Help!?!?! NEW!!

[d_rooster]

Kizza,

For the plastic one, if you can make maybe two or three small holes (about the size of a wine bottle cork) in the lid and find some cork or foam material to plug the holes you can then adjust the ventilation as necessary while keeping the lid in place. Then perhaps you can get your temperatures up to at least 37.5 Celsius. That will also help you keep the humidity high enough during the least few days of the incubation period. Also with the holes you can use some rubber tubing to add water to the water tray without opening the incubator lid.

You are doing really great so far. You guys are really using your whits on this project and I think that you can be successful.

 

[debashan]

Chickens have been around long before incubators. I'm sure where there's a will there's a way. It does sound like you're on the right track. Good luck to you.

 

[chickbea]

I have nothing helpful to add, as I have only hatched under a hen and never in an incubator.

However, I just wanted to add my best wishes for success in your project. It sure sounds like you are a responsible and motivated young person!

 

[kizza07]

Thank you very much for those really encouraging words Chickbea! It is really appreciated!

Thank you Debashan! I think I'm going to need all the luck that I can get!

d_rooster - You have been following my threads and I really appreciate it! I have slid the hole closed a bit more first, as if it works, then I dont have to cut holes in it! But I have spoken to mum and told her that you think that it will be successful and now she has a lot more interest in it! And she even said that if the temp still doesn't go up, then she will help me cut holes in it! Thank you for yourr kind words! You think that I can be successful, and that means alot to me!
I really appreciate it,
Thank you everyone!
I dunno what time it is where you are, but its 10:52am over here, and we are about to go out on the river in our boat (and taking the dog)! After feeding the horses of course and then when when we get back from the river, I can collect more eggs, perhaps after i ride!

Thank you all again,
the fact that you took your time to type a reply to me is really appreciated, thank you!

Kizza

Also we have moved all the eggs into the plastic one, as it is holding its temp better. After todays egg collection, I am making another and then I can have my own as well!! For the next few days eggs!

 

[d_rooster]

Kizza, you must be either about 7 hours later than or 17 hours earlier than those of us here on the eastern coast of the United States. Your profile doesn't indicate your location, but I assumed that you were somewhere with an English accent which is closer to the Queen's english than the United States as you used the term "mum" instead of "mom" that is frequently used here in the U.S. Given the time difference I would guess that you might be somewhere on the east coast of the Australian continent, New South Wales, Victoria, or Tasmania perhaps? You don't have to tell us your exact location because as a parent of a teen I understand the importance of not sharing your personal information on the Internet.

I'm sure there are several of us here on the backyardchickens forum that would be interested in following your project, giving advice, and hearing the progress as you and your brother attempt this first egg incubation. Just realize that most of the active posters to this forum are in the U.S. or perhaps Canada and that if we don't respond to you immediately during your afternoon or evening hours, it is because we may be sleeping due to the time difference.

If you get a chance to take and post a picture of the potential parent chickens of your eggs (roosters and hens) we would love to see what breed of chicken you might be hatching.

Some more advice. You will want to take care in how many days over which you spread the addition of new eggs to the incubator. The last 3 to 4 days of incubation (18-21) and right after chicks hatch you will want to keep the incubator closed and humid to help the chicks in breaking our of their shells. If you keep adding eggs into the same incubator, then you may end up with some chicks hatching on day 21 and then more hatching several days later. If you end up having to open the incubator up to keep removing the hatched chicks, it may affect the success of hatching for the later eggs.

I would recommend that you keep eggs within 3 days of each other in the same incubator. You can also save up eggs for 3 or 4 days and then add them all at once to a second incubator. That way all of the eggs are added at the same time and the hatch dates will by synchronized for all of the eggs in a single incubator.

Your second incubator looks like an improved version. You guys are doing great. If you still can't quite get the 37.5 Celsius in the plastic incubator, then wrapping the incubator with a towel or old blanket could help hold in a little more heat. Actually anything for insulation of the container would help keep temperatures even across the bottom of the incubator where the eggs are located. As long as you are measuring the 37.5 Celsius air temperature at the level and location of the eggs you will be right on with the temperature.

You should keep notes on your date, time, temperature measurements, and turning of the eggs. Also to make keeping up with the turning easier, mark one side of each egg with an "X" and the other with a "O" and write down which side is up each time you turn the eggs.

I have a teenage daughter and I know how important encouragement and support is to young people. When I was a child, my parents always encouraged me to try things and told me that I could succeed at most anything I really wanted to do. Now that I'm a grown up (at least in age), I realize that they were great parents who really believed in me and helped me succeed in life. It's always easy to think about how something won't work out, but it takes vision, hope, and effort to figure out how to make it work. You seem to have all of these elements already, so I am hopeful that you will be successfull in hatching some chicks.

If this hatch doesn't turn out, I'm sure that you can find more eggs somewhere, review your incubation notes, refine your incubator setup, or do what's required to finally succeed. We are all pulling for you!

 

[seminolewind]

Hi Kizza, this is an interesting post. I think you will find all the info you need on this site.
It's really important to keep the temperature steady at around 101 degrees F. Since your lamp has only 1 temperature (on), I think it would be easier to "dress" or undress your incubator to keep the temp where you need it. Plastic is not real good at keeping the heat in, so, like someone said, you might want to wrap blankets around it, and part of the top. I know we will be counting the days with you!-Karen

 

[rooster-red]

Just an idea for the next incubator you make:

Try to find a styrofoam cooler to use as your container. It will hold the heat in better than the plastic.

You can rig a water heater thermostat to the light so that it goes on and off to keep the temp constant.

This is my homade incubator made from a cooler:

 

[kizza07]

Thank you d_rooster and seminolewind!

Yes, I am in NSW!
d_rooster, thats why I stated that I must be in a different time zone, because in the morning here, there are heaps of replies but during the day im lucky to get one!
I was actually thinking of posting some pics of the parents! Will try to get some this afternoon when I go to feed! The roosters are GORGEOUS! and worth alot of money!

With the incubator days, we are making another one and when they reach the 18 day mark, we will move them into another bator. The same as the plastic one, but away from the younger eggs!

Yes, the second one is MUCH better! We can get in there and turn them alot easier etc! Since we have moved them all into it, they are much easier to keep track of!
And guess what?!?! We closed the lid a bit more to a certain point and the thermometer that dangles from the lid to the eggs height is sitting stable at 38 degrees celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit)!!! That is MUCH better! and we did insulate it a bit with cardboard around it, as mum didnt want towels or cloth, because of fire hazards!

I'm keeping track by writing the date each egg was put in, on the egg. I am also using the date as the "X"

My parents are VERY supportive of me, its just that dad doesnt like chickens very much, so can't see the point in buying an incubator for one test batch! That is probably going to a friend anyways, unless one of them gets along with the horses, or I can build a pen!


so yeah... Thank you for your support and mum is even looking at the sites and helping now! Mum doesnt mind chickens and think they are cute, but dad hates them (i think he just gets really annoyed at the roosters!)
Because i said "Dad can i have a chicken?" and he said "There are heaps out on the farm, im sure "insert peoples names" wont mind you playing with them!"
So yeah!

Thank you and keep on pulling for me!!!

kizza

 

[kizza07]

whoa! Thats quite a setup rooster-red! Thank you!
I will try that next time if im allowed to do another batch!

 

[hcammack]

What Breeds are you hatching? I loved Australia and New Zeland when I visited.

Henry