Homemade incubator

[Rivergirl06]

Up date on my homemade incubator made from a cardboard box, I'm on day 6. I candled them last night during rotating and I can see spider veins in some of them. I'm so excited hopefully they'll survive and we'll have some baby chickens in15 days. I ordered a Farm Innovators series incubator which should be here by this weekend. Do you think it will be ok to transfer the eggs into the incubator or leave them in the box ?

 

[cmom]

I would set the incubator up, turn it on and make sure everything is working ok. If everything seems to be ok, then I would transfer the eggs over. It is the same as a Little Giant. Our TSC sells them. This thread may help you. Good luck and have fun...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/little-giant-incubator-tricks.601352/

 

[cmom]

I have a couple I use to hatch in. I do staggered hatches. I have chicks hatching now.

 

[cmom]

Here are my recent hatches, bottom=2 week olds, middle=1 week olds, top=just hatched. I just got the chick/grow-out coop ready for the older chicks. Within the next few days they will go into the coop. My next hatch is in two weeks. Hopefully the last for this year. We will see...

 

[Rivergirl06]

I would set the incubator up, turn it on and make sure everything is working ok. If everything seems to be ok, then I would transfer the eggs over. It is the same as a Little Giant. Our TSC sells them. This thread may help you. Good luck and have fun...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/little-giant-incubator-tricks.601352/

Hello, thanks for the info. I received the incubator today and it only took less than 5 minutes to reach 100 degrees, I let it run for 5 hrs before putting in the eggs, the humidity is running a little high( 61 % ) but I think it will be ok. I candled them before putting them in the incubator and I only saw 4 that either had blood lines or nothing at all. I did notice some of the air sacks were not visible but did show blood veins or the air sack were on the sides of the eggs, will the air bubbles move after them being on their side for 7 days ? Plan on candling them again on day 10, I have watched videos of candling but what do I need to do if the air bubbles don't form or move where they need to be ? Thank you for all your help.

 

[cmom]

Also I would lower the humidity a bit. On my first hatch ever, I had the humidity at 60% and I had a 40% hatch rate. I lowered the humidity on following hatches and had much better hatches. Depending on where you live you may not need to put any water in the incubator. I try to keep my humidity more around 40%. Good luck and have fun...

 

[Rivergirl06]

I want to thank everyone for their help, it has meant so much to me. I candled my eggs last night and I can clearly see I have 12 babies moving around inside the shells, I started out with 24 so if it wasn't for the kind words and feed back I probably would of lost them all. This is my first time doing this and I'm so excited. I'm on day 10 of incubation, all I can hope for now is that they all hatch I will be monitoring them closely, the temp is a constant 99/100 degrees and the humidity is ranging between 50/60%.. again thank you all so much, if all goes well I will be posting picks in 11 days

 

[Rivergirl06]

I Need help, I'm on day 17 of incubation as the incubator show's, I candled the eggs and from the pics I have seen there not even close to hatching. I can see feathers and a lot of veining, there moving around a lot which is a good sign, from candling I would day they more or less look like day 15, I don't know what to do. Is it possible that when I took them out of my home made incubator to a incubator it slowed their development down ? Is it safe to leave them in the turner till the hatch ? Since I'm not sure how long they have been incubating. also what if some of them hatch and the others don't at the same time ?

 

[Rivergirl06]

If you had condensation you were probably at 90 percent plus humidity.

What kind of incubator did you buy? I've found it's best to have accurate thermometers in them to check the temp to make sure the incubator thermometer is correct. They can be off.

What I would do is keep them in your homemade incubator. Get a 2nd thermometer and get your bought incubator lined out to the temps you want then move eggs back to it.

Hello, I need help. After having my eggs in the homemade incubator for 3 days I received my new incubator and placed them in there, I have 12 live chicks out of 24, my problem is that I'm showing they have been incubating for 17 days but from the videos and pictures I have seen I candled them and they don't look like there ready to hatch, they are moving around and still got a lot of veining. I can even see what looks like feathers, there is a few that look dark. What do I do ? Is it safe to leave them incubating till they start hatching ? Or what's gonna happen if some are ready to hatch and the others aren't ? It says not to open the incubator but if they start hatching I have to increase the humidity and open the vent holes ? I'm so worried. Thank you !!

 

[cmom]

Not to worry. Moving them from one incubator to another shouldn't be a problem. A broody usually gets off of her eggs for awhile each day so she can eat, drink and poop. If the temperature ran a little low it can take a day or two longer before they hatch. Don't worry. I usually take my eggs out of the incubator and put them in the hatcher on day 19. I just put some eggs in the hatcher that are due to hatch on Tuesday. I mark eggs that look to be possible quitters but leave them in the incubator. Sometimes they hatch and sometimes they don't for whatever reason. Some are and some aren't meant to be. Good luck and have fun...
This egg was marked as a possible quitter (X).