Incubators Anonymous

[Flowerbh]

This is just a question: I had an old man come to the house one day when I had eggs in the incubator. He told me his mom use to take all the eggs from the hen and make little holes in them on hatch day to help them out and prevent them from suffocating for any reason. Has anyone ever heard of this? What would happen if you took all the hatching eggs in the bator on hatch day and do that? (I am still feeling bad about the 5 fully formed chicks that were trying to get out on hatch day and ended up dieing in the shell for whatever reason) Anyway, someone once asked me what would happen if on hatch day, you just cracked the shell open like you were going to eat it! I don't know as I have never done it. What does happen???? I know these are silly questions, but just wondered about how people did things different in the olden days.

 

[ChickNmamma]

This is just a question: I had an old man come to the house one day when I had eggs in the incubator. He told me his mom use to take all the eggs from the hen and make little holes in them on hatch day to help them out and prevent them from suffocating for any reason. Has anyone ever heard of this? What would happen if you took all the hatching eggs in the bator on hatch day and do that? (I am still feeling bad about the 5 fully formed chicks that were trying to get out on hatch day and ended up dieing in the shell for whatever reason) Anyway, someone once asked me what would happen if on hatch day, you just cracked the shell open like you were going to eat it! I don't know as I have never done it. What does happen???? I know these are silly questions, but just wondered about how people did things different in the olden days.

Its a good question for newbies, and very important information to understand before hatching.

If a chick is having trouble breathing inside the shell some people did add a very teeny hole at the top of the shell. If you incubated correctly you don't need to do this, and extra air could cause the membrane to get too dry and cause the chick to stick and be unable to break into that air. It also reduces the carbon monoxide within the air cell once they break through that forces the chick to try and get out of the shell.. delaying the hatch and possibly causing the chick to die because it gets too tired to keep pushing. It is only done in last resort - and done only if the chick is getting weaker and still not breaking the outer shell (the "pip")

Do NOT crack open a hatching egg like you were going to eat it. The hatching process is VERY IMPORTANT in its specific steps. If you crack open the shell, even a teeny bit, you chance breaking the blood veins and you could destroy the yolk - and the chick bleeds to death where it is attached to those veins, it can't breathe and it hasn't absorbed its yolk food. It is not good. Everything it needs to support it after hatching happens during that hatching process. It is not full term until it goes through all the steps. Some go faster than others - but all need to go through the steps.

More information on hatching here:https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...hing-eggs-important-topic-index-please-review

 

[ozexpat]

This is just a question: I had an old man come to the house one day when I had eggs in the incubator. He told me his mom use to take all the eggs from the hen and make little holes in them on hatch day to help them out and prevent them from suffocating for any reason. Has anyone ever heard of this? What would happen if you took all the hatching eggs in the bator on hatch day and do that? (I am still feeling bad about the 5 fully formed chicks that were trying to get out on hatch day and ended up dieing in the shell for whatever reason) Anyway, someone once asked me what would happen if on hatch day, you just cracked the shell open like you were going to eat it! I don't know as I have never done it. What does happen???? I know these are silly questions, but just wondered about how people did things different in the olden days.

in a video i saw on hatchery chicks they punch a whole in the eggs to incubate for mareks on day 18.

i have been thinking about the same thing ever since

cracking the shell open will cause the chick to bleed to death

 

[ki4got]

i had a broody momma go sit on the wrong nest last summer... the eggs were cold to the touch, but i put them under her anyways, had 6/6 hatch a week later. plug em back in and treat them normally... but be ready for hatching to take an extra 12=24 hours possibly

 

[DMRippy]

OK so I found a TENNY TINNY little fan on an old computer. It was NOT a CPU fan is was about the size of a quarter or half dollar. I drilled a hole about the same size as the fan in the BOTTOM Center of the hatcher on the KILLER side. The fan ONLY runs when the heat is on. Seems to be cycling pretty fast now... might have to make some changes for the fan. I did cover half of it with tape to keep it from pulling too much air out. I also make a little cover for it so it would not get damaged. Temp is a little too low for my liking. I put eggs in lockdown and just arranged them differently so they were not in the KILLER CORNER. If it is not to my liking tomorrow I will put the fan on a timer to run 6 times a day for just a minute or two at a time to circulate the air on that side more. I put a heat sink in there to help hold the them some too and maybe help with humidity too. I think I need to revamp it anyway for these BIG hatches. I would like to make it where I know the humidity in ALL over the hatcher... maybe have the water at the bottom or the top. Anyway. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow. Hatch day is Saturday, but mine have been hatching early. But with the temp being lower they might not hatch till Sunday

At least it will not kill them at that temp.

 

[maryhysong]

OK the little vents & cover in my old redwood bator for Donna
Here is the vent half open


The vent all the way open; the hole is 1 1/2" across, there are two of these just above the level of the top egg tray in the front and one in the back (as far as I can see there are not any other vents in it)

The vent closed


The cover is just a square of sheet metal with one edge folded out for a handle. The large piece that is nailed to the wood has the top and bottom edges folded over to make a track for the smaller square to slide in. Then just nailed on at the four corners. Very simple design and looks like it would be very easy to make. Let me know if you need closer shots of how that is folded or anything.

 

[DMRippy]

OK the little vents & cover in my old redwood bator for Donna
Here is the vent half open


The vent all the way open; the hole is 1 1/2" across, there are two of these just above the level of the top egg tray in the front and one in the back (as far as I can see there are not any other vents in it)

The vent closed


The cover is just a square of sheet metal with one edge folded out for a handle. The large piece that is nailed to the wood has the top and bottom edges folded over to make a track for the smaller square to slide in. Then just nailed on at the four corners. Very simple design and looks like it would be very easy to make. Let me know if you need closer shots of how that is folded or anything.

Thanks! I might can do something like that.

so the front one is at the top, where is the back one top or bottom?

 

[maryhysong]

Thanks! I might can do something like that.

so the front one is at the top, where is the back one top or bottom?

The vent in the back is about 2 inches closer to the top of the incubator than the vents in the front and centered in front of the fan. The two vents in the front are just about even with the board that holds the water pans. I know that sounds like a weird set up but figure hundreds or thousands of eggs were hatched in this old thing so it must do something right.

 

[ozexpat]

we have chirping sounds emanating from a cuboid styrofoam structure

what could it be.................?

 

[ozexpat]

this post will be the 5000th in this thread