Hatch-Along - Setting eggs this weekend (Jan5/6) WHOS WITH ME!

[CamiLynn]

Trying to get my humidity right...65% right? Then how do you maintain it? I added a wet sponge and my dang humidity shot to 80% so working now to get it down...sitting at 70% right now.

 

[Outrun Acres]

How exciting!!! I lied i lied....3 of my are wobbling!!! Woo Hoo!!

Chickens make such liars out of us! Haha! Very exciting!

 

[Outrun Acres]

Candled tonight since lockdown for me is late tomorrow evening. I don't have much hope for mine hatching on time if at all. My BF swears he saw veins & movement in a few (my night vision is extremely bad, so I just see dark blobs), but all look to be behind by at least several days on development. I still have a lot of light showing in the bottoms of most of them. My temps have been swinging wildly though. I've had temps ranging 90-112F. Most I caught quickly, but I think my average temps have been low. The house we just moved into over Christmas has NO insulation & we are running electric heaters in ADDITION to the furnace to try to just keep temps above 50F in MOST of the 1st floor (blocked off the upstairs that we are remodeling & have walls & ceilings ripped out of). Everyone is running around in hoodies & jackets IN the house most of the time. Temps outside haven't been above about 20F for most of the past week & were in single digits for 3 days this week. It's freakin cold!!! Bator 2 is running a bit better, but I just removed 9 definite clears or very early quitters (most from my eggs, lost 2 roos to the cold this week so that may be why fertility is low) & left 6+ that look like bloodrings. I've had some temp swings in that bator too but not as bad since the room it is in maintains temps a bit better since there are doors to hold the heat instead of just curtains. Bator 3 (which is in the same room as bator 1 with no door) has all but maybe 1 egg showing development at day 5. That bator seems to hold temps a bit better than bators 1 & 2 for some reason. Not sure if it's just the bator or because it's the furthest from heaters & register vents. Anyway, looks like bator 1 is running late, bator 2 has a lot of clears & quitters & bator 3 is running the best at this point.

How frustrating! It seems to me, if you are hatching in a styrofoam one, your whole house has to be an incubator too. Well hopefully over the weekend you will start to see some action in those eggs. Fingers crossed for you

.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Trying to get my humidity right...65% right? Then how do you maintain it? I added a wet sponge and my dang humidity shot to 80% so working now to get it down...sitting at 70% right now.

I use 40-50% for still air & 50-60% for bators with fans for lockdown. If you are in a dryer area you may need a bit higher.

 

[SilkieSensation]

How frustrating! It seems to me, if you are hatching in a styrofoam one, your whole house has to be an incubator too. Well hopefully over the weekend you will start to see some action in those eggs. Fingers crossed for you

.

Definitely frustrating

More worried about my family's cold tushies at this point than the chicks but still not thrilled with losing the money & time I have in them. I'm down to 36/50 in bator 1 & 30/39 in bator 2 already.

 

[CamiLynn]

I use 40-50% for still air & 50-60% for bators with fans for lockdown. If you are in a dryer area you may need a bit higher.

Well crap... I have been maintaining around 50, but tried to up it tonight and its gone all kinds of crazy! I rung out the sponge and its dropping...slowly but dropping. I'm about an hour north of the Mississippi gulf coast so it stays pretty humid here all the time. Thanks, I won't panic now when it goes to 50.

Also, does anyone know an average on how long after you see wobbles do they pip? I'm on pins and needles waiting and watching!

 

[fisherlady]

Candled tonight since lockdown for me is late tomorrow evening. I don't have much hope for mine hatching on time if at all. My BF swears he saw veins & movement in a few (my night vision is extremely bad, so I just see dark blobs), but all look to be behind by at least several days on development. I still have a lot of light showing in the bottoms of most of them. My temps have been swinging wildly though. I've had temps ranging 90-112F. Most I caught quickly, but I think my average temps have been low. The house we just moved into over Christmas has NO insulation & we are running electric heaters in ADDITION to the furnace to try to just keep temps above 50F in MOST of the 1st floor (blocked off the upstairs that we are remodeling & have walls & ceilings ripped out of). Everyone is running around in hoodies & jackets IN the house most of the time. Temps outside haven't been above about 20F for most of the past week & were in single digits for 3 days this week. It's freakin cold!!! Bator 2 is running a bit better, but I just removed 9 definite clears or very early quitters (most from my eggs, lost 2 roos to the cold this week so that may be why fertility is low) & left 6+ that look like bloodrings. I've had some temp swings in that bator too but not as bad since the room it is in maintains temps a bit better since there are doors to hold the heat instead of just curtains. Bator 3 (which is in the same room as bator 1 with no door) has all but maybe 1 egg showing development at day 5. That bator seems to hold temps a bit better than bators 1 & 2 for some reason. Not sure if it's just the bator or because it's the furthest from heaters & register vents. Anyway, looks like bator 1 is running late, bator 2 has a lot of clears & quitters & bator 3 is running the best at this point.

Sorry to hear of the heat retention troubles! I know what it is like to live in a house under construction... ours is in similar state! Hoping it still works out for you!

 

[SarahJaneB]

How exciting!!! I lied i lied....3 of my are wobbling!!! Woo Hoo!!

Oh my gosh! As soon as I posted that none of mine were wobbling I stared in the incubator for a while and they are!!

Got wobbles all around the incubator. Don't know if it's all the eggs but it's a good deal of them, very exciting I keep staring at them waiting for pips. Tomorrow's day 18 for me.

 

[krackowpolish]

im in! im hopefully getting frizzle or sizzle eggs shipped to my house.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Definitely frustrating

More worried about my family's cold tushies at this point than the chicks but still not thrilled with losing the money & time I have in them. I'm down to 36/50 in bator 1 & 30/39 in bator 2 already.

Sorry about the cold temps. 36/50 and 30/39 aren't terrible numbers though. With that kind of fluctuation, I'm surprised you haven't lost more. I hope your family and bators get a break from the cold soon!