Hatching Chicks With A Heat Pad And A Egg Carton Experiment

[DogAndCat36]

Okay.... now, what is that dark thing on the middle right that looks like .... a pickle or a pepper?

Yes, did you know that I am incubating baby pickles now?
Sorry but not actually, it is a survival whistle with a bunch of stuff on it including a thermometer.

 

[Eelantha]

Ok, sorry for the confusion!

I'm sorry if I sound silly but... how do you turn your eggs if they're all round-side up in the cartoon? I haven't had time to really read the thread with a sick peep tethering on the verge of death to feed by syringue all week, so I must have jumped over that crucial information. As well as the one over what kind of heating pad you're using to do this special incubation. (I am very curious and interested to know the details, maybe I'll try it on my side one of those days...)

 

[DogAndCat36]

I'm sorry if I sound silly but... how do you turn your eggs if they're all round-side up in the cartoon? I haven't had time to really read the thread with a sick peep tethering on the verge of death to feed by syringue all week, so I must have jumped over that crucial information. As well as the one over what kind of heating pad you're using to do this special incubation. (I am very curious and interested to know the details, maybe I'll try it on my side one of those days...)

I rotate the by hand, flip, flip, ect. I don't know what type of heating pad I'm using, I will check it when the eggs aren't using it anymore. And trust me, it can be painful to do this, the temp. can spike when you not looking, thus killing the embryo. R.I.P the first egg of this experiment (only two days though)

 

[hysop]

So today is day 21? So we better hear from them very soon. Were they developed according to date or were they behind? That way I can get an idea if they will hatch late

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes, did you know that I am incubating baby pickles now?
Sorry but not actually, it is a survival whistle with a bunch of stuff on it including a thermometer.

Thanks! Inquiring minds, lol! I have to say I am very impressed both with your setup and with your results up to this point. Your setup shows an amazing (to me) amount of creativity, problem-solving and determination. You mentioned a challenge thrown down by your dad so I assume you are a minor. You were not discouraged by the challenge, instead you were motivated and inspired by it. That reveals something about your character, which will prove a benefit to you in your future life. Don't be discouraged that your chicks are a little slow to hatch. I think the cardboard carton probably reduces the humidity a bit by absorbing moisture and may have slowed them down a little. (Next time try a styro carton). But the fact that they are showing signs of life indicates to me that you should have success. Well done! Keep us posted.

 

[DogAndCat36]

So today is day 21? So we better hear from them very soon. Were they developed according to date or were they behind? That way I can get an idea if they will hatch late

Well, I placed the eggs in the incubator on day 2 and it was around the afternoon soooo... after todays afternoon... 22 days?

 

[DogAndCat36]

Thanks! Inquiring minds, lol! I have to say I am very impressed both with your setup and with your results up to this point. Your setup shows an amazing (to me) amount of creativity, problem-solving and determination. You mentioned a challenge thrown down by your dad so I assume you are a minor. You were not discouraged by the challenge, instead you were motivated and inspired by it. That reveals something about your character, which will prove a benefit to you in your future life. Don't be discouraged that your chicks are a little slow to hatch. I think the cardboard carton probably reduces the humidity a bit by absorbing moisture and may have slowed them down a little. (Next time try a styro carton). But the fact that they are showing signs of life indicates to me that you should have success. Well done! Keep us posted.

Thank you!
I will keep you posted!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh, I also want to say this in regard to some guilt you expressed feeling early on: broody hens do not have a 100% success rate either. Nature expects losses. So do not have an unrealistic expectation of your own results. Remember when Edison was developing the light bulb, he had many failures. But his attitude was that each failure was useful: "Now I know 99 things that won't work as a filament for a light bulb." He just had to keep searching till he found the one thing that WOULD work. You'll get there if you keep trying. But if you don't try, you most certainly will not succeed.

 

[Eelantha]

I rotate the by hand, flip, flip, ect. I don't know what type of heating pad I'm using, I will check it when the eggs aren't using it anymore. And trust me, it can be painful to do this, the temp. can spike when you not looking, thus killing the embryo. R.I.P the first egg of this experiment (only two days though)

Rotate? Flip? You keep them round-side up but turn them clockwise, or flip them from round-side up to pointy-side up and back again every few hours or so? o.o

Sorry for your first egg... and hopefully the burns on your hands weren't too painful

 

[DogAndCat36]

Oh, I also want to say this in regard to some guilt you expressed feeling early on: broody hens do not have a 100% success rate either. Nature expects losses. So do not have an unrealistic expectation of your own results. Remember when Edison was developing the light bulb, he had many failures. But his attitude was that each failure was useful: "Now I know 99 things that won't work as a filament for a light bulb." He just had to keep searching till he found the one thing that WOULD work. You'll get there if you keep trying. But if you don't try, you most certainly will not succeed.

Thanks.
It's just that when I was realy new here (I'm still new) I was looking at a few experiment post and there was this one person on one that kept on asking the person that did the experiment what they were going to gain from it and how they would have no loss from it if it failed and the chick could suffer from an ungainable situation. And after reading that it kind of shut down my brain and a though entered my mind of me burying a chick and in the background, mama hen is just thinking that her life is fine.