Jan./Feb. 2014 hatch a long

[Timba]

I never thought of doing it that way, I'll have to borrow that idea.

That's how I'm doing my first hatch. If you place a 3/4 inch PVC pipe under the carton, it's super easy to tilt. And it tilts about 35 degrees too!! Hold the pipe with rubber bands.

 

[dlayne]

~~So I am working on my first hatch. I got a Brinsea Octagon 20 ECO with Auto Turn Egg Incubator for Christmas. I have 7 mail-order bantam eggs and 16 of my backyard mix eggs started on January 24th at 1:30pm. I have candled a couple of times and today took out one clear egg and one with a bad ring in it and no development. Everything else is moving and healthy looking. The temperature is staying steady between 99 and 100 degrees. The humidity is between 40% and 50%. The humidity has spiked twice to 65% for about a half hour each time and I quickly got it back to the 40’s. All this is what I have read to do, but I am a little confused on a few things. I live in a really dry climate and have to add water to a sponge every day to keep humidity between 40 and 50%. I am trying to figure out how I will keep the humidity even higher without opening the incubator. Any suggestions? Also, I have concerns that it will get crowded in the incubator when the chicks start hatching. From what I have read it will kill some eggs if I open the incubator to take out the hatched chicks, but it might kill some eggs if the chicks step on the eggs. What do some of you experienced hatchers recommend? One more question, will my bantams try to hatch before the other eggs? Thanks for any help. I am very excited for Valentine’s Day. The whole family is staying home to watch the eggs hatch with crossed fingers.

Hi! I have the Octagon 20 and live in the desert. I have only hatched a few times but this is what I do at lock down: I put wet rags down on the bottom where it is flat. (make sure not to cover the air vents on the bottom) then if I need to add water I use a straw and one of those bulb things. not sure what they are called.. in my house I call it the "bugger getter" ..my poor kids.. haha! any way, I put the straw through the vent hole in the top and get it so I can put water straight to the bottom without it getting on the eggs or lifting the lid. the straws that have the neck that bends are awesome because you can spin them around and get them to wet more areas of the rag you have below the plastic rack. I also have a vaporizer going in the room I am hatching in that I turned on after I saw the first pip. I think that helps for the times when I do open the lid to get the dry babies and eggs out.. this is just what I have done and it seemed to work pretty well. There is a Brinsea 20 Eco thread on here that I got most of that advice from.. I am not sure how to link it here but it should be fairly easy to find. it was a pretty large thread. I hope this helps! and good luck!

 

[SilkieSensation]

 
~~So I am working on my first hatch. I got a Brinsea Octagon 20 ECO with Auto Turn Egg Incubator for Christmas. I have 7 mail-order bantam eggs and 16 of my backyard mix eggs started on January 24th at 1:30pm. I have candled a couple of times and today took out one clear egg and one with a bad ring in it and no development. Everything else is moving and healthy looking. The temperature is staying steady between 99 and 100 degrees. The humidity is between 40% and 50%. The humidity has spiked twice to 65% for about a half hour each time and I quickly got it back to the 40’s. All this is what I have read to do, but I am a little confused on a few things. I live in a really dry climate and have to add water to a sponge every day to keep humidity between 40 and 50%. I am trying to figure out how I will keep the humidity even higher without opening the incubator. Any suggestions? Also, I have concerns that it will get crowded in the incubator when the chicks start hatching. From what I have read it will kill some eggs if I open the incubator to take out the hatched chicks, but it might kill some eggs if the chicks step on the eggs. What do some of you experienced hatchers recommend? One more question, will my bantams try to hatch before the other eggs? Thanks for any help. I am very excited for Valentine’s Day. The whole family is staying home to watch the eggs hatch with crossed fingers.

Hi! I have the Octagon 20 and live in the desert. I have only hatched a few times but this is what I do at lock down: I put wet rags down on the bottom where it is flat. (make sure not to cover the air vents on the bottom) then if I need to add water I use a straw and one of those bulb things. not sure what they are called.. in my house I call it the "bugger getter" ..my poor kids.. haha! any way, I put the straw through the vent hole in the top and get it so I can put water straight to the bottom without it getting on the eggs or lifting the lid. the straws that have the neck that bends are awesome because you can spin them around and get them to wet more areas of the rag you have below the plastic rack. I also have a vaporizer going in the room I am hatching in that I turned on after I saw the first pip. I think that helps for the times when I do open the lid to get the dry babies and eggs out.. this is just what I have done and it seemed to work pretty well. There is a Brinsea 20 Eco thread on here that I got most of that advice from.. I am not sure how to link it here but it should be fairly easy to find. it was a pretty large thread. I hope this helps! and good luck!

Those things have several names (bulb syringe, nasal asperator, enema bulb) but my kids know it as "the booger snatcher"...lmao

 

[dlayne]

Those things have several names (bulb syringe, nasal asperator, enema bulb) but my kids know it as "the booger snatcher"...lmao

I like that! I am glad I am not the only one that doesn't call it by the appropriate name!

 

[Joshua G]

Well, my incubator finally came and tomorrow i am putting some duck eggs in it.
I've never had ducks before so I am eggcited.

This is my first time incubating anything so i want to do it right.
Is there anything special about hatching duck eggs that i should know about?

 

[SilkieSensation]

Those things have several names (bulb syringe, nasal asperator, enema bulb) but my kids know it as "the booger snatcher"...lmao

 I like that! I am glad I am not the only one that doesn't call it by the appropriate name!

We also have the following at our house:
Gocky-broccoli
Spotty cheese-colby jack
Squishy chicken-creamed chicken
Cheesy sandwiches-grilled cheese sandwiches
Fart beans-baked beans
Fart bean soup-chili

Hafta make it interesting with kids...lol

 

[SilkieSensation]

Well, my incubator finally came and tomorrow i am putting some duck eggs in it.
I've never had ducks before so I am eggcited.
This is my first time incubating anything so i want to do it right.
Is there anything special about hatching duck eggs that i should know about?

They will take their sweet time hatching (up to 3 whole days from pip to fully hatched) so be patient & don't try to help unnecessarily.

 

[sasimpson77]

Day 20 is coming to an end and so far nothing kind of concerned as there is alot of clear space at the pointy end of all my eggs tomorrow is day 18 for my rhodebar eggs.

 

[Cynthia12]

Day 23 and I got a pip!!
Kinda freaked me out, happened while I was candling to check for progress!! Hurry up and got the humidity up...Now the wait

This is great news..day 23!

 

[Cynthia12]

~~So I am working on my first hatch. I got a Brinsea Octagon 20 ECO with Auto Turn Egg Incubator for Christmas. I have 7 mail-order bantam eggs and 16 of my backyard mix eggs started on January 24th at 1:30pm. I have candled a couple of times and today took out one clear egg and one with a bad ring in it and no development. Everything else is moving and healthy looking. The temperature is staying steady between 99 and 100 degrees. The humidity is between 40% and 50%. The humidity has spiked twice to 65% for about a half hour each time and I quickly got it back to the 40’s. All this is what I have read to do, but I am a little confused on a few things. I live in a really dry climate and have to add water to a sponge every day to keep humidity between 40 and 50%. I am trying to figure out how I will keep the humidity even higher without opening the incubator. Any suggestions? Also, I have concerns that it will get crowded in the incubator when the chicks start hatching. From what I have read it will kill some eggs if I open the incubator to take out the hatched chicks, but it might kill some eggs if the chicks step on the eggs. What do some of you experienced hatchers recommend? One more question, will my bantams try to hatch before the other eggs? Thanks for any help. I am very excited for Valentine’s Day. The whole family is staying home to watch the eggs hatch with crossed fingers.

I personally quickly take the chicks out. Think of the mama hen getting up off of the eggs. I've seen them do it, and there is a pipped egg. I tell her, get back on there silly girl. The egg hatches. Keep your humidity up while snatching babies out is what most suggest.
Sounds like you have done a lot of research on hatching. You are doing great on humidity. Don't have to worry about that so much during incubation as you do the temp. During lock down, you really want that humidity up around 55 to 65. I like mine at 62 63.
Doesn't matter if you have bantams or LF..they will hatch on different days, even if you had the breeds in separate bators, they hatch at different times. Make sense?