wisconsin) and of course the temps out there today had to drop to zero degrees (last week we were in the 30's).
At any rate..here's my checklist. i'd appreciate any comments/suggestions or "hey you idiot - you forgot this_____" comments too!
* Brinsea Eco 20 w/manual turn. Been running at 99.8 consistently for 3 days.
* Tested out the hygrometer (accurite from wally world) with the salt water in a cup in a bag test - reading about 7% lower than it should so I'm making that manual adjustment
* Read through the 30+ pages thread on humidity and the wide opinions that go with it. I'm going to shoot for 35-40% for days 1-18 and 55%+ days 19-21. My house is about 25-30% and temp is about 68. I'm setting the brinsea in the main floor bathroom where there is no windows and a shower every morning to help keep humidity up.
* Going to let eggs settle (small pointy side down) for about 18 hours before placing them. I"m getting the eggs shipped to work, so they'll just go in the next morning. (now..would the car ride home mean I should start the clock over? It would be about 13 hours from that point until the next morning. - is that sufficient? Or should I wait until I get home the next day - it would be about 24 hours at that point which seems too long)
* One tray is filled with water in the bater now..will fill 2nd on day 18 and add sponges if I can't get it to 55%.
* Bought a mini-mag to candle the eggs starting at day 10. I'm new at this so I figured I'd wait for an obvious change in development. (if I have a bad egg, is this too long to wait - I don't want a stinky exploded egg or unhappy husband!)
* Know to NOT OPEN the incubator once eggs start hatching or risk losing humidity, temp, and carbon dioxide.
* Plan to turn either 3 or 5 times per day (so it's resting on different sides each nite)
Finally - here are my questions.
I'm a little fuzzy on how to actually place the eggs in the brinsea's tray with the little wire dividers that came with it. You "turn" the eggs without opening the incubator by rocking the whole thing forward and then the next time all the way back, allowing it to rest on the edges (hence the octo-shaped of the base) each time. If you rock the incubator, the eggs essentially are still pointy side down, but lay at 45 degrees one way, then at 135 degrees. Do I have this correct??
Can the eggs touch each other? I'm getting 15 eggs so it will be a little cramped, but not too bad. Do you move the eggs into different places (like a hen would do, rotating middle to outside, etc)?
If I have a bad egg, how many days before it gets really stinky? My lovely hubby is concerned we're going to stink up the whole house.
I sure hope I don't mess this up because I'll have some nice salmon faverolles, bc marans, and golden cuckoo marans at the end of this!!
I'm new to raising chickens and this is my first attempt at hatching eggs. Odds are against me that this will turn out ok since I'm buying eggs from Texas (I live in Wisconsin) and of course the temps out there today had to drop to zero degrees (last week we were in the 30's).
At any rate..here's my checklist. i'd appreciate any comments/suggestions or "hey you idiot - you forgot this_____" comments too!
* Brinsea Eco 20 w/manual turn. Been running at 99.8 consistently for 3 days.
* Tested out the hygrometer (accurite from wally world) with the salt water in a cup in a bag test - reading about 7% lower than it should so I'm making that manual adjustment
* Read through the 30+ pages thread on humidity and the wide opinions that go with it. I'm going to shoot for 35-40% for days 1-18 and 55%+ days 19-21. My house is about 25-30% and temp is about 68. I'm setting the brinsea in the main floor bathroom where there is no windows and a shower every morning to help keep humidity up.
* Going to let eggs settle (small pointy side down) for about 18 hours before placing them. I"m getting the eggs shipped to work, so they'll just go in the next morning. (now..would the car ride home mean I should start the clock over? It would be about 13 hours from that point until the next morning. - is that sufficient? Or should I wait until I get home the next day - it would be about 24 hours at that point which seems too long)
* One tray is filled with water in the bater now..will fill 2nd on day 18 and add sponges if I can't get it to 55%.
* Bought a mini-mag to candle the eggs starting at day 10. I'm new at this so I figured I'd wait for an obvious change in development. (if I have a bad egg, is this too long to wait - I don't want a stinky exploded egg or unhappy husband!)
* Know to NOT OPEN the incubator once eggs start hatching or risk losing humidity, temp, and carbon dioxide.
* Plan to turn either 3 or 5 times per day (so it's resting on different sides each nite)
Finally - here are my questions.
I'm a little fuzzy on how to actually place the eggs in the brinsea's tray with the little wire dividers that came with it. You "turn" the eggs without opening the incubator by rocking the whole thing forward and then the next time all the way back, allowing it to rest on the edges (hence the octo-shaped of the base) each time. If you rock the incubator, the eggs essentially are still pointy side down, but lay at 45 degrees one way, then at 135 degrees. Do I have this correct??
Can the eggs touch each other? I'm getting 15 eggs so it will be a little cramped, but not too bad. Do you move the eggs into different places (like a hen would do, rotating middle to outside, etc)?
If I have a bad egg, how many days before it gets really stinky? My lovely hubby is concerned we're going to stink up the whole house.
I sure hope I don't mess this up because I'll have some nice salmon faverolles, bc marans, and golden cuckoo marans at the end of this!!
