March 2017! Hatch with us!

[orrpeople]

Well after horrible hatch results running a Farm Innovators Pro Series 4250 I built my own and we are now on day #1. Heat and humidity are holding ROCK SOLID! I see a fantastic hatch rate around the corner!

12 Silkies,
12 Bantams,
12 Easter Eggers
12 Barnyard Open Mix

Room for 4 egg turners or hatch baskets

3 SLC Heating / Cooling Controllers (Top Light, Bottom Light, 12 Volt Heater). Also have an SLC humidity controller that turns an ultrasonic humidifier on and off.

Calibrated within .1 degree Celsius using my tube vet thermometer

This is pretty darn amazing!! Well done!!!

 

[Lamancha]

I've got some internal pips. should be some chicks out by tomorrow night. I took a picture but it didn't turn out very clear. They are in there throwing a little cheeping fit. LET ME OUT!!

 

[orrpeople]

I've got some internal pips. should be some chicks out by tomorrow night. I took a picture but it didn't turn out very clear. They are in there throwing a little cheeping fit. LET ME OUT!!

I'm guessing your X on the egg is for turning purposes - mine have x's where I'm predicting the chick will pip. I don't draw the air sacks (I used to, but after dropping a couple eggs, I decided I didn't have enough coordination), but I look for that low point in the air sack and put on my prediction pip mark. This also helps me to lay them with the correct side up at lockdown!

 

[Lamancha]

I'm guessing your X on the egg is for turning purposes - mine have x's where I'm predicting the chick will pip. I don't draw the air sacks (I used to, but after dropping a couple eggs, I decided I didn't have enough coordination), but I look for that low point in the air sack and put on my prediction pip mark. This also helps me to lay them with the correct side up at lockdown!

Nope, not for turning. I have an egg turner. It's just like you said, the lowest point of the dip in the air cell at day 18 when I pull them off the turner. I used to draw the air cells on too, but it's kind of a waste of time after you know your eggs and your incubator. I think it is helpful when you are new to hatching though. I stop turning and lay them flat on day 18, but don't up the humidity until I see internal pips (usually on day 19). The Swedish Flowers seem to like it dry. They don't usually draw down until day 19. I'm gonna do the same with my legbars and see how it works.

 

[mich9510]

Sounds like an awesome combination!

Where did you get your araucanas?

I purchased both the araucanas and the BCMs from a woman on ebay. I've hatched some of her eggs before and am pleased with the results. I only paid fro 24+shipping but got 38. Very reasonable pricing.

 

[yeye5]

So many things I want to say, but here's a long distance hug, and try not to beat yourself up. You have some sweet new babies and a mama bird who's doing an outstanding job with the odds against her. I know it's easier to say than to do, but you have miracles happening - don't let this one steal your joy.

@yeye5 So sorry about losing a chick. There's every likelihood that it was just not going to make it. If that was the beak out, then it could breathe - so there may have been other, unseen problems. It's very sad, but not every egg can give a healthy, living chick. That makes the ones we do get all the more precious.

Thank you both. Your kindness and understanding mean a lot to me.
I really know that when things like this happen in nature it is due to natural selection and very probably saving the creature from spending a few hours/days/weeks in far worse shape. Logic is on one side and I embrace it. Feelings are on the other side. I embrace those too. If it didn't matter as much to me I'd have no business interfering at all. That too is a viewpoint that many people have and that I respect equally: those that make it do and those that don't just don't. Period. But I do come from the interfering side of the spectrum so I do feel it (all the while understanding it--odd that both understanding and feeling can inhabit the same space).
And, thankfully the loss doesn't take away from the miracle I'm witnessing. It highlights it. I really thank you for being so sweet and understanding.

 

[yeye5]

Well after horrible hatch results running a Farm Innovators Pro Series 4250 I built my own and we are now on day #1. Heat and humidity are holding ROCK SOLID! I see a fantastic hatch rate around the corner!

12 Silkies,
12 Bantams,
12 Easter Eggers
12 Barnyard Open Mix



Room for 4 egg turners or hatch baskets



3 SLC Heating / Cooling Controllers (Top Light, Bottom Light, 12 Volt Heater). Also have an SLC humidity controller that turns an ultrasonic humidifier on and off.



Calibrated within .1 degree Celsius using my tube vet thermometer

WoW!!! That is not only an awesome incubator, it is a work of ART and Genius!

 

[orrpeople]

5 days until my first group of cream legbars are due. This is one of the first hatches I've done with strictly "for me" to raise chicks... no sexlinks, no meaties, no one waiting on them to buy...I feel kind of selfish. A friend asked, "What kind of birds are you hatching next?" After I described the breed, I had to stifle my desire to say, "They're all mine!!!!"

 

[lilwildrabbit]

WoW!!! That is not only an awesome incubator, it is a work of ART and Genius!

Been thinking about one myself but how do you controll the turners?

 

[ARiesb]

HI there! My first hatch. Put them in bator last Monday. Using a farm innovator 4250 and trying not to feel discouraged after reading posts here of people not liking them. I got 8 olive Eggers and 8 French copper Marans that I paid for from someone local. Really hoping some hatch. I think I've been running the humidity too high at 55 to 65%