Incubators Anonymous

[duluthralphie]

Only 3 more eggs got moved. Out of 9 in that batch, only 5 had developed but one was an early quitter. Kinda stinks. I have am order for 6 poults this weekend and if all of them hatch, I'll only have 4 lol

I can understand all of that. I have people waiting on CLB's with 2 bad hatches in a row I did not sell any. I refuse to sell a weak chick. I am going to a 4-h swap show tomorrow and bringing chicks and poults. I do not think I will bring any CLB's they have homes already.

Time to go downstairs and look through the looking glass and see what is on the other side of the portal.

 

[duluthralphie]

For those of you dropping chicks to the bottom of the incubators. Look what I found and am using. It is vented to allow air flow and no sharp edges to hurt the chicks, and it keeps them on the level I want them on in the hatchers, while still allowing them to stretch and move about. something the sportsman hatching trays does not allow with the cover on..




Here it is in place:



And here are baby pictures, just cause they were cute this morning..I have still not opened the doors since the hatch started!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Awesome! I'll have to look into some of those, even through my hatches in the big bator are all accidental lol

Love the pictures of the babies peeking through the windows They're too cute!

Just had a new poult pip or of its shell. First one to hatch since I moved them yesterday. I'm wondering how early this other that I found in the bottom of the bator hatched? It was completely dry, fluffed, and comfortable on its feet by the time I found it.

 

[BrieCheese23]

I told some of you on another thread I added port holes to my 1202 I am now using for a hatcher. I have a couple pipped eggs and one hatched one. I still do not have the moisture where I want it. with 4 sponges in the automatic waterer I am only at 58%. I closed the top hole a tad to see if I can trap a bit more humidity. Any Ideas? Here are the pictures, forgive the duct tape I needed something to assure someone would not get cut on the glass, I will make it prettier after the hatching season...So around November I will fix it..

Well hello there. On another note. If you wake up to the power going out and freak out running around to get the generator going and three incubators plus pulling a bunch of hatched chicks out of the brooder and carting them downstairs at 1:40am before the temp gets too low...you might be hatching addict.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Well hello there.

On another note. If you wake up to the power going out and freak out running around to get the generator going and three incubators plus pulling a bunch of hatched chicks out of the brooder and carting them downstairs at 1:40am before the temp gets too low...you might be hatching addict.

Yeah, you just might! But I think we ALL know that struggle in this group lol

 

[BillJ]

Last laid chosen egg has pipped. It's the second closest to the warm air in.


The incubator has two internal compartments, incubator and fan/heat.sensor/heating.lamp/. These are covered by a foam top with a 6"x6" plastic window. Then there's the top cover, the plastic bin cover, having a layer of foam on the bottom and a corresponding 6"x6" double pane window. The humidity was 75% and the top cover's panes had condensation. I took the top cover off for the photo leaving the lower cover in place. The humidity quickly dropped from 75% to 55% even with a cover in place!? Secondary cover back in place the humidity quickly rose to 75% again. I wonder. High humidity probably makes the shell easier to break but might also reduce the permeability. If the permeability gets reduced the chick might feel compelled more strongly to pip.

 

[wabbit1964]

Last laid chosen egg has pipped. It's the second closest to the warm air in.


The incubator has two internal compartments, incubator and fan/heat.sensor/heating.lamp/. These are covered by a foam top with a 6"x6" plastic window. Then there's the top cover, the plastic bin cover, having a layer of foam on the bottom and a corresponding 6"x6" double pane window. The humidity was 75% and the top cover's panes had condensation. I took the top cover off for the photo leaving the lower cover in place. The humidity quickly dropped from 75% to 55% even with a cover in place!? Secondary cover back in place the humidity quickly rose to 75% again. I wonder. High humidity probably makes the shell easier to break but might also reduce the permeability. If the permeability gets reduced the chick might feel compelled more strongly to pip.

congrats on the pip!!

 

[mchlldickson]

Uggghhhh....

So Im hatching my first successful batch of eggs. I have 5 hatched out and another 5 with pips. I have a total of 32 eggs that looked great at lock down. Well, my not so smart see didn't put the thermometer in a safe spot and as soon as the dinosaur chicks started trampling all over the place they knocked down my thermometer and my temp spiked to 105! FML. I quickly pulled out the chicks and attached the reader to my digital thermometer inside and spritzed the inside with water to keep my humidity up. Im hoping the temp was only up for less then 30 min. Do you guys think i just screwed myself? Im so incredibly upset with myself.

 

[shawn54]

I'm not an expert at this but I think it would take longer than 30 minutes to raise temp inside the eggs to 105. You did do the right thing in opening door and spritzing water.Did humidity go back up quickly? I know when I set my first batch it took 24 hours to bring eggs up from room temperature to 99.5 so o think you are safe. Good luck

 

[BillJ]

So it's out of its shell. Looked though the panes and couldn't see her. Then I found her at the air out screen. Looks like she's stuck there. Won't open the lid tho. I do have a hold drilled so I can get a screwdriver on the fan speed rheostat. Must remove one of the two tops tho. I'll get a photo at the same time....Wow, no worries. She's active, moving and chirping a LOT.

So, she's a day early. How many days is it safe to let her stay in the machine before moving her to a brooder and giving her water?