July Hatch-a-Long (including 4th of July hatch-a-long)

[FortCluck]

Turken eggs will be here tomorrow plus there’s other mixes. I’m wondering if I’ll get any colored eggs.

 

[CindyinSD]

Only on the side.
So I am correct in my assessment....I won’t bother to try to hatch it if it will more than likely cause a problem for the chick. I have more than enough eggs to fit my bater.
The decent looking extras are going to be incubated in a dough warmer. I just set it up to go to 99*, and put clean padding and a clean kitchen towel on the bottom metal grate. The Humidity is over 40% in the house anyway, and the last few days I can just put something wet like a sponge or something in there, and maybe I’ll get lucky. Got nothing to lose. ☺

Your dough warmer will function like a still air incubator, so the temp isn't 99.5° Fahrenheit like a forced air incubator. The temp for still air at the top of the eggs should be 100-101° Fahrenheit. Get yourself an auxiliary thermometer or two. A hygrometer would also be useful. Of course you know you'll need to hand turn the eggs. 3-5 times a day. Be sure your dough warmer has good ventilation. If you're willing, you might consider drilling a 1/4" hole on the lid somewhere. Since there are often hot/cool spots in a still air (and forced air too, for that matter) incubator, consider rotating your eggs around daily so that no one egg has that off temp the whole 21 days.

In case you haven't considered it, lots of folks take out the turner in order to fit more eggs, then hand turn. If you end up with a lot of clears and/or EQs, you may end up putting the turner back in later on. Be prepared to hand turn the whole time, though, if you do this. You might get lucky!

 

[slbenter]

Thank you for that @CindyinSD. I didn’t know that the temperature should be different. And I think the idea of hand turning is a good idea.

 

[kelseyk]

My notes have been crap lately and I hate that. We had a lot of rain and a late cold snap that delayed getting our corn and garden in and seems like we've been running behind since. There are some definite upsides to winter hatching. Hope you get some good pairs from these hatches!

I still have to plant my garden. I don't have the best green thumb and am surprised I have kept the seedlings alive this long. (I only planted seedlings because I thought there would be a run on the greenhouses...which there wasn't). Now to plant one of the cooler evenings and hope that the plants grow instead of die in the heat.

 

[AgnesGray]

I still have to plant my garden. I don't have the best green thumb and am surprised I have kept the seedlings alive this long. (I only planted seedlings because I thought there would be a run on the greenhouses...which there wasn't). Now to plant one of the cooler evenings and hope that the plants grow instead of die in the heat.

There was around here... Strangely there were no fruit trees even at home depot...lines around the block to buy plants and I even got an email from one of the seed companies I've used in the past that due to crazy demand, they suspended sales to the public or they wouldnt have enough for commercial sales this year. Now the stores at least have restocked and I even picked up a few half dead fruit trees at home depot yesterday. Lol You did well to be prepared, in any case.

 

[slbenter]

My new nickname is now “killer”.

The temp control on my bread warmer seemed way off. The accurate thermometer I had inside was constantly reading low compared to what I had the unit set at, so I increased it, and got the air temp to 100 which held fine for a few hours.
So last night, I put in the remaining eggs I had after filling my Brinsea 28 2 days ago now.
I went ahead and ordered a manual turn, air circulating Hova Bator, due to get here mid week, and not wanting to let these extra eggs sit out too long, figured the warmer would do fine until the new bater arrived.
Awoke this morning at 5am to a very loud clap of thunder, and immediately prayed the power wouldn’t shut off....which it didn’t ...so far so good, time to turn the eggs anyway.
The air temp held nicely at 101. However, when I turned the eggs, I noticed they felt pretty hot. Not as hot as I remembered feeling of those in the Brinsea. Got out an infrared instant thermometer I use for cooking and shot it on several of the egg. Holy hot egg Batman, they each read in the 113-115 range.
Seems that the warming plate gets hotter than the air temp, and even though a thin grate, dense plastic cushion, and double thick linen towel was placed on top of it, it still came through and made them waaaaay too hot. So much for my bread warmer idea.
I’ve been reading this forum for quite a few years, and have never read of eggs surviving temps that high.

The good news is the power never went off. We have a generator in case that ever happens, but thankfully, we didn’t need it. The Brinsea is working flawlessly and I still have the rainbow mix, Delaware, and BCM eggs happily nested and safe.
Live and learn.

 

[AgnesGray]

Anyone who has hatched guineas... Is there anything I should know about lockdown and hatch dya for them? I don't find anything specific online, but their shells are so hard!

 

[AgnesGray]

My new nickname is now “killer”.

The temp control on my bread warmer seemed way off. The accurate thermometer I had inside was constantly reading low compared to what I had the unit set at, so I increased it, and got the air temp to 100 which held fine for a few hours.
So last night, I put in the remaining eggs I had after filling my Brinsea 28 2 days ago now.
I went ahead and ordered a manual turn, air circulating Hova Bator, due to get here mid week, and not wanting to let these extra eggs sit out too long, figured the warmer would do fine until the new bater arrived.
Awoke this morning at 5am to a very loud clap of thunder, and immediately prayed the power wouldn’t shut off....which it didn’t ...so far so good, time to turn the eggs anyway.
The air temp held nicely at 101. However, when I turned the eggs, I noticed they felt pretty hot. Not as hot as I remembered feeling of those in the Brinsea. Got out an infrared instant thermometer I use for cooking and shot it on several of the egg. Holy hot egg Batman, they each read in the 113-115 range.
Seems that the warming plate gets hotter than the air temp, and even though a thin grate, dense plastic cushion, and double thick linen towel was placed on top of it, it still came through and made them waaaaay too hot. So much for my bread warmer idea.
I’ve been reading this forum for quite a few years, and have never read of eggs surviving temps that high.

The good news is the power never went off. We have a generator in case that ever happens, but thankfully, we didn’t need it. The Brinsea is working flawlessly and I still have the rainbow mix, Delaware, and BCM eggs happily nested and safe.
Live and learn.

Sorry you lost those ones! It's better that this happened now than near the end of the process, at least, and was worth a shot!

 

[Vantic]

Day nine of my forced July hatch. Of the 82 eggs set, 13 were not fertilized and 8 early quitters. Last purchase from this local seller was 100% fertilized so I am a bit disappointed in their roosters. I should offer them a motivational public culling of so to help motivate the others...

The remainder are all tucked back in.

In better news, my new pullets are starting to lay (about time) and I got the best Father's day card ever, crafted by my daughter in law who was convinced I would not like it. (So wrong)

 

[FortCluck]

Turken eggs were just set!!!! Got a dozen from a friend. I cannot wait to see what they are!