Little Giant Incubator Tricks

[Arielle]

I kept the humidity at around 50% until the last few days. if it went up or down some during, then its still ok. At pip, I filled all cells and that makes it about 70%. So see, with the staggered sets even the younger eggs were exposed to that high humidity for a day or so. No drowned chicks.

I'm glad you found what works for you. this would never work for me so my % RHis different.

 

[CrookdBeak13]

I put my lonely Black Orpington egg into lockdown tonight, since it was the only out of 3, I placed it in the LG with the unfinished eggs from yesterdays disaster and boosted the humidity a touch.

Candled all eggs since I was going in, and wouldn't you know, movement in ALL of yesterday's eggs with a bit of veining left. WOW! I am in amazement.

This after not only being 25 days into incubation, but sometime yesterday morning there was a temp spike in the bator that I didn't catch, just happened to notice the "high" on the thermometer--106!!!!!! So......if these guys hatch they gotta be keepers, as long as there are no deformities!

Oh the worries of hatching and I am a newbie!

 

[Arielle]

I found hatching very stressful the first year-- so completely understand!

106 is not bad if it has only been a very short time-- that is really the key. As long as the spike has not been long enough to have a detrimental effect on the embyro. ANd only hatching them out will give that answer. Praying they are ok.

If nothing else take this as a great learning opportunity.

 

[CrookdBeak13]

I found hatching very stressful the first year-- so completely understand!

106 is not bad if it has only been a very short time-- that is really the key. As long as the spike has not been long enough to have a detrimental effect on the embyro. ANd only hatching them out will give that answer. Praying they are ok.

If nothing else take this as a great learning opportunity.

I wish I had the energy to actually write down EVERYTHING, then I would have one long journal. I am going to make it a point to write everything down as I start the next hatch and such. I have chicks that are supposed to be arriving tomorrow that are going to be my egg laying breeders. I sell most of my eggs and in order to keep my production as well as offset the feed a bit, I am going to be hatching out Red and Black sex links. As well as dabbling in the Japanese and Silkie hatching. So I am hoping that I can take everything that I learn with each hatch and use towards the next.
I think journals are a must!

 

[Arielle]

YOu should have seen my journal the first year!! lol a grid: time, each therometer and location, RH, room temp outside temp and weather. I quickly learned that small swings in temp was not evident until I revewed the info over a couple days span. THen could see if temps were rising, or dropping. ALso discovered that RH swung witht he room RH, which followed the weather.

And watching the temps and candling the air cells were KEY. Hatching was the litnus test for thermometer accuracy. Hatching on time was more omportant than actual temp. Meaning if thermometer measured 100 and the chicks hatched on day 21-- then I left it alone.

 

[quailtrail]

Lock down tomorrow! !!! I am s ooooo excited! !! Hoping for MUCH better results this time!

 

[CrookdBeak13]

Today is day 26 for my original 10 remaining eggs, 19 for my black orpington egg and 6 for the 8 eggs in my coolerbator(which really was an experiment to see if it would continue to hold an acceptable temp). The original 10 are still moving a little, I am still perplexed as they were set the same exact time as the other 5 which have already hatched, but I guess I will give them until Monday. The black orpington egg I was a little concerned about yesterday based on air cell size, but after being in the LG with the other 10 and it has increased to what appears to be acceptable. The 6 in the coolerbator I decided to weigh as well as candle. The weights are good, those that didn't lose weight on day 4 lost by today, and some did not lose, but air cell development looks good and there is obvious veining in ALL 8 eggs. I had it written to weigh/candle tomorrow, but I work 16 hour shifts on the weekends and wouldn't be able to do it, so I decided to do it tonight.

I think I am going to build another cooler bator, that will give me a little bigger footprint and use the 2 coolerbators and work out turners and a set of hatching trays for the big one. I am not giving up on the LG, I WILL conquer this! haha.

I am thinking of adding a fan and a hygrostat from incubator warehouse and hope that some of my problems are solved.

On another note, my 25 chicks for my sex link pen arrived today. All 25 happy and healthy from Welp Hatchery. I think if I ever need hatchery birds again, I wouldn't hesitate to try them. Customer service was great and they answered any questions that I have had. I picked up the birds at 830am as I received the call at 730am(I was still sleeping) and they took to eating and drinking right away. I was surprised and Happy!

Ok, Rambling over! Hope everyone is having a great day.

 

[MaineiacJay]

im disappointed. i did my first hatch in April and had a pretty good hatch rate despite fluctuating temps and a 2 hour power outage in cold weather and no heat. this time, with 29 eggs, the temp has been pretty steady through the whole process. but when i candled the eggs at day 14, i could see there was less development then there should have been. i locked them down and day 21 is tomorrow. i have one chick that hatched tonight and another that has pipped a good hole. i candled the rest and there seems to only be a couple others that look to be close to where they should be, but i cant see movement or hear any peeping. the rest i would estimate at maybe day 14, and cant really see movement.

i dont know what could have gone wrong. most of the eggs seem a little cold but all thermometers are reading 99. very sad...

 

[dstinett]

My last two batches have hatched 3 days late. Don't give up yet

 

[Arielle]

Hi Everyone!! NIce to see New faces to join in!

FOr best success having eggs from well fed and well cared for birds makes a difference.

Handling between laying and setting is also important.

A reliable incubator is next and the tools to help verify temps and humidity, and a handy dandy notebook. WIth smaller incubators things can go wrong and can effect the hatching rate. Having said that, keeping a detailed note book is invaluable.

Record:

set date and time
turning times and which side ( x or O)
temp and where in incubator is the temp and which thermometer.
incubator RH
room RH
outside weather

I found that by keeping this information ( and more) I could then see which factors palyed a part in the out come and how it played a part.

If the temp should be 99.5 at half the height of the egg, then is it still 99.5 if the egg is bigger or much smaller? If Laid on side, or upright??

THe time from set to hatch tells you loads about the thermometer and where to take usefull temperatures.

Wash hands before turning eggs
clean incubator properly between hatches.
Keep out of reach of children that can toy with the knobs, etc.

THere is a bit of trial and error. Learning to hatch on unshipped eggs is a boon. It is about learning the right humidity for your location, learning your thermometers, moving the eggs around the incubator to even out heat spots and cold spots. A fan usually gives better results but both methods are effective under different manangement techniques.

How shipped eggs are turned is different than unshipped eggs. THough I like to keep mine in a carton in the upright position, others do well putting eggs under a broody ( eggs with good air cells)

See anything that sticks out as hmmm maybe it was that? Try setting eggs again.