Hi all,
Another newbie to both here and hatching via an incubator....
I live in the UK and wanted some advice if possible please. I have made my own incubator and up until about 5 days ago all was going peerfectly well. My wife and I love Pekin Chickens and already have 6 in our coop in the back garden. We, have spent money on buying these chickens but thought shall we have a try at hatching some eggs.
I trawled the net for designs of homemade setups and eventually cam up with a polystyrene ice chest, a 60W light bulb for heat. Water for the obvious humidity etc.. You get the idea. We bought 8 Pekin eggs from a local supplier and set to work.
I managed to maintain the internal temp around the 100F and the humidity between 60 to 65% for the first two weeks. I candled all 8 eggs on day 10 and day 14. To our amazement there was something moving in ALL 8..!!!! Excited, we gently placed them back in and continued the process. Then disaster we had a power cut whilst in bed and the incubator dropped to around 80F. We were devastated, after all this work we may have lost our babies. We have no idea how long the power was out, or how long the eggs were down at that level of heat.
I candled the eggs later that night and could see dark spots but not a lot of movement inside. We stopped turning on day 18, and increased humidity to around the 85% mark. We have watched the system like a hawk ever since. I have been up now 5 nights straight making sure the heat and humidity is constant and safe. (Every two hours in fact)
We are now on day 21 and are still staring through the little window at the eggs. I have installed a webcam and timelapse camera since last night to capture any movement. But alas nothing. We know Pekin Chickens take 21 days to hatch and are wondering can they take longer?. After our disaster should we give up all hope and start again. We have listened for and "Peeps", but again nothing. Its so disheartening, after all this and we have achieved nothing other than some knowledge on how to do better next time.
All this really was for my kids who have also spent hours in front of the window and are now so disappointed.
Can anyone with any ideas let me know please. I dont want to give up on them if there maybe some hope, but then again I dont want them sitting in front of the incubator with my kids watching if there is no chance of hatching...
Sorry for the long winded way of asking for advice, but anything anyone could offer would be of a great help and I thank you in advance...
Thanks
JG
Another newbie to both here and hatching via an incubator....
I live in the UK and wanted some advice if possible please. I have made my own incubator and up until about 5 days ago all was going peerfectly well. My wife and I love Pekin Chickens and already have 6 in our coop in the back garden. We, have spent money on buying these chickens but thought shall we have a try at hatching some eggs.
I trawled the net for designs of homemade setups and eventually cam up with a polystyrene ice chest, a 60W light bulb for heat. Water for the obvious humidity etc.. You get the idea. We bought 8 Pekin eggs from a local supplier and set to work.
I managed to maintain the internal temp around the 100F and the humidity between 60 to 65% for the first two weeks. I candled all 8 eggs on day 10 and day 14. To our amazement there was something moving in ALL 8..!!!! Excited, we gently placed them back in and continued the process. Then disaster we had a power cut whilst in bed and the incubator dropped to around 80F. We were devastated, after all this work we may have lost our babies. We have no idea how long the power was out, or how long the eggs were down at that level of heat.
I candled the eggs later that night and could see dark spots but not a lot of movement inside. We stopped turning on day 18, and increased humidity to around the 85% mark. We have watched the system like a hawk ever since. I have been up now 5 nights straight making sure the heat and humidity is constant and safe. (Every two hours in fact)
We are now on day 21 and are still staring through the little window at the eggs. I have installed a webcam and timelapse camera since last night to capture any movement. But alas nothing. We know Pekin Chickens take 21 days to hatch and are wondering can they take longer?. After our disaster should we give up all hope and start again. We have listened for and "Peeps", but again nothing. Its so disheartening, after all this and we have achieved nothing other than some knowledge on how to do better next time.
All this really was for my kids who have also spent hours in front of the window and are now so disappointed.
Can anyone with any ideas let me know please. I dont want to give up on them if there maybe some hope, but then again I dont want them sitting in front of the incubator with my kids watching if there is no chance of hatching...
Sorry for the long winded way of asking for advice, but anything anyone could offer would be of a great help and I thank you in advance...
Thanks
JG
