- Feb 13, 2010
- 103
- 3
- 111
This is the first time I have tried hatching. I got 42 (presumably) fertile eggs from my mixed flock of easter eggers, red and black sex links, barred rocks, white leghorns and silver laced wyandottes. Put them in my LG incubator (still air, no fan) and followed the directions which came with that incubator.
The incubator is in a room with a steady temperature of 66 degrees which is within the specified range of 65-72.
First, I am having no luck keeping the incubator temperature steady at 99.5. Before starting incubatiion, I got the temperature at 99.5 after three days of adjustment of the thermostat. Then I started incubating. That was 12 days ago. I check the incubator temp daily and it's been as high as 101 and as low as 98. Each time I barely tweak the thermostat to try to get it back to 99.5 but even if I get it there, by the next day it's not there anymore. I am pretty sure it's not me, it's the incubator / thermostat. Is this typical with the LG incubator? Should my eggs be OK despite the inexact temperature?
Second, I candled about half the eggs on day 9 but I really had a hard time telling which ones were viable. My eggs are all different colors ranging from white to dark olive to light brown to dark brown. There were a few where I could see an embryo but most I could not because there just wasn't much light getting through the dark shells. I was using a work light in a cardboard box with the hole cut in the top of the box so I don't think the fault was with my candling system. Just to be on the safe side I put all the eggs back in the incubator, where they remain...is there any risk to doing this or should I candle them all again and try harder to tell which are viable? Any tips on candling eggs with dark, thick shells?
Thanks in advance.
The incubator is in a room with a steady temperature of 66 degrees which is within the specified range of 65-72.
First, I am having no luck keeping the incubator temperature steady at 99.5. Before starting incubatiion, I got the temperature at 99.5 after three days of adjustment of the thermostat. Then I started incubating. That was 12 days ago. I check the incubator temp daily and it's been as high as 101 and as low as 98. Each time I barely tweak the thermostat to try to get it back to 99.5 but even if I get it there, by the next day it's not there anymore. I am pretty sure it's not me, it's the incubator / thermostat. Is this typical with the LG incubator? Should my eggs be OK despite the inexact temperature?
Second, I candled about half the eggs on day 9 but I really had a hard time telling which ones were viable. My eggs are all different colors ranging from white to dark olive to light brown to dark brown. There were a few where I could see an embryo but most I could not because there just wasn't much light getting through the dark shells. I was using a work light in a cardboard box with the hole cut in the top of the box so I don't think the fault was with my candling system. Just to be on the safe side I put all the eggs back in the incubator, where they remain...is there any risk to doing this or should I candle them all again and try harder to tell which are viable? Any tips on candling eggs with dark, thick shells?
Thanks in advance.
