Good Afternoon!
So I set the eggs yesterday...aaaggghhh....I'm a nervous wreck!
I am the Troop Leader for my daughter's Daisy Scout Troop and this year we are taking an Animal Journey! I thought it would be prefect to incubate eggs! We have had chickens for the past 3 years and are very familiar with the daily care but have never incubated. I'm a wreck! The girls will be devastated if nothing happens! We set 19 eggs are I'm praying that just one hatches!
The hardest part is that the incubator is in my daughter's classroom so I can't check on it as often as I would like. Her teacher graciously agreed to host the incubator in his classroom but I'm sure I'm going to drive him nuts over the next 21 days!
My main question is about humidity in the incubator. The type of incubator I have has a plastic tray in the bottom with channels that hold water. On top of the plastic tray is wire mesh and then above that is the egg turner. With all that layered in there it's so difficult to see how much water is in the tray. Any suggestions? How often should water need to be added...I'd hate to disturb the eggs unless completely necessary. I was thinking about putting a wet sponge in one the of empty egg holders, that way I could tell if it was dry in the incubator. Do you think that would help? Also any suggestions on how to add water without disrupting everything? It seems that the turner and wire mesh need to be removed to add water? I'm wondering if I should just take the wire mesh out until day 18....
The farm that I rented the incubator from assured me that they rent out baby chicks by the day so if nothing hatches I'm going to sneak a few in at recess!
Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!
So I set the eggs yesterday...aaaggghhh....I'm a nervous wreck!
I am the Troop Leader for my daughter's Daisy Scout Troop and this year we are taking an Animal Journey! I thought it would be prefect to incubate eggs! We have had chickens for the past 3 years and are very familiar with the daily care but have never incubated. I'm a wreck! The girls will be devastated if nothing happens! We set 19 eggs are I'm praying that just one hatches!
The hardest part is that the incubator is in my daughter's classroom so I can't check on it as often as I would like. Her teacher graciously agreed to host the incubator in his classroom but I'm sure I'm going to drive him nuts over the next 21 days!
My main question is about humidity in the incubator. The type of incubator I have has a plastic tray in the bottom with channels that hold water. On top of the plastic tray is wire mesh and then above that is the egg turner. With all that layered in there it's so difficult to see how much water is in the tray. Any suggestions? How often should water need to be added...I'd hate to disturb the eggs unless completely necessary. I was thinking about putting a wet sponge in one the of empty egg holders, that way I could tell if it was dry in the incubator. Do you think that would help? Also any suggestions on how to add water without disrupting everything? It seems that the turner and wire mesh need to be removed to add water? I'm wondering if I should just take the wire mesh out until day 18....
The farm that I rented the incubator from assured me that they rent out baby chicks by the day so if nothing hatches I'm going to sneak a few in at recess!
Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!
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