Hatch-ALong - Setting first eggs 4/5, hatch day 4/26. Anyone want to join me?

[foxflower]

That is a lot of snow! We had some too, but not that much. Snow in April is normal for us though.

 

[SmittenChicken]

Dretd -- I wondered how things were going for you! We have about the same amount of snow. Haven't needed the generator (yet) but I'm wondering what this evening will bring...

Also, I just launched a food/photo/farm blog, which has a lot of detailed photos and info about my hatch. I'll be attempting to do a live stream on hatch day too, if my slow connection will support it. So I hope you'll all check out my blog and follow my facebook page, if you're interested. And thanks!

www.homegrowngourmet.org

https://www.facebook.com/TheHomegrownGourmet

 

[dretd]

Smittenchicken--I checked out your blog, it looks marvelous! I showed my hubby the vanilla bean ice cream and he made yummy noises. I have a membership in Costco but the nearest is Thornton so I only go once in a while. Impulse buys galore! I can't get out of there for under $100 and feel good if I keep it under $200.

I hope you didn't have to use your generator. I am very happy to see every bit of snow and snow is better than rain right now because it will get a chance to seep in pretty deep instead of all running off. What a good thing. I hope this means I don't have to pay $12 a bale for my hay this year! I need to get a companion horse for may lone mare and I just can't afford to feed a second mouth. Last year I gave $1200 for hay. Gack. My budget is (well, was) $500.

Hopefully you didn't think I was whiny because of the snow. I was whiny because the school district still had schools open. I could barely get out of my 300 foot driveway and when I did the roads were terrible. I certainly didn't want my kid driving to school in that. I am sure the Superintendent got flamed by all the parents because schools are closed today. Its really beautiful but hard to walk down to the barn!

My incubator spiked humidity last night because I hand-filled the water tray but missed and put a lot in the second well. Not a big deal--it was only at 60% for half a day and is at 45% this morning. At least the temperature has been staying within tolerances. Currently all of my thermometers read something different, but all are 99-100.8 so I figure they average out to pretty ok.

I have found that all of the digital hygrometers I have used always read low. The two I have in there say 16% and 20%. The old-fashioned cheap-o coil type ones seems to be fine so I am going off of that one only. Anyone else have problems with their digital hygrometers? How are y'all keeping track of humidity?

 

[TXTiffany]

I have no idea what my humidity is. I just follow the directions on the bator packaging. I have had two successful hatches before using those directions. I sure hope this one turns out the same way. Just checked and all my eggs are doing great. The air cells are right on, and no major problems with temps.

Counting down the days until the 23 where I hope I have lots of pips.

 

[foxflower]

I calibrated the digital hygrometer I use. It was 10 degrees too low. I just take that into account as I'm monitoring the humidity. I had a different hygrometer (not digital) that was so high in the reading I couldn't even adjust for it, so I threw that one away.

My hen is holding steady on those eggs. She is definitely in the zone.

 

[SmittenChicken]

Smittenchicken--I checked out your blog, it looks marvelous! I showed my hubby the vanilla bean ice cream and he made yummy noises. I have a membership in Costco but the nearest is Thornton so I only go once in a while. Impulse buys galore! I can't get out of there for under $100 and feel good if I keep it under $200.

I hope you didn't have to use your generator. I am very happy to see every bit of snow and snow is better than rain right now because it will get a chance to seep in pretty deep instead of all running off. What a good thing. I hope this means I don't have to pay $12 a bale for my hay this year! I need to get a companion horse for may lone mare and I just can't afford to feed a second mouth. Last year I gave $1200 for hay. Gack. My budget is (well, was) $500.

Hopefully you didn't think I was whiny because of the snow. I was whiny because the school district still had schools open. I could barely get out of my 300 foot driveway and when I did the roads were terrible. I certainly didn't want my kid driving to school in that. I am sure the Superintendent got flamed by all the parents because schools are closed today. Its really beautiful but hard to walk down to the barn!

My incubator spiked humidity last night because I hand-filled the water tray but missed and put a lot in the second well. Not a big deal--it was only at 60% for half a day and is at 45% this morning. At least the temperature has been staying within tolerances. Currently all of my thermometers read something different, but all are 99-100.8 so I figure they average out to pretty ok.

I have found that all of the digital hygrometers I have used always read low. The two I have in there say 16% and 20%. The old-fashioned cheap-o coil type ones seems to be fine so I am going off of that one only. Anyone else have problems with their digital hygrometers? How are y'all keeping track of humidity?

dretd- Thank you for reading my blog! I'll have a lot more ice cream recipes to come when the snow melts Never did need the generator, surprisingly! We usually lose power with these heavy snows -- not that I'm complaining. So glad we got as much moisture as we did, but I definitely hear you on not wanting to go anywhere in it! I cancelled my plans yesterday and I know I'd have been whining like crazy if I had to drive in that mess. Hilarious that your district cancelled today but not yesterday -- enjoy the sunny snow day!

I have a lot of trouble with digital hygrometers too... I ended up getting two different ones, and they are within a few points of one another. But I made the mistake of re-trying the ziplock bag/salt water calibration trick and got a reading that was way off from my first calibration, and then I started second guessing everything. I finally just gave up and assumed they're reading about 5 points low, hopefully I'm not too far off (checking the aircells again tonight, they looked good but maybe a little big at day 8.)
One thing I have noticed is that the built in temp/hygro dial on my styrofoam incubator has settled in and is actually reading pretty close to what my digital unit is showing now. So that was a nice surprise.

And one more thing: This may sound crazy, but I think my eggs are moving a little already. Since about day 10 I've been unable to keep the probe thermometer balanced on top of my eggs -- they're on an automatic turner, but at first I could line the thermometer up so that it rested across the top of 6 eggs and it didn't fall between them as they turned. It stayed put for days. Now, it falls within an hour or two and I have to keep moving it so the glass doesn't come in contact with the eggs... Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[dretd]

I calibrated the digital hygrometer I use. It was 10 degrees too low. I just take that into account as I'm monitoring the humidity. I had a different hygrometer (not digital) that was so high in the reading I couldn't even adjust for it, so I threw that one away.

My hen is holding steady on those eggs. She is definitely in the zone.

Did you calibrate with the wet bulb technique or something else?

Love Broody hens! Did you by any chance stick your calibrated hygrometer under your broody? I've been wondering what a normal humidity is under them and what the average temp is, too.

I have a wireless Oregon scientific that is about the size of a deck of playing cards. I might try to put it under my next Broody to see what it reads. I don't want to put it under if she's brooding expensive eggs since the corners might crack them. Maybe in the beginning when she first starts out before the real eggs go under her.

 

[SmittenChicken]

Did you calibrate with the wet bulb technique or something else?

Love Broody hens! Did you by any chance stick your calibrated hygrometer under your broody? I've been wondering what a normal humidity is under them and what the average temp is, too.

I have a wireless Oregon scientific that is about the size of a deck of playing cards. I might try to put it under my next Broody to see what it reads. I don't want to put it under if she's brooding expensive eggs since the corners might crack them. Maybe in the beginning when she first starts out before the real eggs go under her.

I remember reading some post on this forum where a couple people actually did this and took readings. I think the humidity ended up being somewhere around 45%, but there was a lot of contention about methods, etc.

Can't find the link now but I'll post it here if I do.

I just adore broody hens. I keep hoping my sweet old Black Star will decide to go broody again. If she does, I'll definitely stick a hygrometer under her.

 

[foxflower]

Did you calibrate with the wet bulb technique or something else?

Love Broody hens! Did you by any chance stick your calibrated hygrometer under your broody? I've been wondering what a normal humidity is under them and what the average temp is, too.

I have a wireless Oregon scientific that is about the size of a deck of playing cards. I might try to put it under my next Broody to see what it reads. I don't want to put it under if she's brooding expensive eggs since the corners might crack them. Maybe in the beginning when she first starts out before the real eggs go under her.

I calibrated with the salt/water/ziploc bag for 12 hours method. What's the wet bulb method? It had never occurred to me to put the hygrometer under the broody. That's not a bad idea. I need to keep it with in the inucubator right now though cause it's full of crele polish and 3 double-laced blue barnvelders

. These were shipped within N. CA so I hope they hatch good! I just started the turning today and will candle this weekend. The hatch around the 4th.

 

[dretd]

I calibrated with the salt/water/ziploc bag for 12 hours method.  What's the wet bulb method?  It had never occurred to me to put the hygrometer under the broody.  That's not a bad idea.  I need to keep it with in the inucubator right now though cause it's full of crele polish and 3 double-laced blue barnvelders .  These were shipped within N. CA so I hope they hatch good!  I just started the turning today and will candle this weekend.  The hatch around the 4th.

oooohhh, crele polish and blue laced barnies, how exceptional and rare. Gotta give us pictures when they hatch!

I had read about the salt method but didnt try it since I didn't understand how it works and being at altitude, wasn't sure if it would work properly.

The wet bulb technique I tried before uses two glass bulbed thermometers. You put a wet strip of cloth or shoelace around the bulb of one of them. Then you put both in the incubator along with your hygrometer you are testing. You read the difference in temperature between the two thermometers and use a chart to determine relative humidity. Compare that number to what the hygrometer you are testing reads. This method needs to be done with sufficient air movement to wick water from the wet bulb or it won't work. So you can try it in a forced air incubator but not so much a still air. Here's a link to a website with description and chart: http://www.digitemp.com/wetbulb.shtml