Incubators Anonymous

Out of all the English measures, the one I can never get my head around is Fahrenheit. Regardless, 103° sounds hellish. No pun intended. The hottest days here wew like 33-34° C which I think is the low 90s. My poor birdlies were walking around wings out mouths open, and hiding in the bushes as much as possible. How do you keep your chickens cool down there?
This year I added a gigantic fan called Port A Cool it has a water tank and lowers the temperature significantly in their shaded area. Like @father0fnine ive lost a bird almost every summer. They usually have something else going on internally and the heat zaps them sooner than if there wasn’t heat.
 
I have a ton of the 1 gal short sided buckets I fill up with water with ice in it and they will literally walk through it and soak their feet when they get too hot. I love the summer and the heat here but highest we tend to get is 100 degrees so not too bad. The cold is terrible and the snow everyone is pretty much stuck inside chickens included they won't go out even if I shovel for them in the winter once the snow is on the ground so we have to keep an area covered that they can roam in so they can peck and scratch about.

I just committed to 3 dozen eggs 2 Creles and one Partridge. Thinking I might want one more partridge batch this spring lol. Yup just cause the incubator is on down time it's not forgotten hehe.
 
My "last hatch" is due tomorrow night or Tues. I have 3 broody hens (a laced orp, a HUGE 10lb black orp, and a med penciled rock) waiting to adopt whatever hatches.

In the incubator I have black, lavender, & laced orpingtons, plus a few serama eggs. It will be another interesting mix.
 
When do you think it becomes too late: my eggs are on day 21 and haven't started peeping yet but are moving a little. Will they be ok? I'm scared my humidity was too high.
 
When do you think it becomes too late: my eggs are on day 21 and haven't started peeping yet but are moving a little. Will they be ok? I'm scared my humidity was too high.

If they are moving I would leave them be for now. Your temp might have been lower than what was showing which would cause the eggs to go longer.
 
If they are moving I would leave them be for now. Your temp might have been lower than what was showing which would cause the eggs to go longer.
They have been at 37.5 Celsius (99.5 Fahrenheit) for the whole time. I put them next to the side of my incubator so I can candle them from outside but I haven't seen a broken air membrane in the blue one and I can't see through the other one because it is a darker speckled brown. I hope they will be OK. The speckled one responds to my cheeping with movement so I'm sure it's still alive.
 
If I started to incubate an egg at 12:00 pm on a Tuesday and today is three weeks later on the Monday at 8:00 pm is today day 21 or day 20?

AAah I'm so scared for my little chicks
 
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When do you think it becomes too late: my eggs are on day 21 and haven't started peeping yet but are moving a little. Will they be ok? I'm scared my humidity was too high.
Your eggs are probably right on time. If temps are just a little low, they can be a couple days late. If the eggs are responding to sound, then all is well. They should start pipping soon. Often you can't see the tiny pips. It may only be a tiny hairline scratch on the surface that can only be seen when light shines from just the right angle..... or the pip could be positioned away from your viewing window and impossible to see. If you "hear" your eggs peeping, then you know they're pipped &/or zipping.

Also, after an egg pips, the chicks rests for a very long time. Mine can wait 12-24 hrs before they start zipping, so when I spot the 1st pip, I know that chicks are coming in the next day. Although I saw 3 pips this morning, I still have no chicks. I might have a chick or 2 tonight, but it looks like tomorrow morning will be the big excitement. (i'm up to 5 pips now, and someone is peeping.)
 

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