I'm soooo nervous!

[nchls school]

AH! I'm going crazy and your message certainly helped. Now on to my next questions. LOL The incubator I am using is great. Temp has been set at 100 degrees f the entire time and all eggs have movement and look great. The incubator has two small vents on the top which I am supposed to open to help dry chicks as they hatch. I'm thinking opening these vents could harm the eggs that aren't ready yet, yes? But then how can I ensure that the hatched chicks will dry completely? As long as the chicks are warm, they'll dry completely when you remove them from the incubator.YES, going forward, I will place all the eggs in the incubator at the SAME TIME. LOL

Thanks for responding. I appreciate your help.

Opening the vents would lower temperature and humidity. I am not familiar with your type of incubator, but am sure that any changes of that type would change conditions inside the incubator. Open the incubator as little as possible and be as fast as you can removing chicks.

 

[Cindi1972]

Thank you so much... I'm like a nervous hen. LOL I appreciate all the tips and hopefully I will have a successful hatch. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[grace4261]

Cindi,

Thought I would check in and see how things are going. I also have chicks due Friday/tomorrow and one has hatched this afternoon. Thought maybe you might see some movement or hear some chirping from yours.

Becca

 

[Cindi1972]

Hi Becca,

THANKS for checking in. I've only had egg movement, last night and today. No pips yet. I have not heard any chirping either, but I really haven't been listening closely. I've been working on keeping my humidity up and turning the other eggs that are not due to hatch until mid week next week. I'm not turning as often because I don't want to disturb egg 18 ( due tomorrow ) or the two eggs marked 20 due Sunday. UGH!! How I wish I placed them all in the incubator at once. LOL I've watched so many video's and read so many articles, I already feel like an expert, even without any pip yet. haha

How many eggs do you have to go. Congrats on your first hatch today! Is this the first time you've hatched all together, or are you pro by now?

 

[grace4261]

Cindi,

Egg movement is good! I bet before long you'll have your first chick in there! Sounds to me like you have things well under control. Did you open the vent so there would be more oxygen? If so how did the temperature and humidity do? I always have trouble getting the temperature stable when I add water to increase humidity. Anyhow, you will know next time to put them all in on the same day. =)

I like you, have watched a ton of video's, and read a ton on hatching. I have one completed hatch, that I did a month ago in a borrowed, still air, styrofoam, Little Giant, with an egg turner. I received 13 eggs. One candled clear on day 7 and was removed. 11 out of the other 12 hatched. 5 with assistance and the 12th died in its unpipped shell. When they hatched little yellow chicks I realized they were not the Speckled Sussex I had ordered. So, this batch that is hatching now are the replacement eggs I received. They are hatching as the right breed this time. lol There are 13 of them and they all looked good when I put them in for lockdown, so 12 to go. Excited to see if they will all hatch. For this hatch I decided to run my humidifier in the room to help keep the humidity up. It has worked beautifully and I didn't have to feel guilty getting this chick out of the incubator because the humidity didn't drop much at all when I opened the incubator.

I will look forward to hearing how things progress for you!

Becca

 

[Cindi1972]

Hi Becca, yes, I did open the vent. Temp stayed normal, but I had to add a lot more water, and continue to soak a facecloth I placed in the incubator.

We also got 6 new chicks from our Supply store last weekend, and two of the babies I picked out are Speckled Sussex! I've named them Molly and Polly. I have 4 hens outside in their coop, they are a year old this week and 1 Rooster. His name is Curly. Originally, last year, we bought 6 girls ( or so we thought ) from the Tractor Supply and two ended up being Roosters. You can imagine the research I did that year. HA! We still have Curly, he is the father to the eggs I have in my incubator. Joe I had to find a home for and he now lives on a farm with a friend of my boyfriends and has 12 production red Hens of his very own. hahaaa He lucked out. Sadly when my chickens were about 4 months old, I lost one to a hawk. I still have her sister, who I believe is a Bared Cochin Bantam and I still have my Lauren, who is all white with a red comb. I also rescued two week old babies from a girl I know about 8 months ago and those two are a Production Red and an EE. I have four of the EE eggs in my incubator as well, so I know she is mom. hahaaa So I have 3 of the original 6 from last year, and the 2 8 month olds all outdoors. The 6 new babies in our spare bedroom and the 8 eggs in my incubator. I've clearly lost my mind. Do you keep these babies or do you sell them? What do you do if you end up with Roosters?

The humidifier is a great idea. I will have to try that if I ever do this again. hahaa... Good luck with your chicks. Can't wait to hear.

 

[grace4261]

Cindi,

Glad to hear you opened the vent and that all went well with that! I too have used a wet cloth to keep humidity up. Works much better than trying to fill the small wells in the bottom.

How cute to call them Molly and Polly. I read good things about the Speckled Sussex, and thought that they might be able to stay hidden better from predators. I wish I could keep a roo and hatch my own eggs, but sadly we will not be able to because of the city ordinences here. My neighbor supposedly has someone lined up to take our roosters. From the first batch I hatched only 3 out of 11 were boys. One of them died, so just the two from that set to find homes for. Anxiously waiting to find out how many of these will hatch and how many will be roos. Fingers crossed for about the same ratio as the first batch. Sounds like you did a great job finding homes for your surprise roosters. lol Sorry about the baby you lost to the hawk. I am worried about that happening to mine. Sounds like you have maxed out your space for the chickens. I fortunately have a basement guest bathroom I have been able to keep my hatchlings in.

So as for keeping them. I can keep four of them myself, and my neighbor who shares a coop with me is going to keep four of them. Hens only of course. Then my neighbor on the other side said she would take some of them too. I see they have their coop up and ready, so once I know how many of these are hatching I will have to have a chat with her again about what she is interested in. Sadly, none of us can keep the roosters.

The humidifier worked really great for keeping the humidity up without opening the lid to add more water. I am really pleased with how well it worked. Here is a picture of the two littles that have hatched so far.

 

[Cindi1972]

They are simply adorable. Excellent work!!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I use this to add water without opening the incubator when I need to. I got the syringe at Tractor supply and use accordion straws so I can hit different reservoirs. Just split one to fit inside the other them tape them.

Looking good.

 

[grace4261]

Ridge runner,

Very cool! I thought about doing similar, but it was to much work when I was just doing one more hatch. Yup, lazy me opted for the wet cloth in the corner, and turning on a humidifier in bathroom. lol