Hands on hatching and help

[ronott1]

Hi there, hatchers! I'm not quite in need of help (yet!) but I find myself in an unexpected situation and I won't be surprised if I need to get hands-on in the coming days. (Plus I'd be delighted to get any comments, constructive criticism and/or cheerleading that may be available.)

This was one of the first threads I read on this forum, and I worked through it end-to-end in fascination... and made a very sensible plan to start with a small number of adult birds and ease in gradually to the whole hatching thing at a later date. However, life had other plans, and I found myself unexpectedly in receipt of the amazingly generous gift of 36 Marans eggs for hatching - so - sensible plan out the window, incubator acquired, and eggs set this morning.

The incubator is a Brinsea Octagon 40, non-digital, and without the auto-turner. I bought a reptile thermometer and a hygrometer as backup. Humidity-wise what I've read suggests that 35% would be ideal for Marans, and I was surprised to find that despite our lovely rainy climate (Ireland) and the humidity outside, it was about 17% after I set it up dry, so I filled 2 of 4 wells and it's been holding between 28 and 35%. The built-in thermometer reads about one degree (C) lower than the reptile one, so I'm using the reptile one as the main guide since it's closer to the eggs and hopefully more accurate. I'm aiming for 37.5 degrees (99.5F) on it, and this is the bit I'm most nervous about, I really hope I haven't somehow cooked them already! From what I've read hotter is more dangerous than cooler so I hope I'm doing the right thing by them here.

I tried candling last night but couldn't see any air cells, I'm guessing due to a combination of inexperience, dark Marans shells, and maybe freshness - the eggs were laid on the 12th and 13th so less than a week old at the time. I did weigh them all and make notes so hopefully I can track weight loss if I continue to be unable to see what's going on inside.

Well, I guess I'll stop here for the moment, apologies for any rambling, I tend to get wordy when I'm nervous! Would love to hear if I'm making any obvious mistakes, hopefully before it's too late to recover

Relax! You are doing fine so far.

Wait until humidity drops to 25% before adding more water.
Temps will go down when you add the eggs. Do not adjust the incubator for 24 hours after adding them.

Actually incubating a bit above 99.5 is good. My octagon is digital and I set it to 99.9 for temperature. Danger is over 102 so the extra half a degree you get if the reptile thermometer is off is better actually.

Most of the hatch problems I see are from incubating at a too low temperature. It is better to aim a bit higher usually. The brinsea is not likely to spike up to the temperature of death for chicken eggs.

 

[WVduckchick]

Hi there, hatchers! I'm not quite in need of help (yet!) but I find myself in an unexpected situation and I won't be surprised if I need to get hands-on in the coming days. (Plus I'd be delighted to get any comments, constructive criticism and/or cheerleading that may be available.)

This was one of the first threads I read on this forum, and I worked through it end-to-end in fascination... and made a very sensible plan to start with a small number of adult birds and ease in gradually to the whole hatching thing at a later date. However, life had other plans, and I found myself unexpectedly in receipt of the amazingly generous gift of 36 Marans eggs for hatching - so - sensible plan out the window, incubator acquired, and eggs set this morning.

The incubator is a Brinsea Octagon 40, non-digital, and without the auto-turner. I bought a reptile thermometer and a hygrometer as backup. Humidity-wise what I've read suggests that 35% would be ideal for Marans, and I was surprised to find that despite our lovely rainy climate (Ireland) and the humidity outside, it was about 17% after I set it up dry, so I filled 2 of 4 wells and it's been holding between 28 and 35%. The built-in thermometer reads about one degree (C) lower than the reptile one, so I'm using the reptile one as the main guide since it's closer to the eggs and hopefully more accurate. I'm aiming for 37.5 degrees (99.5F) on it, and this is the bit I'm most nervous about, I really hope I haven't somehow cooked them already! From what I've read hotter is more dangerous than cooler so I hope I'm doing the right thing by them here.

I tried candling last night but couldn't see any air cells, I'm guessing due to a combination of inexperience, dark Marans shells, and maybe freshness - the eggs were laid on the 12th and 13th so less than a week old at the time. I did weigh them all and make notes so hopefully I can track weight loss if I continue to be unable to see what's going on inside.

Well, I guess I'll stop here for the moment, apologies for any rambling, I tend to get wordy when I'm nervous! Would love to hear if I'm making any obvious mistakes, hopefully before it's too late to recover

Relax! You are doing fine so far.

Wait until humidity drops to 25% before adding more water.
Temps will go down when you add the eggs. Do not adjust the incubator for 24 hours after adding them.

Actually incubating a bit above 99.5 is good. My octagon is digital and I set it to 99.9 for temperature. Danger is over 102 so the extra half a degree you get if the reptile thermometer is off is better actually.

Most of the hatch problems I see are from incubating at a too low temperature. It is better to aim a bit higher usually. The brinsea is not likely to spike up to the temperature of death for chicken eggs.

x2! All looks fine to me so far.

I will add for Marans eggs, find the brightest (highest lumens) flashlight you can find, because they will be difficult to candle. But a good bright light does make it possible.

Good luck and Welcome!!

 

[Amanita]

Relax! You are doing fine so far.

Well, that's certainly the best news I've had today! Thanks

So if I'm reading you correctly on the temperature, my best course of action is:

1. Wait until tomorrow morning and see if the temperature is still holding around 37.5 on the reptile thermometer.
2. If so, I should tweak it up (a tiny bit) so that the built-in thermometer is saying that instead.

That would mean that the reptile one is hovering around the danger-zone temperature, but that I should be ok with this because the Brinsea shouldn't go too high anyway, have I got that right?

 

[Amanita]

for Marans eggs, find the brightest (highest lumens) flashlight you can find, because they will be difficult to candle. But a good bright light does make it possible.

Thanks for the reply
Yeah, I was trying it with the light on the back of my phone, so I couldn't also use the phone to take pictures! I might try it again tonight on one or two and borrow my husband's phone for the light.
I couldn't see anything at all that looked like an air cell, but there was certainly a suggestion of a shadow the right size and location for a yolk, so it wasn't entirely impossible to see. But I'm not sure what the relative visability of those things should be - from the pictures I've seen I got the impression that the air cell was the easiest thing to identify.
I presume by day 7 it will be a lot more obvious also.

 

[ronott1]

Well, that's certainly the best news I've had today! Thanks

So if I'm reading you correctly on the temperature, my best course of action is:

1. Wait until tomorrow morning and see if the temperature is still holding around 37.5 on the reptile thermometer.
2. If so, I should tweak it up (a tiny bit) so that the built-in thermometer is saying that instead.

That would mean that the reptile one is hovering around the danger-zone temperature, but that I should be ok with this because the Brinsea shouldn't go too high anyway, have I got that right?

That sounds like a plan!
Have you calibrated the reptile thermometer?
Ideal for incubating is .5 degree F above and below 99.5. My hatches do better at something closer to 100.
Brensea incubators do a good job of keeping stable temps. Bad things happen if you go a degree a above or below 99.5F. That would be 98.5 for the low and 100.5 at the high.
I see worse problems below 98.5 though.

 

[Amanita]

Have you calibrated the reptile thermometer?

Ah - yes I should probably do that, I guess!

It's definitely staying in the safe range according to the reptile thermometer, since it has a max/min function, but if it's not correctly calibrated then I suppose that's not doing me a lot of good. Will go figure out how to do that, cheers

 

[ronott1]

Ah - yes I should probably do that, I guess!

It's definitely staying in the safe range according to the reptile thermometer, since it has a max/min function, but if it's not correctly calibrated then I suppose that's not doing me a lot of good. Will go figure out how to do that, cheers

Perfect!
You should be fine though

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hi there, hatchers! I'm not quite in need of help (yet!) but I find myself in an unexpected situation and I won't be surprised if I need to get hands-on in the coming days. (Plus I'd be delighted to get any comments, constructive criticism and/or cheerleading that may be available.)

This was one of the first threads I read on this forum, and I worked through it end-to-end in fascination... and made a very sensible plan to start with a small number of adult birds and ease in gradually to the whole hatching thing at a later date. However, life had other plans, and I found myself unexpectedly in receipt of the amazingly generous gift of 36 Marans eggs for hatching - so - sensible plan out the window, incubator acquired, and eggs set this morning.

The incubator is a Brinsea Octagon 40, non-digital, and without the auto-turner. I bought a reptile thermometer and a hygrometer as backup. Humidity-wise what I've read suggests that 35% would be ideal for Marans, and I was surprised to find that despite our lovely rainy climate (Ireland) and the humidity outside, it was about 17% after I set it up dry, so I filled 2 of 4 wells and it's been holding between 28 and 35%. The built-in thermometer reads about one degree (C) lower than the reptile one, so I'm using the reptile one as the main guide since it's closer to the eggs and hopefully more accurate. I'm aiming for 37.5 degrees (99.5F) on it, and this is the bit I'm most nervous about, I really hope I haven't somehow cooked them already! From what I've read hotter is more dangerous than cooler so I hope I'm doing the right thing by them here.

I tried candling last night but couldn't see any air cells, I'm guessing due to a combination of inexperience, dark Marans shells, and maybe freshness - the eggs were laid on the 12th and 13th so less than a week old at the time. I did weigh them all and make notes so hopefully I can track weight loss if I continue to be unable to see what's going on inside.

Well, I guess I'll stop here for the moment, apologies for any rambling, I tend to get wordy when I'm nervous! Would love to hear if I'm making any obvious mistakes, hopefully before it's too late to recover

Welcome to thread and it amazes me you read all the way through it!! Lol

Ah - yes I should probably do that, I guess!

It's definitely staying in the safe range according to the reptile thermometer, since it has a max/min function, but if it's not correctly calibrated then I suppose that's not doing me a lot of good. Will go figure out how to do that, cheers

Yes, make sure it's calibrated. My very first hatch I bought a therm and never checked it. It was almost 6 degrees off! Ruined my hatch.

I agree with the others. Especially on the dark eggs needing the brightest light you can get to candle.

 

[Amanita]

Welcome to thread and it amazes me you read all the way through it!! Lol

Thanks! Yeah, I had a 7-hour commute for a few months there and it kept me busy

Ok, I went to the chemist and bought a people thermometer and used it to calibrate the reptile one, I got pretty similar results from both of them (alternating which was higher, within less than a degree) so I'm happy to take that as being accurate.

Now counting down to the last turn off the evening, then I get to find out whether I can sleep with an incubator full of eggs in the room...

Thanks everyone for the reassurances hopefully it will be an uneventful few weeks!

 

[Amanita]

Made it through the first night but I'm a little freaked out. Every time I check the reptile thermometer it says 37.6 (99.68F), but at some point overnight the max value went up to 102.9F. It doesn't give any indication of how long it was at that temperature - can someone please reassure me that it was not likely to be long enough to do any harm?
After I turned the eggs this morning and put the lid back on, the reading started to climb pretty fast into dangerous territory, but then I guess it levelled out and dropped back down to 37.6. I presume the same happened overnight, but not knowing what would have triggered it makes me nervous.