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

[dblea202]

Do you have an old turkey bastor (long plastic thing w/the rubber ball on the end to squeeze up liquid) - I've got a wash cloth underneath one of the larger holes in the lid and am using it to add warm water to the washcloth to up the humidity w/out having to open it up. (I've got an LG and the tip of it fits into the large hole on the top.) Maybe it will help?

we have the LG too we have been using a straw and syringe but it seems like i do it every hour if not more and our straw onlu reaches our troughs at the bottom not our sponge its too far away....i guess we should have figured that out before

 

[SusanRenee]

8 out so far now! Starting to get awful chaotic in there! The one that hatched yesterday is a rabblerouser! She's pecking at her siblings, I might have to stage an intervention if I get a break.

 

[SilkieSensation]

So our humidity today is being very touchy..we don't have any pips yet is it safe to quickly open up the bator and put a towel in? We just can't get the humidity to stay up...any suggestions???

well the lady that gave us the eggs said she keeps it at 55-60 for lockdown and its been good the last two days at staying between them but not its dropping like this morning it was 52 and it seems like i just cant get it up past 55 now

If your bator is still air you can let humidity drop as low as about 40% & not have to worry. For a bator with a fan you need 50%. To instantly raise humidity 10-20% mist the inside of the lid with HOT water.

8 out so far now! Starting to get awful chaotic in there! The one that hatched yesterday is a rabblerouser! She's pecking at her siblings, I might have to stage an intervention if I get a break.

Ornery little thing. LOL
You can grab the chick & mist the lid as I just mentioned above if need be.



We awoke this morning to my daughter yelling we had a quail hatched (bator is on her dresser next to her bed). It was my BF's 1st newly hatched baby & he was absolutely astounded at how small it was. Here he is giving the new baby kisses

My daughter just came running to tell me quail #2 just hatched as well. There are 4 more left due today & tomorrow. There are 36 Rainbow eggs due tomorrow but they will likely be late. The 1st quail was 2 days late, so I actually have 2 bators running lower temps. Hopefully bator 3 is maintaining better.

 

[Outrun Acres]

So our humidity today is being very touchy..we don't have any pips yet is it safe to quickly open up the bator and put a towel in? We just can't get the humidity to stay up...any suggestions???

How low is your humidity?

 

[Outrun Acres]

we have the LG too we have been using a straw and syringe but it seems like i do it every hour if not more and our straw onlu reaches our troughs at the bottom not our sponge its too far away....i guess we should have figured that out before

I'm having the same problem with my LG. I can fill the troughs at the bottom but can't reach anything else through the vent holes. I have opened the viewing area once to grab a sponge and put it in the microwave. Temp only dropped one degree and and about the same for the humidity. The hot sponge brings both back up immediately. I have had to close one of the vent holes to keep humidity consistent, otherwise it slowly drops about 10% in a couple of hours . After running a dry hatch for the first 18 days, this humidity part is difficult. I have been averaging about 60-65%. I hope thats good enough. I don't want to keep messing with it. Today is day 20 for me, so hopefully if everything goes well tomorrow the hatching chicks will help keep the humidity up. What day are you on dblea? I'm having trouble keeping track of what has happened to who on here!

 

[Outrun Acres]

I'm glad you were able to find an incubator, that was my trouble as well! I did eventually get a Brinsea, shipped from http://www.cbotkin.ca/ , a company out in western Canada. I'm still on the fence about ordering an octa20.

I was checking my eggs which looked pretty darn lifeless when...I heard a peep *gasp* Today is day 22 for us. So I quickly refilled all the water containers and backed away from the incubator!

Yay, they are alive! I'm only on day 20 and haven't noticed anything yet. This is my first time incubating and my temperature and humidity has been fluctuating to it will be interesting to see what happens. We may end up on day 22 as well before anything happens. I think overall my temps have been on the low side. I have had to resist the urge to tinker with mine too.

 

[SusanRenee]

Inervention done! Didn't even have to mist, the humidity was at 81% from all the hatching so I just opened quick, pulled the 5 fluffy one out and added a bit of water to the trays for good measure and quickly put the lid back. Humidity went right back up so no worries. Currently have another 10 pipped!

 

[dblea202]

I'm having the same problem with my LG. I can fill the troughs at the bottom but can't reach anything else through the vent holes. I have opened the viewing area once to grab a sponge and put it in the microwave. Temp only dropped one degree and and about the same for the humidity. The hot sponge brings both back up immediately. I have had to close one of the vent holes to keep humidity consistent, otherwise it slowly drops about 10% in a couple of hours . After running a dry hatch for the first 18 days, this humidity part is difficult. I have been averaging about 60-65%. I hope thats good enough. I don't want to keep messing with it. Today is day 20 for me, so hopefully if everything goes well tomorrow the hatching chicks will help keep the humidity up. What day are you on dblea? I'm having trouble keeping track of what has happened to who on here

We are on day 21 but we are hatching marans so they could go til day 25 possibly. our humidity is still being touchy i quickly lifted the lid and put in a wet towel that is now reachable with a straw and syringe and i got it up to about 59 and 60 but it is now back down to 51 and now our temp is starting to act up too..so close to the end and so much is going on but still nothing with the eggs

 

[SarahJaneB]

Ahhhh I've missed so much over the weekend. Haven't had a chance to read the 161 posts or so I missed while I was at work. It's day 20 for us. No pips but we still have wobbles. I'm a little worried because they seemed to be wobbling more on friday when I left than they are today. I was relieved to see humidity and temps still good but maybe the little guys are sleeping or something. A few have wobbled to the side of the incubator while I was gone. I haven't noticed really any hotspots but that's another thing thats worrisome. I've also noticed that people have put paper towels under the eggs in their incubators on this forum. Hope it's ok that I didn't? Gah wish I could stop dreaming and worrying about them. I dreamt for some reason someone set the incubator outside and the temps were up to 120 and super high humidity. The eggs felt like rubber. So i freaked and start peeling all the shells off but the chicks were huge and already feathered out ... and they weren't australorps but they were alive. I don't know where that dream came from. Anyone else had weird dreams through this process?

On a side note our ducklings came friday!!!!!!! We ordered 20, 21 came 4 were dead on arrival and 1 died shortly after.

Is it normal for us to have lost that many? We thought one was going to die but it pulled through. They are so adorable! Thanks to byc for letting us all know about Ideal poultrys sale or we wouldn't have gotten them.

We have them temporarily in the chick brooder I built that doesn't have the wire bottom but I didn't have the duckling brooder ready when they got here. Everythings been fine so far except they wont stop trying to get in the water. They get it everywherreeeee but they are so adorable so all is forgiven!

No chicks or pips from me yet but here are some duckling pictures!!! I think they are ... 5 days old now? If the were born the day they were shipped. 16 ducklings

 

[dblea202]

If your bator is still air you can let humidity drop as low as about 40% & not have to worry. For a bator with a fan you need 50%. To instantly raise humidity 10-20% mist the inside of the lid with HOT water.

Thanks this makes me feel a little better! i was worried that it wasn't going to be high enough. still waiting for our first pip