JANUARY 2015 Hatch-A-Long

[Renee572]

I'm getting a little annoyed! I have 2 thermometers in my incubator right now. An acurite from walmart that shows temp and humidity which I also used with my first hatch and a probe thermometer I got from the reptile section right before I started this hatch. Now I was pretty sure my first thermometer was pretty accurate and it read 100 pretty steadily for the entire hatch last time and it still is this time. My other one however the past 2 days has kept jumping up to 102 and getting close to 103, all while the other reads 100. I'm nervous to believe the second thermometer because I know my 10 chicks grew well last time. But I'm also nervous to ignore it in case my other one is wrong. Aghhh I knew I should have just used 1 thermometer and left it at that so I didn't stress about such varying temps.

What to do, what to do?!

 

[Purpletie3]

I know your frustration. I bought 4. I just got the Brinsea Spot check which was guaranteed accurate to 1/10 of a degree.

Even if you do an ice test...it's still not around 99.5. Do you have any regular thermometers that you could use?

 

[Renee572]

I know your frustration. I bought 4. I just got the Brinsea Spot check which was guaranteed accurate to 1/10 of a degree.

Even if you do an ice test...it's still not around 99.5. Do you have any regular thermometers that you could use?

like one you put in your mouth? I do but it's old and I'm not even sure it reads correctly.

 

[blackgoat]

That's a good question on humidity and a staggered hatch...

No one answered my thread question on it either. I wanted to try and hatch in my incubator with staggered eggs...they are 3 and 5 days apart. And then what would your humidity be??? My goal was 65% at hatch and 53% 1-18...

Anyone ever do this all together???

I have the humidity at 65-70 for the lockdown period, but because I am turning by hand, I have to open the incubator. I had these in with the NYD hatch a long eggs, mainly because I couldn't all the eggs I ordered at the same time. I haven't had a problem keeping humidity up, but the problem is keeping the temp up when I'm opening the incubator 3 times a day. I have to put warm water in glass jars to help keep the temp up every time I open the lid otherwise I get serious temp dips. The humidity will drop for a few minutes, but goes back up pretty quick. And I try not to open while there are visible pips.

I have also been using the carton method, putting the "lockdown" eggs in a cut-down egg carton. If I did a staggered hatch again, I would come up with a way to separate the hatching chicks from the newer eggs, because the chicks are running all over them. I also have to wash the incubator after these guys go into the brooder. Some kind of separation container would probably help with that, too.

 

[Renee572]

I have the humidity at 65-70 for the lockdown period, but because I am turning by hand, I have to open the incubator. I had these in with the NYD hatch a long eggs, mainly because I couldn't all the eggs I ordered at the same time. I haven't had a problem keeping humidity up, but the problem is keeping the temp up when I'm opening the incubator 3 times a day. I have to put warm water in glass jars to help keep the temp up every time I open the lid otherwise I get serious temp dips. The humidity will drop for a few minutes, but goes back up pretty quick. And I try not to open while there are visible pips.

I have also been using the carton method, putting the "lockdown" eggs in a cut-down egg carton. If I did a staggered hatch again, I would come up with a way to separate the hatching chicks from the newer eggs, because the chicks are running all over them. I also have to wash the incubator after these guys go into the brooder. Some kind of separation container would probably help with that, too.

Well sounds like you got it down and it's working out. Do you like the cut down egg carton method? I cut down an egg carton last hatch but decided against using it. I only had 1 hatch so I don't think it would have made a difference that time but this time I'm really hoping I get half or more of the eggs to hatch and I've been thinking about using the egg carton.

I may put half the eggs in the carton and half laying down?!

 

[blackgoat]

I'm getting a little annoyed! I have 2 thermometers in my incubator right now. An acurite from walmart that shows temp and humidity which I also used with my first hatch and a probe thermometer I got from the reptile section right before I started this hatch. Now I was pretty sure my first thermometer was pretty accurate and it read 100 pretty steadily for the entire hatch last time and it still is this time. My other one however the past 2 days has kept jumping up to 102 and getting close to 103, all while the other reads 100. I'm nervous to believe the second thermometer because I know my 10 chicks grew well last time. But I'm also nervous to ignore it in case my other one is wrong. Aghhh I knew I should have just used 1 thermometer and left it at that so I didn't stress about such varying temps.

What to do, what to do?!

It's so hard to know what thermometer to trust! I had one that I suspected was off, but was one that I had used in the previous hatch with success. I had tested it against two other thermometers when I thought it was reading high. I put them in room temp water. That will only be accurate to 1 degree or so, but it's better that thinking it was off by 3 degrees, and keeping the incubator at 97. It turned out the other 2 thermometers were off by 2 or 3 degrees!

 

[blackgoat]

cool. How do you handle humidity during staggered hatches? Oh and also turning the eggs that need turning?

I answered part of this question in my previous post, but forgot some things. If you are worried about the newer eggs having too much humidity during the lockdown period, using the carton method for hatching I think helps if the air cells are small. I had an (olive) egg in the NYD hatch that had such a teeny air cell on day 18 that it actually sank when I did a float test. It hatched, two days late, but it did hatch! I probably won't do a staggered hatch again, it's kind of a pain, or if I do, I will get a second incubator to use as a hatcher.

 

[gimmie birdies]

This was my hatch in sept., all went in the same day, but 3 hatched 3 days late, but they hatched.

 

[blackgoat]

Well sounds like you got it down and it's working out. Do you like the cut down egg carton method? I cut down an egg carton last hatch but decided against using it. I only had 1 hatch so I don't think it would have made a difference that time but this time I'm really hoping I get half or more of the eggs to hatch and I've been thinking about using the egg carton.

I may put half the eggs in the carton and half laying down?!

I have only used the carton method once (well, twice now, lol!) and would say that I prefer it. But, they were all shipped eggs. I think it does help with saddle cells, but I'm not sure if it's any better than laying down if the air cells are shaped properly. I want to try that experiment, too! I might try it with the ones I have left, they weren't shipped.

 

[blackgoat]

This was my hatch in sept., all went in the same day, but 3 hatched 3 days late, but they hatched.

Aw! What a cute little group!