INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

After reading about 100 reviews on the incubator my parents got us for Christmas I am worried.. I have never incubated before this will be my first time.. I have a model 2200 farm innovators circulated air incubator, I also have the automatic egg turner and the Quail rails.  All the knowledge I have is from what I read in reviews, and about 100 youtube videos.  My plan so far is to unbox the incubator Monday morning and turn it on. I will try to have the temp stable at 99.5 and the humidity between 50 and 60.. I also plan to Buy a Digital thermometer/hydrometer to put in the incubator along with the ones that came with the incubator,( due to the amount of people on the reviews who says the supplied ones don't work)... If I get the eggs from brad and put them in when I get home. 14 days later I try and increase the humidity to 75 and set them out of the turner on the incubator Screen and remove the turner. Day 16 hatch??  Am I way off or do I have a good plan.
I used a lg for my first quail hatches and actually just went back to incubating in it and hatching in my cabinet incubator. I personally don't have any issues with the lg which is VERY similar to the farm innovators. Just keep it in a room that has steady temps. From my experience I have better luck incubating around 30% humidity and increasing it to around 55% at lockdown. When I was at 65-70% I had A LOT of chicks get stuck in shells. If humidity is too high, then the fluid in the shell dries out and the chick is basically cemented to the shell/membranes. I'd read up about "dry incubation".

Also, while you are testing it, remember to test it as if you were hatching. After you get humidity and temps were you want them with turner, practice getting temps and humidity correct for lockdown as well. This included removing the turner like you would a real hatch. I failed to do this and at lockdown, I struggled to get humidity correct my first time hatching.

Edit: I have also found that putting those rubber shelf liners on the wire bottom before placing eggs helped with clean up. Chicks are still able to grip it and walk around, the holes still allow heat and humidity to get under the eggs yet stops a lot of the poop and shells from going to the bottom of the incubator. Also, I recommend figuring out a way to be able to add water to the incubator during lock down with out having to open up the incubator, I'll hunt for the pictures I took, but essentially I just used a syringe and 1/4" tubing to fill container with water. I'll post the pics when I find them.
 
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Here's my little fluffy ball. This is after I trimmed a little last night. I butchered his beard right after the picture lol. Hopefully the drops take care if his eyes quickly.
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Haha. I agree. It is just the fluffiest little chick. Quickly becoming my favorite! I'll just keep it trimmed lol
Love the pic of your little fluffball! Looks like a gray or a partridge....cute! LOVE the fluffy ones.

Aww cute chicks and chih baby!

U can pluck the feathers under the eye to keep them from irritating too. I made the mistake as a newbie of trimming my girls' crests instead of their muffs under their eyes and now I'm waiting for them to grow back. :( I didn't go overboard, but I do miss those big pom poms.
Yes, pluck if you plan to show otherwise you have to wait for moult. If you have already cut and do want to show, just pluck the trimmed feathers;-)

So Chance found his crow today. He scared himself and the other chicks are huddled against the brooder staring at him like he is an alien. He sounds like a teeny bike horn. He is 14 weeks as of yesterday. He likes to watch tv with me stretched out on my lap . My roo Booker may have a lot of silver leakage in his blue, and missing one toe, but he makes pretty babies, almost all of them correct, and with amazing personalities. All of my boys so far are sweethearts.
Is Chance a silkie? I love the silkie boys. I have one mean one now though and as soon as he is replaced it will be off with his head! The only mean silkie I've had. Hate that bird!
 
Layers mostly

If you want them for layers only and you want lots of eggs you can't beat the leghorn. If you want a colorful egg basket then go with a few brown egg layers like the barred rock, production red, black stars. Easter eggers will give you a blue/green egg. If you want a super dark brown (chocolate) egg then get a few marans. All but the marans can typically be found at your local farm store in season.
 
Love the pic of your little fluffball! Looks like a gray or a partridge....cute! LOVE the fluffy ones.

Yes, pluck if you plan to show otherwise you have to wait for moult. If you have already cut and do want to show, just pluck the trimmed feathers;-)

Is Chance a silkie? I love the silkie boys. I have one mean one now though and as soon as he is replaced it will be off with his head! The only mean silkie I've had. Hate that bird!
Here is Chance. Sorry for the blur, and he is really dirty!
 
If you want them for layers only and you want lots of eggs you can't beat the leghorn.  If you want a colorful egg basket then go with a few brown egg layers like the barred rock, production red, black stars. Easter eggers will give you a blue/green egg.  If you want a super dark brown (chocolate) egg then get a few marans.  All but the marans can typically be found at your local farm store in season.

Thanks for the advice. I have a Easter egger already. I'm interested in the Marans :D
 

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