First timer!

[terribabe69]

So this is my first time "attempting" to incubate and hatch some chicks. I dont know if its going to work or not but its worth a shot. My mom had brought back some eggs from a friend in FL. They were just laid about 3 days ago. I made an incubator using a foam cooler, a light, a water dish and a humidity monitor. I know the temp and the humidity is low but I had just opened the lid to put them in and then I took the picture. Not exactly what kind of chicks these will be, but I will find out tomorrow. Been wanting Chickens for a while. If these dont take Im not going to be too disappointed. I will keep everyone posted on the progress. Im still a newbie when it comes to this but I have been reading LOTS about raising them. PLUS my husband use to raise them so that helps. He said that if Im successful then I can try hatching a duck next haha. Any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated! (BTW, yes that is "Bacon" Duct tape I used....I thought it was funny...Bacon....Eggs... ) (also the names on the eggs, Booker and Sheldon are from US Acres on Garfield and Chicky is my 9 year olds egg and my 3 year old wanted to name his egg after him lol)



Lil update. As of this post the temp is about 100 (it doesnt do half marks) and the humidity is around 37% Had to poke some holes to keep the temp lower. Whats a good way to keep the humidity at 50% and higher?

Thanks All!!

 

[new breeder]

hi!!! it's my first time too (day 7) so i am not a big help.....
well the incubator i have work with oC not with oF so i can not say anything about if is too hot...
but for the humidity you just need more sponge or just put more water ,

well i think first you must t calibrate your machine and then pu the egg's, but dont worry, lets have new chicks in some weeks from now

 

[Farmgirl245]

The temp is about right the ideal is 99-99.5 so it should be fine. Just make sure you turn the eggs 2-3 times a day. I'm not too sure about what else you could do for the humidity though. I've never monitored the humidity on my incubator and I've had really good hatch rates. But maybe you could put another bowl of water in there to bring it up.

 

[terribabe69]

The temp is stable at 99-100 but it sometimes drops to 97 but NEVER goes below that. I think its just because the house gets a little cold. And I just wrapped a blanket around the bottom of the container to keep the warm in. I have the humidity between 55% and 60% I finally figured out how to control it. So when Day 18 gets here then I know how to keep it above 65% Im not hoping for much and will keep posted. This was just one of those wims where we got fresh eggs and I decided I wanted to try and hatch. If these dont turn out, I will order some to hatch. It would be nice to see what happens. My kids LOVE checking in on them. If all goes well we will have babies a week before Christmas!

 

[terribabe69]

I know it is still WAY early to candle them, but after looking at the post with all the stages of the egg, I decided to check on mine. 3 out of the four looks good. My eyes werent adjusted to the darkness so it was hard for me to see any blood rings BUT I saw dark spots in all 4 of the eggs. The 4th one looks a little porous though. I will have to keep an eye on it. *fingers crossed*

 

[new breeder]

gool luck

 

[gimmie birdies]

sorry I have hatched in a foam cooler before and changed my design to this little incubator. Using dry hatch method.

the thing I didn't like about foam cooler was when I very first started to hatch eggs, I had I thought it was too big, I soon learned you needed to suspend the eggs above the heat since it rises, and the thing I liked the least about foam coolers was the dumb water dish. I started out with a yogurt cup of water in my "foam" cooler, then got panicy because everyone said "you got to have more moisture in your bator' people spraying eggs with misters I ended up putting 2 yougart cups in my bator, and one egg out of 6 hatched. The others were mushy like the eggs had too much water in them. the egg that made it was the white egg- I could candle, the rest to dark to candle so I left them in the bator. my next batch I said to myself I will try less water, 5 out of 7 eggs hatched, the 2 that didn't were mushy watery- I then heard about dry hatching, and I wanted to hatch in a smaller box for my small batches then it went like this:











dry hatch still gives a nice moist chick, in the small bator holds moisture of the eggs them selves feels tropical if you put in you hand.

one of the things I did have to figure out with still air is it should be at 102 degrees

45 chicks this year most from the small hatcher I made. 8 separate hatches. I kept 13 rehomed a few an ate some. but sleep this past not much.

 

[new breeder]

wow it look easy t made this incubator
what source of heat you have?

 

[terribabe69]

OK so UPDATE!! I candled the eggs. 3 of them are kind of dark brown and 1 is light brown...BUT the light brown one, if you look at my pic the bottom right one HAS A CHICK!!!! OMG SO EXCITED!!!! Dont think the other 3 have anything in there but since they are dark I will give them til day 10 or so. But Im SUPER EXCITED!!! We saw the heart beat and it was moving! If I can get a picture I will. GAH!! SUPER EXCITED!!!

 

[terribabe69]

The incubator I made has a 20 watt bulb in it for the heat. It also has a bowl with a sponge and a little bit of water in it for the humidity. I figured out that on day 18 to add another bowl and sponge in there and it will bring the humidity up to 70% The incubator I made took maybe 5 min to make. But 24-48 hours to get the heat and temp right. I have one hole in it, that has duct tape over it. If it gets to hot or the humidity gets to high I peel back the duct tape. Ill post more pictures of mine in a few.