Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 Incubator is AMAZING!

[CrisAnderson27]

Good thinking on the darkness! My last little chick was having some troubles...it would push upward like they do into their mom's underside and topple itself. Not flip, but was not quite right either and needed something on it's back to calm it and help it sleep.
I had a temp drying box set and would removed the rowdy fresh hatchlings as they hatched to finish drying so I put the last little chick in it and covered it was a small soft washcloth for some pressure on it and that helped sooth it and stop the pushing up behavior.
Maybe it can help the flipping?

Thanks for the videos. Adorable babies and interesting idea leaving the turner in to stabilize the other eggs. I had lost one in my hatch when it was smashed into mid-zip. Beautiful blue chick too. After that I started grabbing the wet chicks and putting them into a dish to flail about still in the bator, or into the temp drying box until thay had theor legs under them enough for the brooder.

So just like wrap it up? Or lay the wash cloth over it??

I'll try that. I originally wanted the rack low to the bottom of the brooder and angled so they could push up against it, but the legs of my heat lamp frame are too narrow for the oven rack. I was planning on building a dedicated 1"x2" rack to fit tomorrow.

The turner keeps those freaking eggs solid with the air pocket up, but allows room for the chick to kick off the shell cap. I had 6 babies in there running wild today, and all the eggs are still straight. The only reason I actually took them out is to give the problem chick some company. It did help settle him down...so it was worth opening.

I have one more pipping tonight...so that will be seven of seventeen for the BBS, and still one of six for the SB.../sigh. My hatch rate is still freaking dismal!!

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Just over the body, like a little blanket. I folded mine in half and was careful not to cover the head. You may have to wait until the chick is still or nodding off. The rag weighs enough to add a little pressure without smothering it and more than likely you'll probably have to adjust it each time the chick crawls out. Maybe by tomorrow baby will be a little more balanced.

 

[CrisAnderson27]

Just over the body, like a little blanket. I folded mine in half and was careful not to cover the head. You may have to wait until the chick is still or nodding off. The rag weighs enough to add a little pressure without smothering it and more than likely you'll probably have to adjust it each time the chick crawls out. Maybe by tomorrow baby will be a little more balanced.

Well, I don't know about more balanced, but it did NOT want it's foot taped. I also don't know what magical flexible masking tape they used, but it wasn't like mine. I hold out no hope that the splint will stay on more than ten minutes .

But I know there's literally NO better option...so, we'll see.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Don't think the painter's tape is sticky enough?
I've never tried it with either painters or plain masking so don't know about stickability. I'm sure masking would stick better but I wonder how hard on the skin it will be to get it off.

 

[CrisAnderson27]

Don't think the painter's tape is sticky enough?
I've never tried it with either painters or plain masking so don't know about stickability. I'm sure masking would stick better but I wonder how hard on the skin it will be to get it off.

Well, I was completely wrong. Not only did the tape stay, but it also has eliminated the stargazing issue. Literally, I picked the lil fluff off of his back to tape it's foot...put it back after, and it hasn't looked up even once since.

Weird, but worth it now that it seems to have fixed both issues.

 

[aart]

Don't think the painter's tape is sticky enough?

It should stick to itself pretty well, but not be too hard to get off chicken skin.

 

[CrisAnderson27]

Oh, on an actual topic related note, lol...I had one more hatch today, for a total of 7 BBS. There's a black, a splash, 4 for sure blues...and the most recent one (actually very early this morning) is a very very dark grey. I almost thought it was a black...and I'm still not sure it isn't.

Nothing from the incubator with the two other self blue eggs (which is the one the lil damaged fluff came from).

So I figure I'll see if something pips tonight, if not I'll pull the dark fluff tomorrow and candle real fast. It would be really nice...even with the crappy hatch rate over all...to have no whole eggs to throw away at the end of lockdown for once. Everything currently in there was alive and moving at lock down.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Well, I was completely wrong. Not only did the tape stay, but it also has eliminated the stargazing issue. Literally, I picked the lil fluff off of his back to tape it's foot...put it back after, and it hasn't looked up even once since.

Weird, but worth it now that it seems to have fixed both issues.

Cris' Magic Tape!

I've been meaning to ask...you have been doing shipped eggs, right? Have you done any local and/or your own eggs in your NR360(s)?
Have you tried doing any shipped eggs upright in the 360?

Some shipped eggs should be arriving here early next week and I have been reading that shipped eggs are recommended to be done upright. There isn't enough room in the 360 to prop one end of a carton up for the tipping so I might be trying some other ideas I saw here-
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-eggs-in-the-nurture-right-360.1376786/page-3

 

[CrisAnderson27]

Cris' Magic Tape!

I've been meaning to ask...you have been doing shipped eggs, right? Have you done any local and/or your own eggs in your NR360(s)?
Have you tired doing any shipped eggs upright in the 360?

Some shipped eggs should be arriving here early next week and I have been reading that shipped eggs are recommended to be done upright. There isn't enough room in the 360 to prop one end of a carton up for the tipping so I might be trying some other ideas I saw here-
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-eggs-in-the-nurture-right-360.1376786/page-3

I don't have any layers, yet. I did get one batch of 8 Ayam Cemani I drove to pick up (closest to not shipped eggs). They came home with me in special foam egg holders, and didn't see so much as a pothole on the return trip. Only 3 hatched . I'm coming to the conclusion that I may in fact be jinxed...or just not cut out for hatching. First indication should have been the difficulty I had even getting the NR360's lol. Honestly though, wetter (35%-45%) hatches fail, dryer (20%-35%) hatches fail. MOST of my eggs usually make it to lockdown with the exception of this last batch with the huge multiple hour heat spike...so I AM grateful for the ones that did hatch. But even with hours at 105°F, 14 of 23 made it to lockdown, and of that...SIX died in the last couple days.

I know it's not the being excessively high or low, as my hatches usually land on day 21 (early being hot, late being cold)...so my temps must be in the safe window.

My current overall average hatch rate is 35% lol. This IS where eggs go to die .

More seriously though...I'm now left with a dilemma. I have ONE self blue split chick. One. It has nothing else to ethically breed it to for salable eggs to hatch...and keeping it will be problematic if it's a pullet, as it will lay blue eggs that will invariably be mixed with my BBS eggs. If it were any other color eggs I'd keep it for breeding easter eggers...but I have no way to differentiate its eggs from the BBS. We've named the little thing Splits...and it's spunky! Going to suck to get rid of the little thing.

Bleh.

I did see that thread. I'm not sure what to think. I do think the spot you linked to is the reasonable way to go about it...but outside of that...I dunno lol. I considered taking a cardboard flat, cutting it in a circular shape using the tray...and propping that side to side on the next hatch. I wonder how that would affect the airflow though, leading to hot and cold spots. Same for vertical eggs in a tray at all really. The propping method in my opinion is much better suited to still air incubators.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Hmmm, what's your altitude up there? I'm a few hours southeast-ish of you and I know I'm high enough to have to make changes in my canning and baking. I've been to Pennington Gap and it seems like we just went up...and up...and up!
I've read that altitude does affect hatchability and I've seen a few people at higher altitudes comment about having incubation trouble.. Didn't affect mine, but at only 2000' it seriously goofed up my yeast breads and baking.
I wonder if there are changes you can make for better outcomes given the differences in air pressure?? For my hatch here, again not too far away, I aimed for 45% for the first 17 days and the general ranges were mostly between 43% to 50%.

...I don't know because I didn't absord the info I saw on altitude and hatching changes.....just throwing out ideas.