Well, the fair is over. What an adventure it turned out to be but in the end it was pretty darn successful so we're all happy.
As I said above we set everything up last Wednesday night for a Thursday afternoon fair opening. A front had come through two days before and Tuesday night had gone down to 40 degrees. Wednesday night was pleasantly cool as we were getting things ready. Thursday morning I took the about-to-hatch eggs out of my Dickey cabinet incubator and put them in a pre-warmed cooler to take them to the fair grounds to put them in the incubator that we'd set up and turned on the night before. Hung around two hours to make sure it was going to stay at the right temperature and humidity. Everything was solid so I went on about my business.
That was the last time that anything went right.
The fair opened at four and I came back about 5:30 to check on things. Temperature and humidity was still good but nothing had hatched yet. I began to worry but figured that moving the eggs at the critical point had set them back a bit. One did begin to pip before I left. I came back early Friday morning and two more had pipped but nothing had zipped yet. Ran errands and came back about noon. Four pipped but still nothing had zipped and the humidity had sky rocketed as the daytime temperature rose. Finally decided there was nothing for it but to take the eggs out and pull the sponges that I'd found necessary when I'd been running the box at the house. That dropped the humidity back to an acceptable range so I put everything back in and waited for it to come back up to temperature.
Friday night is a big night so I was concerned about not having any chicks in the brooder yet what with the eggs running behind schedule. Fortunately the feed store in town had just gotten a shipment of new chicks in that day so I picked up two each Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire, and Easter Eggers to "prime the pump" so to speak while my eggs did their thing. Went back to the fair grounds to put them in and found the humidity in the incubator had sky rocketed again. Once again I took all the eggs out and dried up one of the water channels. Put the eggs back in and waited on the box to come back up to temperature. Outside air temperature was in the high eighties and by the time the incubator had come back up to temp the humidity was on the high edge of acceptable. Decided not to mess with it any more as the day would begin to cool off soon. The eggs that had been pipping finally started to hatch as a steady stream of people came in to oohh and ahh over them. This surprised me as on Friday night there wasn't much going on in the livestock tent. One couple had some myotonic goats (fainters) on display and there was some sheep shearing going on, but the tent was otherwise empty and the lights inside were pretty dim compared to what was coming from the midway. Still, folks would see the goats, then they'd see the lights from the brooder and display board then come in to see the chicks hatch and word began to spread. Ended up staying to fair close at ten p.m. answering questions. Covered the brooder to keep them warm and went home.
Came back Saturday morning and the humidity in the incubator was barely within the acceptable range, but when I came back at midday it was over 90%. Took the eggs out for the third time,
completely dried up all of the water inside then put them back in. Closed up the incubator and turned it back on. Outside temperature was in the high eighties and eventually peaked at 90. By one in the afternoon the temperature in the incubator hit 105 and the humidity was over 80% so I took the lid off to let some out until the temp fell to 97. Put the lid back on. 20-30 minutes later I had to do it again. The incubator heater did not come on the entire afternoon until after five o'clock. But with thirty six ready to hatch eggs inside they were making plenty (too much!) of their own heat and humidity. They were a day late, but once they started hatching they came on steadily and it drew folks in. Finally after five the temperature stayed below 102 without having to open the box, but even with having dried up all the water the humidity stayed on the high side. Ended up staying nearly to fair close again babysitting it. Put all the dry, fluffy chicks into the brooder, covered it up again, then went home.
Sunday was essentially a repeat of Saturday except that it went to 92 by mid-afternoon. Both days there was plenty of livestock events going on in the tent so it drew steady interest. I could not stay all day as I had Saturday but came by several times to check on things. About one in the afternoon we were back to having to open the box every 15-20 minutes to let out excess heat and humidity to keep them from cooking. Still they continued to hatch out! Come four Sunday afternoon I took it all down as they were breaking down the pens and stalls and took them home. The pipped and/or unhatched eggs went back into the cabinet incubator at the house and as of this morning there were still a few from the last phase that I set hatching out.
It's too soon to say what the final hatch percentage will be. I should know by tomorrow morning I expect. I can say though that when I took them home on Sunday afternoon of the thirty six eggs we took to the fair they'd already achieved a 60% hatch rate! I had to break every rule of hatching but life will find a way! We learned a lot from all this so next year's exhibit will be better still. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative so we won't have to go to extreme measures to keep the eggs going. It's A LOT easier to hatch eggs inside of a climate controlled house than it is out doors when it's cool and foggy in the morning and hot and dry in the afternoons.
Many thanks to Eric and Le at Happy Pullets Farm for providing half the eggs for the display.
The about-to-hatch eggs when we first put them into the incubator at the fair grounds.
The first chick is out
More coming!
The brooder begins to fill
Top view
Young or old chick hatching draws them in.
All told I ended up spending twenty five hours at the fair morning, noon, and night from Wednesday night to Sunday afternoon which was about sixteen more than I had planned on, but that's what it took to babysit that incubator. It was the most challenging hatch I've ever had. Still, it was worth it. We'll be back again next year with an even better set-up than the one we had for this year.
