After a midnight run to WalMo (as my 3 yr old calls it) for a new thermometer/hygrometer for the hatcher, tragedy has struck my house. Well, a tragedy to ME anyway.
I woke up this morning to check the temp in my homemade hatcher, and it was 117 degrees! Apparently in following the homemade hatcher directions, I failed to take into account the fact that my cooler is too small to need a 25 watt bulb. I took the lid 1/2 way off to cool it down a bit. It stopped at 100, but the humidity went way low.
I packed up the 3 yr old and FLEW to Walmart again for a 15 watt bulb (which is perfect and keeps the temp just right), but the damage is already done. 2 poor little EE chicks cooked because I'm dumb.
I was going to wait it out anyway for the last 2 days, but I knew they were dead. My 2 brown eggs were empty, just like I thought. They were so hard to candle, but my gut feeling was right. My 2 green eggs, though, were a different story. One had a dead baby, probably 16 days-sized. It was white with black markings, almost like a splash. And the other looked like it was right on schedule (19 days). It was probably doing just fine until the temp went up so high. It was brown and black. He even had an egg tooth.
I am SO mad at myself!
Anway, I got the hatcher going at the right temp now. And tomorrow night my lone bantam brown leghorn egg will be ready for the hatcher--the other 5 were infertile. Plus my other EE eggs just got here (thanks, SouthernBelle!), and my SLW eggs are on their way.
It's just so frustrating to spend 18 days hovering over eggs, making sure everything's just right, and researching up a storm, just to make a stupid mistake in the homestretch.
{To clarify, I DID let the hatcher run for 24 hours before I put the eggs in. My mistake was in letting it run downstairs before moving it upstairs to use. The temp difference on the two floors was part of the problem. Also my fault! I knew it would go up a little, but I never dreamed it would raise the temp almost 20 degrees. This is why I'm grounded!}
I woke up this morning to check the temp in my homemade hatcher, and it was 117 degrees! Apparently in following the homemade hatcher directions, I failed to take into account the fact that my cooler is too small to need a 25 watt bulb. I took the lid 1/2 way off to cool it down a bit. It stopped at 100, but the humidity went way low.
I packed up the 3 yr old and FLEW to Walmart again for a 15 watt bulb (which is perfect and keeps the temp just right), but the damage is already done. 2 poor little EE chicks cooked because I'm dumb.
I was going to wait it out anyway for the last 2 days, but I knew they were dead. My 2 brown eggs were empty, just like I thought. They were so hard to candle, but my gut feeling was right. My 2 green eggs, though, were a different story. One had a dead baby, probably 16 days-sized. It was white with black markings, almost like a splash. And the other looked like it was right on schedule (19 days). It was probably doing just fine until the temp went up so high. It was brown and black. He even had an egg tooth.
I am SO mad at myself!
Anway, I got the hatcher going at the right temp now. And tomorrow night my lone bantam brown leghorn egg will be ready for the hatcher--the other 5 were infertile. Plus my other EE eggs just got here (thanks, SouthernBelle!), and my SLW eggs are on their way.
It's just so frustrating to spend 18 days hovering over eggs, making sure everything's just right, and researching up a storm, just to make a stupid mistake in the homestretch.
{To clarify, I DID let the hatcher run for 24 hours before I put the eggs in. My mistake was in letting it run downstairs before moving it upstairs to use. The temp difference on the two floors was part of the problem. Also my fault! I knew it would go up a little, but I never dreamed it would raise the temp almost 20 degrees. This is why I'm grounded!}
