Hatch-A-Long (May-June)

[BrierRabbit]

One of my Pogirl chicks has curled toes I'll try to fit him with little cardboard booties tomorrow when I move them from incubator top brooder.

 

[Opticell]

I'm only day 8, incubating my first try in a homemade Crusinart incubator. Is there anybody on that schedule, hatching June 19th? I have 8 BPR in the incubator, and 5 under broody BPR. She tends to go longer than the 21 days as she may hop off the eggs for 1 hour every couple days.

 

[AvianEgo]

Number two!

 

[julierupert]

I am day 7. I am hatching some Silkies, a white, painted and partridge. I attempted to candle 2 days ago and from what I could tell all 3 eggs were good. My attempt was a hot mess since my flash light was HUGE. lol

 

[Opticell]

Hi Julie. _______I am on day 8, and so far I have found Kathryn P, you, and myself are on similar hatch schedules (June19-21), maybe there are more. This has been very exciting for me.

_________My Roo is very active, and so far it appears I get 100% fertile eggs. I plan to take candling pictures on day 10. I have been using a 55w 12 volt bulb, but will change to a Harbor Freight 27 LED light for the pictures, this way not producing any heat.

_________This part is technical, read at your own risk!!! Others have mentioned the fluctuating temperatures wreaked havoc on my incubator temperatures, having to lower the temps for daytime by 1 degree, and then up 1 or 2 for night. I am a bit worried when my temperatures reached 102 twice, but wasn't there very long before being discovered and fixed. I have wanted to get the temperatures fairly accurate, and see that many digital temperature displays can be off by 1 or 2 degrees F. I was wanting to calibrate temps someway, but was frustrated that 32F and 212F are not good references when you want accurate 100F. Then it occurred that body temps are near 100F, and meters to measure body temp may be accurate to within 1/2F, so began using a Exergen Thermal Scan thermometer and several wireless units to attempt to get better idea what the real temp is. The Exergen is pretty accurate if used in the scan mode. Seems like all I do to maintain constant temps (+/-.5F) have failed (day/night fluctuations), so my new attempt is to have the incubator on a Killawatt 4480 timer, trying a recipe of on all night, then a series of off/on during the day to see if it balances out the temperatures, while the fan runs 24hr/day.

 

[Cknldy]

I've read a couple of times that a chicken's body temp is 101 so even though I incubate at the recommended 99.5 I don't worry if the temp fluctuates a degree or two. After all, a hen isn't always the same temp and she will leave the nest for a short amount to eat/drink/poo. I believe in backyard poultry they had an article about if higher / lower temps affect sex of a chick. Pretty cool- and kudos to anyone that brings exact science to hatching!

 

[Cknldy]

31 total! 17 r.i.r and 14 russian orloffs. I just love to watch them. Being in an outdoor brooder has them feathering out faster than any chicks ever did in the house and they seem enjoy all the extra room too!

 

[Cknldy]

 

[Crafty chick]

Mine were due yesterday.... no hatching I did everything right.... idk. Homemade incubator, water heater thermostat, hygrometer, jars of water to keep steady temp, egg roller so no opening all the time, pc fan for circulation... such a bummer. I'll wait til tomorrow and check one

 

[julierupert]

Bummer. So sorry.