I did absolutely everything wrong...

[bearz]

and I mean everything. 22 days ago I put 32 eggs in the hatcher. All different breeds, all crossbreeds. Eggs were dark brown, tan, white and green. I just wanted some extra laying chickens.

My plan was to keep my hands completely off it so I put it in the basement this time.

7 days later I went down to find that my turner wasn't working. Hadn't worked at all.

I had also failed to put any water in the well, so I quickly put about 3/4 of a cup of water in.

I had 2 thermometers and each one showed a different temp, 4 degrees apart.

I figured they were all dead but when I started candling every single one of them was alive!

My big idea was to turn them by hand 3x a day for the next 10 days. In actuality I did that 7, maybe 8 times over the next 10 days. I really had no hope for these things but Sunday I laid them all out to hatch, just in case.

Tuesday morning DS ran down to check and there was 1 out and 1 zipped! What a shock. I figured that was it and I was thrilled.

Last night there were 3 out and 1 zipped. I about fainted.

This morning DS came bounding up the stairs shouting MOM! MOM! EIGHT out and another zipping!

e

I may die of shock! **This place needs a fainting smilie**

SO, I'm going to keep the bater shut at least 1 more day (they can go 2 days without anything, right?) and see what happens and then I'll come back with pics.

I think I'll develop a whole new way to hatch...the ignoreitanddoitallwrong method.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

You know the old saying,..a watched pot never boils.? Sometimes I think the less effort you put into something ,it comes out better in some cases. Congratulations on the new babies!

 

[Punk-Rock_Chicken]

....Here's the fainting smile....LOL

 

[kingmt]

Congrats

 

[chickon]

Tee hee, congrats! You give me hope!

 

[Chickenaddict]

Wow!!! Congrats on your hatch

Thats amazing!! I was the opposite the first time i used an incubator (which was not too long ago) I always fussed with it and had major temp and humidity issues so i was always taking the cover off and trying to figure out ways to get the temps and humidity right. I had 3 different thermometers and a turner that worked, several rocks in the empty turner slots to help even out the temps, wet wash cloths, water (wayyy tooo much) and expected nothing to make it. I started out with i think 26 eggs 7 of them were shipped eggs the rest was from my flock. Day 18 i was left with 16 eggs that showed signs of life I too was totally shocked. Day 21 came along and only one had hatched with a few pips but not many, day 22 a few more hatched, day 23 same thing keeping in mind these had stopped turning at day 18

I kept telling myself one more day then i'll crack them open to see what was going on in there. On day 24 one last chick hatched that had been pipped the night before along with another that was peeping but still hadn't pipped, the one that had never pipped drown in the egg due to a humidity spike. All in all out of those 26 eggs i got 13 cute lil fuzzies

Everyone seems to have their own method that works for them, heres to keeping up the good work aka the ignoreitanddoitallwrong method

 

[Backyard Farm]

congrats!!!

happy you got a bunch of fuzzy butts!!

 

[old mill poultry]

Congrats on your new babies!

 

[lovin'mychicks]

So Glad to hear another person who did not go by the "book" and had a successful hatch!

Things never go "right" for us either. Last hatch I set 9 banty eggs and 30 quail. We were without power for 12 hours and the bator cooled to 78 degrees!

But, on day 21 (day 17 for quail) I had 9 chicks and 27 quail. All perfect! They are now 3 weeks old and awaiting the arrival of their friends this thurs/friday!!!

Congrats!!!

 

[Peeper7]

I just can't believe it...
I did everything wrong too, but I think mine are all dead. Today is day 23 and no signs of life. Maybe one more day?...
Can anyone PLEASE tell me how to regulate these incubators??? Every thermometer is different. Every position is different.
I want so much to do some hatching...