I'm setting eggs tonight 2/2/12, any hatching buddies out there wanna join me?

[LilyD]

Ok so I quickly candled mine tonight...I had 24 silkie eggs...

I threw away 3

and have 4 that are a maybe so I left them in there.

...so I have 17 with great veins and movement....

I only had 1 black silkie egg and it was empty

But guess what...I had a little white silkie girl who started laying last weekend...and my little blue boy only 5 mths was trying to mate her all week...I then sold her this week and she laid an egg just before she left so I threw it in the bator and I see veins in it tonight???? Can that be true? I didn't want a white and blue to mate but she was my first laying silkie so I will keep it if it hatches...this will be exciting....

Ooh I will keep my fingers crossed for you. I am hatching pullet eggs as well I briefly candled today but it's not really dark enough in here to be able to see that well. I can see the air pockets though so I am thinking they are developing but can't see anything else. Good luck to us both

 

[Soaring Chicks]

Yes good luck to both of you.
Hope everyone has a great weekend

 

[blueberrychickens]

My humidity keeps going down to about 36% even w/ h2o in the 3 middle reservoirs, is this too low??? When I add water it does come back up to about 46% & will stay for about a day, then back down into the 30's. It is soooo dry here, I feel like i'm in the desert!

 

[dwegg]

I keep mine in the 40's...but be careful that your hygrometer is correct...I had one that I did not calibrate and it was off so I just kept adding water and I ended up drowning most of my hatch as they did not lose enough water in the first 18 days...

Now I don't use one...I trust my incubator and it works out perfectly....what incubator are you using...mine is a Hovabator 1588

I don't see how you can keep adding water without the humidity going up....I would put another calibrated guage in there

 

[LilyD]

I keep mine in the 40's...but be careful that your hygrometer is correct...I had one that I did not calibrate and it was off so I just kept adding water and I ended up drowning most of my hatch as they did not lose enough water in the first 18 days...

Now I don't use one...I trust my incubator and it works out perfectly....what incubator are you using...mine is a Hovabator 1588

I don't see how you can keep adding water without the humidity going up....I would put another calibrated guage in there

That's what I have too. I got the new one with the digital readout. I contacted the company and was told that the temp is tested and accurate to +- 0.1 degrees and the hygrometer is accurate +- 4 % so I just look at the range of what my moisture could be and then make sure that that range is within the range that I am looking for. No idea if it will work or not since this is my first hatch with it but we will see. 2 more weeks woot!!!

 

[dwegg]

Wow...well I don't know then...I thought the new 1588 would be even more awesome and no fuss no worry type of deal...I hope you get it stable soon though...if it were me...I would trust the water troughs at the bottom...filling only the middle trough...

 

[Janie1968]

I candled eggs this morning. Definitely saw movement in some of the turkey eggs.

Such a simple thing, but so exciting!!! Of my 37 chicken eggs, 7 did not have any veining. There are also some Americauna eggs that I couldn't tell because they were so dark, which is crazy since they are a light green color. You'd think it was an Americauna-Maran cross from the candling.

My son was candling with me and a few of the "clears" fell into the sink. One cracked on the tip so we opened it up and compared it to a refrigerator egg. The yolk from the incubator egg had spread out more and was flatter then the other egg. I am pretty sure that my remaining 6 aren't fertile, but I'll give it a few more days. So I'm thinking that I have about 30 chicken eggs that are developing into cute little fuzzy butts. Someone on BYC had a quote that is so true and went something like this, time slows down when you are incubating eggs and speeds up the rest of the time. Last Wednesday I wanted to candle so bad, but had to keep reminding myself that they were only on day 4!!! Take care and good luck Lily with your humidity. Last time I kept it in the 50% range, this time it's kind of all over the board... which is strange because I hatched out eggs a month ago so the conditions in the house are still the same. Janie

 

[LilyD]

Wow...well I don't know then...I thought the new 1588 would be even more awesome and no fuss no worry type of deal...I hope you get it stable soon though...if it were me...I would trust the water troughs at the bottom...filling only the middle trough...

It's definitely stable it stays right on track for temp and I tested around the edges with my digital thermometer that had been calibrated and it keeps amazingly close to that for temp within 1/2 a degree all the way around the incubator not just under the heater. I have only needed to fill the water once and I ran tubing meant for the air bubblers in a fish tank from the hole where the power cord goes in so I can fill both the inside and the outside without opening the incubator so other than candling it stays closed. The eggs seem to be doing well. I am candling them all tonight once it's dark so we shall see I will update after that.

 

[blueberrychickens]

I have the Hovabator Genesis 1588, & I dont have another humidity gauge to see how accurate the digital one is or isnt. Would one bought @ Lowes be good enough??? What should the humidity be at anyways?? I thought it was about 45%?? But then I hear about dry hatches?? What on earth is that? No water till lockdown??

 

[LilyD]

I have the Hovabator Genesis 1588, & I dont have another humidity gauge to see how accurate the digital one is or isnt. Would one bought @ Lowes be good enough??? What should the humidity be at anyways?? I thought it was about 45%?? But then I hear about dry hatches?? What on earth is that? No water till lockdown??

I am running mine between 20 and 40 anywhere between there is okay but I am shooting right for around 30 I think. Just guessing on my part though since with dry hatches where I live the babies end up shrink wrapped or dry and sticky when born.