I locked them down tonight!

[HickoryHollow]

What kind of bator do you use?

Jen,
The one that just finished was in a borrowed little giant. Then I bought a Farm Innovators from
from Rural King. The Little Giant. I think the biggest problem is having them in my work shop which I usually don't have the heat turned on. They just can't keep up when it is cold outside. I am almost finished building my cabinet incubator! 2" thick insulation in the walls. I think it will be much better! Check out my build thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/872944/designing-an-incubator/30

 

[blzzrdqueen]

Jen,
The one that just finished was in a borrowed little giant. Then I bought a Farm Innovators from
from Rural King. The Little Giant. I think the biggest problem is having them in my work shop which I usually don't have the heat turned on. They just can't keep up when it is cold outside. I am almost finished building my cabinet incubator! 2" thick insulation in the walls. I think it will be much better! Check out my build thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/872944/designing-an-incubator/30

Very cool! I wish I had the room for a cabinet, but I don't. I have all the supplies to build a coolerbator with a nice thick Omaha Steak cooler. My first hatch and this hatch were done in a LG as well. I didn't have a problem with temp and humidity during incubation but I I had trouble getting my humidity up during lockdown, which I think cause the demise of my 5 eggs that didn't hatch.

I set pheasant eggs on Saturday, not sure yet how many I'm setting. Should be interesting!

 

[HickoryHollow]

Ok......confession time. I Blew It! Eggtopsy reports are in. I almost had the "perfect" hatch. Out of 26 eggs, only 3 hatched. I found that of the other 23, 2 had only developed an eye and quit, and there were 2 infertile eggs. That left 19 fully developed dead peeps. None of them had an internal pip. It looked as though they were just to the point of starting to pip and died.

What did I learn from this? Well, I am pretty sure all of the above was "rookie mistakes". First I didn't candle to check air cells. Second, I believe I had the humidity too high during lockdown.

So....of all the things I would love to blame.....only one rooster for 18 hens........huge temperature swings in incubator.......power outage.......(all of which are true) but seems the little guys made it past all of those odds, only to be drowned by me at lockdown. I feel terrible!

But, I also feel educated some too. Dang it....I have a lot to learn, and a long way to go, but I am determined to be as good at this as the best of you on the forum. Some day I will look back at this and just shake my head.....

Tim

 

[randerson846]

Ah

Ok......confession time. I Blew It! Eggtopsy reports are in. I almost had the "perfect" hatch. Out of 26 eggs, only 3 hatched. I found that of the other 23, 2 had only developed an eye and quit, and there were 2 infertile eggs. That left 19 fully developed dead peeps. None of them had an internal pip. It looked as though they were just to the point of starting to pip and died. 

What did I learn from this? Well, I am pretty sure all of the above was "rookie mistakes". First I didn't candle to check air cells. Second, I believe I had the humidity too high during lockdown. 

So....of all the things I would love to blame.....only one rooster for 18 hens........huge temperature swings in incubator.......power outage.......(all of which are true) but seems the little guys made it past all of those odds, only to be drowned by me at lockdown. I feel terrible! 

But, I also feel educated some too. Dang it....I have a lot to learn, and a long way to go, but I am determined to be as good at this as the best of you on the forum. Some day I will look back at this and just shake my head.....

Tim

Let us know how the Easter hatch goes

 

[blzzrdqueen]

Mine had died the same way, but I don't think your humidity was too high, I was told that mine was too low!! Wonder if someone can shed some light on this?

 

[HickoryHollow]

Mine had died the same way, but I don't think your humidity was too high, I was told that mine was too low!! Wonder if someone can shed some light on this?

Yeah, me too. I just reread the "dry hatch method" (which I used) in the Learning section. My humidity during most of my hatch was about 35-40%. At lockdown, I added water to the channels and a wet paper towel in the middle. It ran the humidity up to about 70% right at first, but then dropped to about 60% for most of lockdown. From what I read, neither seems unreasonable.

A different article I read described exactly what I saw in eggtopsy and sited high humidity as the cause. Now I am really confused, and concerned for my next batch due to lock down this Sunday. As of yet, no water in incubator and humidity running about 30%.

 

[Dcat]

Yeah, me too. I just reread the "dry hatch method" (which I used) in the Learning section. My humidity during most of my hatch was about 35-40%. At lockdown, I added water to the channels and a wet paper towel in the middle. It ran the humidity up to about 70% right at first, but then dropped to about 60% for most of lockdown. From what I read, neither seems unreasonable.

A different article I read described exactly what I saw in eggtopsy and sited high humidity as the cause. Now I am really confused, and concerned for my next batch due to lock down this Sunday. As of yet, no water in incubator and humidity running about 30%.

I am so sorry for the loss of so many chicks. I know the heartbreak except my problem was intervening when they were doing just fine on their own. I'm on day 12 with my second hatch and doing the dry hatch also. I started with 4 eggs to on purpose on my first, that way when my rookie mistakes kicked in I wouldn't be doing as much damage if you know what I mean. Sigh. This hatch I started with ten, found one infertile and believe I'm now down to 6. I'm pretty sure I have three quitters in there but since I'm not positive and there is no smell or goo on the shells I'm leaving them in there. I really believe I added too much water at one point and the humidity went up too fast and did them in. Others say it shouldn't have had an affect but that's what my gut says. Even with a dry hatch I add a tiny bit of water as the humidity goes below 20% and then my temps start to spike. During lockdown I try to keep it at 65% and let it come up slowly. I go into lock down in 6 days and plan to keep the lid closed this time no matter what! My daughter is prepared to tackle me and duct tape me to the floor if she has too, LOL

 

[COCKmasters999]

Yes I am confused as well because I had the very same thing happen after our hatch. When We opened the eggs after day 25 we found multiple fully developed chicks. Honestly we are not seasoned vets at this but we have done over 20+ hatches with ALL variables well within our control and this was a first for us. We have had serious success rates before sometimes reaching 60%+ with eggs sent though the mail system and as we all know is practically unheard of. Most of those hatches were without an egg turner and done by hand. This may just be our last time using a turner because the more I talk to people on this site with serious knowledge the more we run into people that have amazing results without the turner. Some one PLEASE chime in and with feedback on that issue as well as not using egg cartons for turning. The real key to all this is to remain teachable I guess

 

[YARDBYRD]

what is pipping?

 

[elorraine52]

got one pip!