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

[Outrun Acres]

I hear you with the snow. We had a lite snow yesterday. I'm hoping it's the last of the year. Our coop needs to be cleaned out so bad, but we have our chicks in there that our broody hen raised and it's still too cold for them to venture outside and leave their heat source. Winter is trying so hard to hold on!

 

[SilkieSensation]

Winter needs to knock it off! School cancelled today due to snow

Guess we aren't cleaning pens in the basement today with 2 kids under foot.

 

[dblea202]

Started incubating my first set of purchased eggs yesterday. I figured I was ready to risk hatching a breeders eggs. The are all blue/black/splash Ameraucanas. My other two hatches have all hatched late. Would this be due to a low temperature. I have a still air LG with a turner and their seems to be a 10 degree difference from the bottom of incubator to the top. I am going by the top temperature being 102. Does anyone rotate their eggs around the incubator in a still air?

we usually rotate our eggs around the incubator at least once a day and we use the LG still air also. But we don't have the Turner so w are doing everything by hand

 

[Outrun Acres]

we usually rotate our eggs around the incubator at least once a day and we use the LG still air also. But we don't have the Turner so w are doing everything by hand

What did you gauge your temperature by? Top of the egg, bottom of the egg, center of the egg? Lol.

 

[dblea202]

What did you gauge your temperature by? Top of the egg, bottom of the egg, center of the egg? Lol. 

Hmmmm lol well i would say center because or thermometer sits on the wire but the height of it goes to probably closer to the center or top and we usually keep it at 99 100 we have had some bad hatches but mostly because because of shipping damage. Our last hatch was not really late...pipped on day 21 and hatched early day 22

 

[Sally8]

You've been busy! We are due to have the snowstorm tonight also... so sick of this stuff! I work tomorrow, which means everyone who doesn't want to clear out their driveway to go to the doctor's office will suddenly decide they want to go to the ER instead so they can call an ambulance.

We live out in the country where the ambulance won't go unless our town volunteer firemen go too. DH is a volunteer so when his alarm goes off that someone needs the ambulance for a toothache, he just rolls his eyes.

What did you gauge your temperature by? Top of the egg, bottom of the egg, center of the egg? Lol.

I have a LG still air and have pretty good luck with it. I roll the eggs at least 2x a day and pick them up and move them around in the incubator. I have 2 - 3 thermometers in too as not one of them will match another. The flattest one sits on top of the eggs or I also take 2 kids building blocks and set them in there with the thermometer on top. The thermometer/hygrometer just sits on the hardware cloth. I'm not sure where the actual thermometer is in it. I'm finding after hatching 3 years in a row that 99 - 100 degrees works best for me.

 

[monkeywoman1953]

I got some BEAUTIFUL, huge, chocolate brown Welsummer hatching eggs from Erhard Weihs ( www.kummerpoultry.com) last week. I set them on Thursday, March 21st. Erhard was kind enough to send me 27 eggs, tho' I only paid for 24. Erhard is a very easy person to deal with, and shipped his eggs to me the same day I asked for them. They made the trip from Washington state to Florida in just two days. Erhard also individually wraps each egg in bubble-wrap. They look great, and I am (hopefully) looking forward to getting some show-quality birds out of these ! Erhard, Lowell Barber, and a couple of others were instrumental in getting the lovely, sweet-tempered Welsummer accepted into the APA about 22 years ago. He has beautiful Welsummers. Check out his website and pix of his birds !

 

[monkeywoman1953]

I use the same LG incubators, NEVER rotate the eggs, and have great hatches ! Also noted the temp. diff., but was much more concerned w/ the humidity. (Was recommmended to me to use approx. 50% for the first 18 days, them 70% for the last few days. That worked out perfectly.) I bought a cheap-o ($8.95 @ Wal-Mart) temp./humidity indicator, and got great results using that thing as my guide. I set it ON TOP of my eggs, and it reads 100 to 102 degrees F. up there. The LG thermometer reads 99.5 on top of the eggs. This has worked fine for me, doing it this way: I put one under one window of the incubator, and the other one under the other window, so I can check them both without actually opening up the incubator. My first hatch was too humid -- before I got the humidity indicator -- and a few chicks hatched w/ protruding belly-buttons / yolk not totally absorbed, and died. My fault, and so very sad !

 

[Peggy-Sue]

We probably have the same thermometer!!! We are getting eggs this friday and probably next friday to hatch!!! Can't wait!!!

 

[monkeywoman1953]

Best of luck to you !

What kind of chickens are you hatching this Friday ? Welsummers ???