I just set 5-21-11 in my home made incubator

[matlock585]

Will anyone hatch along with me? I hope my bator works. I have 12 store bought organic eggs just to fill space and 5 donated from freecycle EE eggs. I hope the 5 EE'ers hatch, cause those were some pretty hens.

 

[LaGeniaLoca]

Hi! I set my eggs on the 19th, but I think that's close enough, don't you? I have 15 bantam eggs, all from the same pair of chickens. I'm not entirely sure of their breed. The rooster is Colonel Sanders and the hen is Little Red Hiding Bird, or Red for short. That's them in the picture.

I'm also using a homemade incubator, though it's somewhat unconventional. I took a rubbermaid bin and put several small ventilation holes in the sides, along with a larger hole to put a lightbulb through. I have a dish in the bottom for water and made a shelf over that with hardware cloth. It has an oven thermometer to keep track of the temperature and a wet-bulb thermometer to keep track of the humidity. The top is covered with a large piece of plexiglass, so I can see in. I used it once before and had 5 out of 6 Shamo eggs hatch, so I'm trying it again with the banty eggs. I'm not expecting them all to hatch this time, though, because my hen was hiding her eggs from me and some are probably 2 weeks old. I guess I just have to wait and see. I'll candle at 5 days and remove any that look bad.

 

[matlock585]

La genialoca,
Your pic is so nice... I think that little red hiding bird is fantastic, pretty lil' girl.
I candled today and I've got the blob you'd expect to see in a fertilized newly incubated egg. But what surprised me most was I checked four of the wal mart organics I put in just to check how temp and humidity get affected by adding eggs, and whaddya know, 2 of the 4 that I inspected look to be forming embryos. I can't beleive it. Looking forward to seeing how this one plays out, especially being my first hatch ever, with a home made beer cooler bator to boot.

 

[matlock585]

Guess I'll just start posting in this thread only... I joined a thread that was supposed to be local folks to mid TN, but it seems like they are just interested in talking about being sick and meeting up to chat all the time, that's not what I came here for. So from this point on, this thread will be my blog about my home made bator and my results,refinements, etc.
I'm really let down by the group I joined... I hope some more people find this thread where I can really talk about what's going on with my eggs that are developing.
Sam Matlock Nashville, TN

 

[jcfuente51]

HI i was collecting eggs from my hen to incubate but i had a verry horrible experince with the dry incubation being at 40% 45% till day 18 and founf them most shringwrapped so thank God the hen i was colecting the eggs decided to go broddy again so i just put the eggs under her the 20th. she does great job incubating and hatching all her self but only keep the babys for 3 weeks then goes out with the roos

she is a happy lady lol and enjoy more with the roos than with her babys

..
are u doing a dry incubation or a certain % of humidity?

lets hope for great hatches our selfs ...

 

[matlock585]

Hey Fuente, Thanks for joining with me. I'm incubating at 50 percent humidity days 1 - 18, and 70 percent for lockdown or the last 3 days. I hope I don't get any shrinkwrapping with those levels. Keep me posted on how yours is going.

 

[matlock585]

Quote:
Yes my friend, Indeed... great hatches!

 

[jcfuente51]

Quote:
hi matlock heh he i like the fuente part lol have u ever incubate b4? whast your home made bator of? sorry i ask too much i really wanna have a 100% hatch by gathering all the answers i get from ll you wonderfull people here...

 

[matlock585]

This is my first time to incubate. I'm learning right along with you buddy. I'm on my 3rd day right now. My incubator is in a styrofoam cooler, and it's a 60 watt light bulb on a hot water heater thermostat, with a computer fan, and night light running all the time in the background. I get humidity from a bowl of water under the egg rack. I turn my eggs by hand 3 times a day, but I'm worried it's not enough. I'm only counting on the 5 donated eggs to be viable to hatch. But if I get all 5, I'd consider that 100 percent.

 

[jcfuente51]

Quote:
lets candle them on day 5 or 6 to see if they are developing , have ou made your candeler? i mae my own with a litle blulb inside the carbor tube that comes with the aluminum paper or plastic wrap and i candle at night in the dark. and at day 6 u should know if they are developing if not u most likely toss them but they all could be fertile and viable never know..