Humidity Obsessed

[3Dchicken]

so this is a picture of the incubator only i got mine w/o all the instructions and stuff .. anyone have experience with this one?

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/the-...r-electrical-thermostat-incubator-/1010728994

Nope. Mine was home made. Did you candle them to see if they are alive?

 

[nok13]

15 days...

 

[3Dchicken]

15 days...

Did you candle them???? Show pictures!

 

[nok13]

i candled them way too much... and in a very non professional manner...
as far as pics, working on it.. having cell phone issues (an other thing not in my expertise list) but how do u photo candling if u do it in the dark? at 15 days i should be seeing....:?

cause what i am seeing is either dark blobs, clear eggs (which i trash), and some eggs with blobs and veins... and some eggs are heavy which i think means they might be bad eggs?
this saturday is incubator day... i will work out the calibrations, re do /check the eggs, make a clipboard daily temp.humidity checklist, write down candling days etc...

if i had employed myself i would have fired me long ago for not working according to procedures...

wish i had found this forum prior to setting everything up.

oh well, better late then never.... expensive learning curve.
bina

 

[3Dchicken]

i candled them way too much... and in a very non professional manner...
as far as pics, working on it.. having cell phone issues (an other thing not in my expertise list) but how do u photo candling if u do it in the dark? at 15 days i should be seeing....:?

cause what i am seeing is either dark blobs, clear eggs (which i trash), and some eggs with blobs and veins... and some eggs are heavy which i think means they might be bad eggs?
this saturday is incubator day... i will work out the calibrations, re do /check the eggs, make a clipboard daily temp.humidity checklist, write down candling days etc...

if i had employed myself i would have fired me long ago for not working according to procedures...

wish i had found this forum prior to setting everything up.

oh well, better late then never.... expensive learning curve.
bina

IF THEY HAVE DARK BLOBS IN THEM DON'T THROW THEM OUT!!!! Even if you think they are getting heavy, don't throw them out just because you think they are getting heavy. Eggs that go bad (I am pretty sure) LOSE weight from the building gas inside. Smell the eggs. If they smell like farts throw them out. (The smell will be pretty gross if they are bad)

Here is a good picture:

So they should be pretty dark by day fifteen. The last three are what bad/ dead eggs look like when you candle them. Is the problem with your camera that you can't turn off the flash? I think that if they look like the 15th picture or even the 12th picture or 17th picture they should be good. How many do you have now? I hope they make it! They're getting pretty close to hatching day!

 

[3Dchicken]

What kind of an incubator is it? A forced- air incubator or a still- air incubator? (Does it have a fan or not?) If it has a fan (forced air) the temperature should be REALLY close (or exact would be perfect) to 99.5 degrees farenheit (37.5 degrees celcius). If it is a still- air incubator, the temperature should be 101- 102 degrees farenheit (38.6 degrees celcius). It is very precise. The humidity should be (no matter what kind of incubator) 50% (some people would say their own preferences) for the first 18 days, then when they are put into lock down, raise it to 70 or 75% Here is a very good page for information on this kind of thing:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-just-21-days-from-egg-to-chicken

Also a good thread for incubation stuff:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/704328/diary-notes-air-cell-detatched-shipped-eggs

 

[loves2hatch]

lockdown initiated

18 eggs set - all seem viable.

Average weight loss 12.7%

I placed a 8inch x 8 inch x 4 inch water container filled to three inches.

one plug and the hole for the turner are open.

humidity 72% at 99.4F

I bought a red heat lamp bulb and some starter mash today


Egg ID Initial Wt 7 day 12 day 18 day Expected Disposition
11/26/12 12/3/12 Loss at 12/8/12 Loss at 12/14/12 loss at 12/17/2012
Day 7 Day 12 day 18

1​

71.3​

69.3​

2.8%​

66.6​

6.6%​

62.6​

12.2%​

62.0​

2​

50.1​

48.1​

4.0%​

45.6​

9.0%​

43.1​

14.0%​

43.6​

3​

49.2​

47​

4.5%​

44.7​

9.1%​

42.6​

13.4%​

42.8​

4​

70.2​

68​

3.1%​

65.4​

6.8%​

62.6​

10.8%​

61.1​

5​

62.3​

59.5​

4.5%​

56​

10.1%​

52.4​

15.9%​

54.2​

6​

55.9​

53.8​

3.8%​

51.4​

8.1%​

48.9​

12.5%​

48.6​

7​

61.2​

59.3​

3.1%​

56.7​

7.4%​

54.3​

11.3%​

53.2​

8​

54.2​

53.7​

0.9%​

51.5​

5.0%​

48.8​

10.0%​

47.2​

9​

54.6​

52.5​

3.8%​

50.3​

7.9%​

47.8​

12.5%​

47.5​

10​

59.2​

56.2​

5.1%​

54​

8.8%​

51.1​

13.7%​

51.5​

11​

49.6​

47.4​

4.4%​

45​

9.3%​

42.3​

14.7%​

43.2​

12​

53.8​

51.9​

3.5%​

49.5​

8.0%​

47​

12.6%​

46.8​

13​

49.6​

46.8​

5.6%​

44.9​

9.5%​

41.6​

16.1%​

43.2​

14​

51.4​

50.1​

2.5%​

44.6​

13.2%​

46.1​

10.3%​

44.7​

15​

59.0​

56.6​

4.1%​

53.8​

8.8%​

51​

13.6%​

51.3​

16​

63.1​

61.1​

3.2%​

58.6​

7.1%​

56.4​

10.6%​

54.9​

17​

56.7​

54.7​

3.5%​

51.8​

8.6%​

49.8​

12.2%​

49.3​

18​

61.0​

58.9​

3.4%​

56.4​

7.5%​

50.1​

17.9%​

53.1​

Average

56.8​

55.3​

3.7%​

52.6​

8.4%​

49.9​

12.1%​

49.4​

Almost as much anticipation as when we were waiting to see if the birth mother of our Lorenzo was going to go through with giving him up for adoption......well not quite but almost

So which one didn't hatch? I want to guess # 18 the one that lost the most weight or # 8 that lost the least? I am really curious. I really want to know the ending to this experiment you had an exellent hatch rate but I still would like to know which one it was that didn't hatch.

Glad you and the eggs made it to Philippiness, hope the weather starts cooperating better for your hatch.

 

[loves2hatch]

will try the salt calibration test today, but i dont have a ziplock baggie, will a regular plastic box or lunch baggy work?
bina
israel

I think an airtight plastic box should work. but I want to say when you do the salt test, make sure your room is right at 70 degrees Farenheit. I tested the same bag with the same hygrometers in different rooms and also in the incubator at 99 degrees and the reading were all way different. leaving them overnight in each place. So if your using just a digital or regular ( I call this one analog) hygometer I think temp affects humidity.
I'm not sure how those wet bulb hygrometers work they might not need 70 degree temps for testing.

If anyone knows for sure please feel free to chime in, this is just something I noticed while experimenting with my hygrometers.

 

[Roxannemc]

...

i candled them way too much... and in a very non professional manner...
as far as pics, working on it.. having cell phone issues (an other thing not in my expertise list) but how do u photo candling if u do it in the dark? at 15 days i should be seeing....:?

cause what i am seeing is either dark blobs, clear eggs (which i trash), and some eggs with blobs and veins... and some eggs are heavy which i think means they might be bad eggs?
this saturday is incubator day... i will work out the calibrations, re do /check the eggs, make a clipboard daily temp.humidity checklist, write down candling days etc...

if i had employed myself i would have fired me long ago for not working according to procedures...
wish i had found this forum prior to setting everything up.

oh well, better late then never.... expensive learning curve.`

Whoa Whoa Veins and dark blob means alive!!.Dont throw out too soon!
They can take more abuse than you think

 

[Roxannemc]

I think you will have some hatch as it is. Dont be so hard on yourself! Get the humidity to 65-75 from day 18-21 and see what you get....GOOD LUCK!