June Hatch A Long

[starri33]

The red chick is a reddish Easter Egger roo over a crested cream legbar hen. She has a tail coming in so it’s just a weird angle.

For your hatch: keep on coming babies!!

She's beautiful, they all are, I'm trying to decide what it is I want to hatch next, I've been wanting to add color to my egg basket, not sure what breed it would need to be.

 

[LilyD]

Thanks for weighing in! I do indeed have a calibrated probe in there that’s a 1x1 inch square, so measures at about the center temp of the egg. I’ve moved the probe around daily and recorded (see attached pic for map). I also moved the eggs around to different slots twice a day in hopes of evening out the temps. This incubator is a 2370 Hovo bator, forced fan, turner, digital control. As you can see from the temperature map, it has some very cool slots, below 99 F. It also has hot spots of over 100 F. The temperature in a particular slot stays pretty constant, no more than 0.5 F change. The other attached pic shows today’s temperatures; drop was when I opened the bator to rotate position of eggs, average was 99 F. Average recorded temp over the course of my bad hatch over rotated slots was 99.7 F.

I’m currently incubating guinea eggs, so I’ve turned the temp down by 0.2 F since my recent poor hatch. I’m afraid to turn it down more when I have temps below 99 F... Go by my recent early hatch and turn it down more anyway? I know some people use rocks to even out temps, but I’m not sure where I’d put them with that turner... Thanks again!

I don't think I would turn it down too much. I can't imagine that hatching under a chicken is constantly at 99.5 there has to be a degree of variance but not sure what that is. I tend to be okay plus or minus a degree when I hatch just because I figure there has to be some variability to it when hatching normally. Going by that your map doesn't seem that bad I would mainly be concerned with the corner that gets almost to 101 and keep the eggs from there if possible.

Making sure the incubator is in a space that doesn't get light from a window or is not drafty (near a fan or ac unit) will help it stabilize and hold temp better. I think I have the same incubator but when I a mapped mine it was 99 to 100 in every spot. I have two other thermometers in mine and they are hanging right at 99. I move those when I open to candle and check on the eggs. The other idea that might be something that could help would be to blow out the area where the fan and sensors are on the underside of the hood for the incubator as the sensor could have dust covering it so it may not be getting an accurate temp. Especially after multiple hatches.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I don't think I would turn it down too much. I can't imagine that hatching under a chicken is constantly at 99.5 there has to be a degree of variance but not sure what that is. I tend to be okay plus or minus a degree when I hatch just because I figure there has to be some variability to it when hatching normally. Going by that your map doesn't seem that bad I would mainly be concerned with the corner that gets almost to 101 and keep the eggs from there if possible.

Making sure the incubator is in a space that doesn't get light from a window or is not drafty (near a fan or ac unit) will help it stabilize and hold temp better. I think I have the same incubator but when I a mapped mine it was 99 to 100 in every spot. I have two other thermometers in mine and they are hanging right at 99. I move those when I open to candle and check on the eggs. The other idea that might be something that could help would be to blow out the area where the fan and sensors are on the underside of the hood for the incubator as the sensor could have dust covering it so it may not be getting an accurate temp. Especially after multiple hatches.

Thanks for looking at that! This was the first time use of this incubator so shouldn’t be dusty. I do want to carefully inspect the ventilation intake, as that’s where I think the variation in temp is coming from - all the lowest temps are at the intake diffuser. The incubator is along an interior wall with steady air temps. The incubator does not seem to have temperature swings, it’s very consistent within a slot. It’s that slot to slot variation that concerns me. My guinea eggs seem more developed than they should be (maybe, can’t find a guinea egg candling timeline) so I now have temps turned down 0.6 Degrees less than with my disaster chicken hatch.
Thanks again for looking at that!

 

[jolenesdad]

So interesting @Mixed flock enthusiast im sorry it’s such a struggle but it is a lot of learning for us all!


My splayed leg baby is ALL HEALED!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

My splayed leg baby is ALL HEALED!

View attachment 1829205

Yay! Great job fixing the splay leg! LOVE your duckies!!

 

[dougieee]

You can see the Araucanas, they are a beautifil grey solver colour, im surprised at the variations in colour with the EE`s though

 

[jolenesdad]

View attachment 1829278
You can see the Araucanas, they are a beautifil grey solver colour, im surprised at the variations in colour with the EE`s though

Adorable babies!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to watch those EEs grow!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

So interesting @Mixed flock enthusiast im sorry it’s such a struggle but it is a lot of learning for us all!


My splayed leg baby is ALL HEALED!

View attachment 1829205

Awesome - great job with it! We had one splay leg out of 15 ducklings last year, and I was amazed at how quickly it healed! We had him fixed up in about 24 hr.

On the other hand, we had a guinea keet with a slipped tendon, and nothing that I did helped him. After the vet school gave me an estimate of $2K+ to surgically fix it, I ended up culling the chick. There was someone in Texas who brought their keet into the vet school to fix the same problem (slipped tendon). Their were more problems after surgery, and the total bill ended up over $10K!!! These people flew their private jet to Stillwater for weekly appointments for their keet! Anyway, I really hope I don’t have slipped tendons in our hatching keets! If so, I’ll euthanize immediately. The nonsurgical treatment is painful and I don’t ever want to put another keet through that for a small chance of success.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

View attachment 1829278
You can see the Araucanas, they are a beautifil grey solver colour, im surprised at the variations in colour with the EE`s though

Oh my goodness!! Love the colors!!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Awesome - great job with it! We had one splay leg out of 15 ducklings last year, and I was amazed at how quickly it healed! We had him fixed up in about 24 hr.

On the other hand, we had a guinea keet with a slipped tendon, and nothing that I did helped him. After the vet school gave me an estimate of $2K+ to surgically fix it, I ended up culling the chick. There was someone in Texas who brought their keet into the vet school to fix the same problem (slipped tendon). Their were more problems after surgery, and the total bill ended up over $10K!!! These people flew their private jet to Stillwater for weekly appointments for their keet! Anyway, I really hope I don’t have slipped tendons in our hatching keets! If so, I’ll euthanize immediately. The nonsurgical treatment is painful and I don’t ever want to put another keet through that for a small chance of success.

Wow!! I love my chickens but I can't imagine spending $10,000 on one! I might even think twice before spending it on my husband. lol!