Incubating step by step! Please comment!!

[tortega18]

Hi everyone!! So I will be doing my first incubation and oh boy will it be a big one! About 40 chicken eggs! Hopefully for a better hatch rate. So I've been reading A TON of information on incubating and hatching on here that it's getting OVERWHELMING!

I get the jist of incubating but just want someone to start from the BEGINNING from receiving the fertile eggs to day 21! I will post my steps and please correct me or add to it!! Please keep it very basic and minimal! Thanks

1) I received the fertile eggs in the mail . I put them pointy side down in the egg carton and let them sit for about 3 hours before putting in the bator. **DO I NEED TO SLANT THE EGG CARTON ON ONE SIDE FOR THREE HOURS OR SWITCH SIDES THROUGHOUT THE THREE HOURS?**

2) Get bator ready and warmed up. I have the little giant 9300. I've been running it and the humidity seems to stay at 47 degrees F.
Should I keep the temp at 101? And the humidity at 47 degrees F. ?

3) Right before putting the eggs in the bator I will mark them with X and O . Also I will candle them and draw a line where the air sac is. Then I will place them in the bator with automatic egg turner.

4) I will turn them 3x/day

5) day 7 I will candle them. If I see veins they are fertile. HOW DO I KNOW IF THEY ARENT FERTILE? Just the veins not being present?

6) Day 14 I will candle again! I'm looking for th air sac to get bigger right?

7) day 18 will be lock down! TEMP STAYS THE SAME AS THE ORIGINAL BUT THE HUMIDITY GOES UP TO ABOUT 70-76 degrees F right? PLEASE CORRECT IF IM WRONG!! I will also remove the turner

8) keep an eye out for popping and movement and let those little darlings hatch!


Thanks everyone!! Please correct me if I'm wrong or add in steps if I missed something !! I just need a simple step by step because all the forums on here are like a thousand pages!!

 

[nchls school]

Hi everyone!! So I will be doing my first incubation and oh boy will it be a big one! About 40 chicken eggs! Hopefully for a better hatch rate. So I've been reading A TON of information on incubating and hatching on here that it's getting OVERWHELMING!

I get the jist of incubating but just want someone to start from the BEGINNING from receiving the fertile eggs to day 21! I will post my steps and please correct me or add to it!! Please keep it very basic and minimal! Thanks

1) I received the fertile eggs in the mail . I put them pointy side down in the egg carton and let them sit for about 3 hours before putting in the bator. **DO I NEED TO SLANT THE EGG CARTON ON ONE SIDE FOR THREE HOURS No. OR SWITCH SIDES THROUGHOUT THE THREE HOURS?** I let mine sit 24 hours before incubating.

2) Get bator ready and warmed up. I have the little giant 9300. I've been running it and the humidity seems to stay at 47 degrees F.
Should I keep the temp at 101? And the humidity at 47 degrees F. ? Yes.

3) Right before putting the eggs in the bator I will mark them with X and O . Also I will candle them and draw a line where the air sac is. Then I will place them in the bator with automatic egg turner.

4) I will turn them 3x/day

5) day 7 I will candle them. If I see veins they are fertile. HOW DO I KNOW IF THEY ARENT FERTILE? Just the veins not being present? Yes. Any without veins are a waste of time-toss them.

6) Day 14 I will candle again! I'm looking for th air sac to get bigger right? I look for a nice distinct line between the embryo and the air sac. If it is fuzzy he embryo has died.

7) day 18 will be lock down! TEMP STAYS THE SAME AS THE ORIGINAL BUT THE HUMIDITY GOES UP TO ABOUT 70-76 degrees F right? PLEASE CORRECT IF IM WRONG!! I will also remove the turner This seems to high. I think it should be more like 60%.

8) keep an eye out for popping and movement and let those little darlings hatch!

Try not to open the incubator after lock down as that would change the incubator's internal environment and could cause DIS.


Thanks everyone!! Please correct me if I'm wrong or add in steps if I missed something !! I just need a simple step by step because all the forums on here are like a thousand pages!!

 

[tortega18]

Thank you so much !!! So you don't slant your eggs when you first get them? & you let your eggs sit for 24 hours?

 

[RubyNala97]

Hello and good luck on this set! I will try to be as helpful as possible. Shipped eggs are risky and hard. So please know that they are hard even for experienced hatchers! Have you read hatching 101?

1) usually shipped eggs are rested pointy end down for 12-24 hours before being put in the incubator. Are you comfortable with candling? First step with shipped eggs is to candle and check the air cells to assess the amount of damage. Are you putting them in an automatic turner? Depending on the damage you see (like the air cells being loose and wobbly or totally detached moving around the whole egg) some people don't turn them for the first day or two. Giving them time to heal.

2) humidity depends on the growth of the air cells. There is no one number that works for every egg. You can candle and trace your air cells on day 7,14,18. You want them to look like this:

Is your hygrometer calibrated?

3) do you already have the eggs in the incubator? You do not need an "X" and an "O"' if they will be in an automatic turner. Only if you will lay them down flat on their sides (which is not really recommended for shipped eggs).

4) are you hand turning or using an automatic turner?

5) If they are developing, then yes, you will see veins. If they are not developing and you see no veins or a dark red ring around the egg then the egg was infertile or it was fertile but did not develop properly.

6) yes, see the pic above

7) lockdown! Remove the turner, you can lay the eggs down if you like, keep temps the same or decrease slightly and increase humidity. 65-75%.

8) yes, then enjoy the hatch!!

This is the basics. But please understand that there can be a lot more involved. Just keep reading and learning and asking questions. ****Make sure you have a SEPARATE thermometer and hygrometer (besides the ones that came on the incubator) that you have calibrated for accuracy.****If not, the whole hatch could fail. Please let me know if you need help with calibrating.

 

[nchls school]

Thank you so much !!! So you don't slant your eggs when you first get them? & you let your eggs sit for 24 hours?

Yes.

 

[tortega18]

Hello and good luck on this set! I will try to be as helpful as possible. Shipped eggs are risky and hard. So please know that they are hard even for experienced hatchers! Have you read hatching 101?

1) usually shipped eggs are rested pointy end down for 12-24 hours before being put in the incubator. Are you comfortable with candling? First step with shipped eggs is to candle and check the air cells to assess the amount of damage. Are you putting them in an automatic turner? Depending on the damage you see (like the air cells being loose and wobbly or totally detached moving around the whole egg) some people don't turn them for the first day or two. Giving them time to heal.

2) humidity depends on the growth of the air cells. There is no one number that works for every egg. You can candle and trace your air cells on day 7,14,18. You want them to look like this:

Is your hygrometer calibrated?

3) do you already have the eggs in the incubator? You do not need an "X" and an "O"' if they will be in an automatic turner. Only if you will lay them down flat on their sides (which is not really recommended for shipped eggs).

4) are you hand turning or using an automatic turner?

5) If they are developing, then yes, you will see veins. If they are not developing and you see no veins or a dark red ring around the egg then the egg was infertile or it was fertile but did not develop properly.

6) yes, see the pic above

7) lockdown! Remove the turner, you can lay the eggs down if you like, keep temps the same or decrease slightly and increase humidity. 65-75%.

8) yes, then enjoy the hatch!!

This is the basics. But please understand that there can be a lot more involved. Just keep reading and learning and asking questions. ****Make sure you have a SEPARATE thermometer and hygrometer (besides the ones that came on the incubator) that you have calibrated for accuracy.****If not, the whole hatch could fail. Please let me know if you need help with calibrating.

Thank you! I will be using a automatic turner.
I'm not comfortable with canceling just because I've never done it. I will be purchasing a separate thermometer and hydrometer to place inside the bator. No they are not in the bator yet . I will be placing the order next friday for the eggs! I should probably look up pics because I don't know what the egg should look like on canceling day one when I recieve them. Ok I guess it makes sense that I don't have to mark them as X and O

 

[RubyNala97]

Thank you! I will be using a automatic turner.
I'm not comfortable with canceling just because I've never done it. I will be purchasing a separate thermometer and hydrometer to place inside the bator. No they are not in the bator yet . I will be placing the order next friday for the eggs! I should probably look up pics because I don't know what the egg should look like on canceling day when I recieve them. Ok I guess it makes sense that I don't have to mark them as X and O

This is good news! I thought you already had them in the incubator! I never took this advice but it is good advice...is there anyway you could get a few local eggs to try before doing shipped eggs? It would really help you get a lot of hands on experience before doing a shipped batch. Trust me, shipped eggs are hard. I have great hatches with my own eggs and on some batches of shipped eggs,t I've had none hatch. They can be disappointing. But my first batch was with shipped and I did get 50% to hatch, so it's do-able! Start practicing candling on eggs in your fridge. Get a good, small LED flashlight and shine it into the fat end of the egg. Find the air cell. Here's some pics...

What breeds are you wanting to hatch? What color will the egg shells be?

 

[tortega18]

This is good news! I thought you already had them in the incubator! I never took this advice but it is good advice...is there anyway you could get a few local eggs to try before doing shipped eggs? It would really help you get a lot of hands on experience before doing a shipped batch. Trust me, shipped eggs are hard. I have great hatches with my own eggs and on some batches of shipped eggs,t I've had none hatch. They can be disappointing. But my first batch was with shipped and I did get 50% to hatch, so it's do-able! Start practicing candling on eggs in your fridge. Get a good, small LED flashlight and shine it into the fat end of the egg. Find the air cell. Here's some pics...

What breeds are you wanting to hatch? What color will the egg shells be?

Wheaten blue Ameraucauna

 

[tortega18]

I will deff post here when I recieve them and ask questions !