little giant 9300

[bamadude]

Get a GQF genesis hova-bator 1588. It really is a "plug in and forget" incubator. The temp is factory set at 99.5. I have never touched the adjustment buttons. Im getting near perfect hatches every single time.

 

[Ren2014]

Get a GQF genesis hova-bator 1588. It really is a "plug in and forget" incubator. The temp is factory set at 99.5. I have never touched the adjustment buttons. Im getting near perfect hatches every single time.

That's already my plan for the next incubator

I had to get what was local at the time and the only thing was this LG.

 

[Ren2014]

Wait till day 14 to candle again... your eggs may not have been fertile eggs? And a few days at lower then optimum to start may have given them a sloooowwww start..Be patient a few more days..candle at 14 days and cull the non-starters.
Where did you get the eggs from?

Well of course I couldn't wait til day 14. I had to take a look today and GOOD news.... 2 were moving

WOW, what a difference a day made. I can't wait til day 14

 

[stevethack]

lol... yeah, I can understand being happier when ya see progress..

I put a dozen in my 9300 on the first. Mainly just a fertility test on my GLW rooster. The eggs had all been showing a small bullseye on all I had broke open when cooking. Even though the eggs are from new-ish pullets they are already are from medium to a almost large size. I did pick and choose the larger ones to go into the incubator. But there's still plenty of time for this bunch to feather out before really cold weather gets here in central Arkansas. My barely over one month old bunch has been out early in mid-40's temps eating and playing when the big chicken's coop and pen light come on at 5am. Chickens are a lot hardier then folks give them credit for. Ditto for eggs.

 

[stevethack]

Day 7 was complete at 8am this morning. I just candled all of the dozen in the bator. Looks like a couple clears out of the dozen. So there's 10 fertile eggs in there. I left the 2 possible clears since both are brown-ish kind of thick shells and harder to see through....my pullets are laying good thick hard shells on their eggs...lol
I will candle again about 12-14 days and cull and at lockdown. I've been keeping the humidity at between 35-44% this time. Temps have been rock steady for over 8 days now with the first day warm-up-stabilize-test day included. Air sacs looked maybe/possibly/slightly? small for 7 days. I may have to run down closer to 35% humidity for a week or so to let the air sacs catch up. But they are definitely getting bigger.
I guess that year old Gold Laced Wyandotte over the Black Australorps, Barred Rocks, and the Cinnamon Queens is doing his job fairly well since there's only one for sure Cinnamon Queen (slightly darker brown then the others and probably the one I had noticed didn't like the GLW roo much around her...runs off!) and one "probably" Black Australorp egg (barely darker then the BR's) over in the "probably clear side".. This was from a one day gathering of 11 eggs out of 13 pullets...and one from a BR the next morning. All never washed or chilled of course. All candled clear to start, and all were pretty and clean too.
And all are from a medium to a smaller large size egg.
Now to see how many hatch and are healthy. *****Patience.....patience...twiddles thumbs..******

But I also have a GQF (1200-1400-1500 sized) style home made bator cabinet made with cedar boards about 2/3 way done now sitting out in my workshop. Gluing up the multi-board top (hinged) and multi-board removable back. This thing could be a home decoration like the old redwood bators that used to sit in farm kitchens...when I get done varnishing the outside...but raw, natural no finish insides though to retain humidity though.
Will set it up initially to use up to 4 LG/generic egg turners on 2 levels (160 plus egg capability... if I ever go completely nutz...but with a possibility of 3 levels (6 turners) like a GQF and 240 plus egg capability if I totally lose it) and have big split deep hatcher boxes in the bottom area. I have a couple of used industrial temp controllers ( 3/10ths plus/minus of a degree range...close enuff) I'm just itching to put to use.

 

[bamadude]

Sounds cool Steve

 

[Ren2014]

I have 3 active embryos

Not good being that we started with 16 but I am thrilled. I tossed 12 that were infertile and kept one that was questionable. I'm just a rookie but even I know that's a really sad fertility %. Today is day 14. What % humidity should I be at going into lock down? I'm assuming that I need to have humidity stable before lock down because after day 18 I should not open the bator again until I pull out dry chicks. Is this right?? Thank you so much for your help.

 

[stevethack]

Needs to be 65%-80% humidity at lockdown..(mostly fill 2-3 channels/more/less).. then let it drop to 60% before adding more water. ...or if yer leaving for the day before that ..keep it up higher then during incubation.
Don't worry about stabilizing humidity at/before lockdown...just remove turner...set eggs flat down on egg crate?/mesh stuff? in the bottom of the bator (or in a cut off egg carton...big end up again)...put down a paper towels or two on top of the crate stuff so the little fuzzy butts can walk and sit on it.. about fill 2-3 troughs with warm water..100 degrees or so (baby bottle warm?) .. watch close for next 3 days so it's not less then 60% or so..and not much more then 85% just after filling for an hour or so. And watch temp cuz it will probably drop or even raise? some with the higher humidity...but don't mess with the setting for at least 3 hours when it finally stabilizes.. It will drop of course when you remove the turner..and add water and mess with the eggs...just do the switching fast and stick the top back on and let it sit and stabilize. And I open the bator "window" up to remove the first few chicks... but with only 3 they can all stay in the bator until hatching is finished to cheer the others on.. If the chicks are pipping and zipping and the humidity is under 60% slightly...don't panic cuz the humidity of the hatching chicks and drying off will raise the humidity a lot.. Just make sure ya wash/disinfect your hands before handling the chicks/eggs, etc.. and afterwards too!

And shipped eggs are a crap shoot sometimes.. sometimes not. Depends on how the mail was handled..how they were packed...how long in shipping...age of laying hens...which flip of the coin was up...the moon cycle... position of the sun/earth... and if Vlad Putin was having a good day or not.. Who knows all the variables that can throw a wrench into the works...but 3 outa 16 starters kinda sucks to say the least...might wanna let the seller know..??
I had 10 out of a dozen eggs I candled this morning that are fertile out of my new pullets that have been laying for 4-6 weeks now that I stuck in the 9300 on Oct 1st...mainly to test the fertility of the fancy smancy G-L-Wyandotte roo I have strutting around like he owns the pen and coop. I guess he be doing what a roo should be doin..

I wasn't on when you posted earlier... I was out in my shop working on and building my GQF "wanna be/clone" home made cabinet inkybator and then cooked supper an just now noticed your post/questions..
Good luck with the remaining fertile eggs... keep posting what's happenin.

 

[Ren2014]

Needs to be 65%-80% humidity at lockdown..(mostly fill 2-3 channels/more/less).. then let it drop to 60% before adding more water. ...or if yer leaving for the day before that ..keep it up higher then during incubation.
Don't worry about stabilizing humidity at/before lockdown...just remove turner...set eggs flat down on egg crate?/mesh stuff? in the bottom of the bator (or in a cut off egg carton...big end up again)...put down a paper towels or two on top of the crate stuff so the little fuzzy butts can walk and sit on it.. about fill 2-3 troughs with warm water..100 degrees or so (baby bottle warm?) .. watch close for next 3 days so it's not less then 60% or so..and not much more then 85% just after filling for an hour or so. And watch temp cuz it will probably drop or even raise? some with the higher humidity...but don't mess with the setting for at least 3 hours when it finally stabilizes.. It will drop of course when you remove the turner..and add water and mess with the eggs...just do the switching fast and stick the top back on and let it sit and stabilize. And I open the bator "window" up to remove the first few chicks... but with only 3 they can all stay in the bator until hatching is finished to cheer the others on.. If the chicks are pipping and zipping and the humidity is under 60% slightly...don't panic cuz the humidity of the hatching chicks and drying off will raise the humidity a lot.. Just make sure ya wash/disinfect your hands before handling the chicks/eggs, etc.. and afterwards too!

And shipped eggs are a crap shoot sometimes.. sometimes not. Depends on how the mail was handled..how they were packed...how long in shipping...age of laying hens...which flip of the coin was up...the moon cycle... position of the sun/earth... and if Vlad Putin was having a good day or not.. Who knows all the variables that can throw a wrench into the works...but 3 outa 16 starters kinda sucks to say the least...might wanna let the seller know..??
I had 10 out of a dozen eggs I candled this morning that are fertile out of my new pullets that have been laying for 4-6 weeks now that I stuck in the 9300 on Oct 1st...mainly to test the fertility of the fancy smancy G-L-Wyandotte roo I have strutting around like he owns the pen and coop. I guess he be doing what a roo should be doin..

I wasn't on when you posted earlier... I was out in my shop working on and building my GQF "wanna be/clone" home made cabinet inkybator and then cooked supper an just now noticed your post/questions..
Good luck with the remaining fertile eggs... keep posting what's happenin.

Love the part about the different variables.

All 3 still active this evening

I contacted the seller and she said that is unusual for her and mentioned all of the shipping variables. She offered to ship me her 'extras' if I would pay shipping but I declined.

Be sure to post pictures of your clone!

 

[stevethack]

Stained the outside of the door today after cutting the glued up boards to size. Rest of the outside is stained/sealed/finished. Inside will be natural with no stain or finish. That helps keep the humidity stable. Still have to mount the turner holder brackets and the heater and the (PID) controller. But it's getting there. Will have to burn it in for a week or so to burn off the fumes from the outside sealing/finishing. I'm gonna have it ready for late winter or early spring hatching.
But I will sure keep my 9300 for a backup.. Mine has been going since the 1st of this month just as steady as a rock...but this time I am running more humidity then last time....about 35-40% all the time. No 20-25% this time. Still have 10 viable/probable in it.