First time incubating

[JPHorvath]

I just put 14 Blue Copper Maran eggs in incubator this morning. The couple I picked the eggs up from yesterday informed me the parents are from last years Chickenstock Auction. It would be really nice to meet the folks who brought the Blue Copper Maran eggs to the auction last year. We also have a variety of 15 Bantam Cochin eggs we placed in the incubator as well. Not sure how much success we will have with this hatching this is our first time using an incubator. Last year we had a broody hen do all the hard work for us, but sadly she has passed.

The incubator seems to have finally come up temperature. I think I may have made a mistake by placing all the large Maran eggs on one side of the incubator and all the small Bantam Cochin eggs on the opposite side. I’m sure the temperature was even in the unit but the two thermometers were reading slightly higher on top of the large eggs and 1 degree lower on the small bantam eggs. I had the incubator running for the past 5 days both thermometers were reading consistently the same temperature. I hope I did not ruin the little guys buy opening the incubator to stagger the eggs evenly in the turner so I can get the two thermometers to be at the same height. They have only been in the incubator for approximately 2.5 hours. Is 99.5 degrees in a still air incubator the correct temperature for the two different breeds of eggs?

 

[Azriel]

I think you need to have the temp at 101 for still air. I don't have one, but just what I've been reading on here

 

[nwfl]

I have an lg still air that I use as a hatcher that is really steady unit in a steady room. I get fluctuations in a room that gets cooler than 60 or warmer than 85. I leave the miller thermometer on wire and it reads 99.5 on my silkie eggs it will read 100 and on the larger eggs 102 with another thermometer and I get good results. How exciting for you, beautiful birds. Good luck.

 

[brahmapapa]

HI
The reason for the diff readings is in a still air incubator is the diff heights are at diff. temps. if you keep the largest eggs at 101 the smaller will be at about 100 which will be ok. The smaller eggs should be at 100-100.5 deg. do not let the larger eggs go above 103 durring normal operation. Especially in a still air keep the humidity between 25-35% for the first 18 days, then bring it up to 70% for lockdown of the last days of the hatch. if you weigh the eggs before starting, they should loose approx. 13% of thier weight between day1 and day 18. if they are not on track to have lost that much weight then decrease the humidity to bring the weight loss down. The air sac in the egg should be about 20 - 25% of the egg size by the time you go into lockdown. Have a great hatch.