May Hatch-a-Long!

[Kelsykin]

I'll be hatching for the first time in my classroom. I am setting my eggs on Earth Day (April 22) and they should hatch the week of May 12 for Mother's Day.
I am using a Hovabator 1620N with an egg turner. I took it into the classroom last week to see how it holds temp and humidity. It seemed to be doing well until I got another thermometer/hydrometer. They do not agree!
I am getting 4 or 5 lavender orpingtons to hatch for my flock and have had 5 people on local chicken keeping groups on Facebook donate eggs to increase my odds of hatching. They said they'd take them back if needed which is great because this will be my first flock and I ordered chicks back in February to come the same week as my hatch week.
I have coming that week 2 barred rock pullets, 3 black australorp SR, 3 BLRW SR, 2 BO SR, 3 GLW pullets, and 2 RIR pullets. So I have 16 chicks coming plus whatever lavenders hatch.
We are going to start the coop this week. I am so excited! Glad to be joining you all!

What we do when we have thermometers disagree is get a cup of ice water. put the thermometer in and see how far off 32 degree F it is..... That is the number we add or subtract to get the correct temp in the bator.

 

[Roxannemc]

Ill join too! Jusat finished the April hatch .. now someone gave me 2 Lo eggs to hatch to add to my bloodline..put them in yesterday.
Next week will be getting some Cuckoo Orp eggs ..on a trade ..so guess ill have some May hatches!
Good luck to ALL!

REVISE......
Im getting Buff brahma Friday and cuckoo orp in a couple weeks DUH.. .
How this happened IDK..i was only going to hatch my lav orps a few times test hatches and now i have new silkie hatched and buff brahma coming and Lemon cuckoos too ......Darn chicken math!!

 

[Kelsykin]

Currently we are tilting the entire incubator every 6 hours. I have two books that were just perfect to sip under the bator and tilt it 45 degrees......

 

[BirdyGirl7198]

I hope everyone is having a good hatch so far!
Out of the 27 eggs I have 26 that are growing! One of them had a scrambled yolk, so I cracked it open and saw no signs of life in that messy little egg.
My home made incubator is far from what I'd call "stable". But they're all growing great! 3 of the eggs I set about 2 weeks before the rest of them, so those ones are due to hatch on April 24th. They look great and are very active little duckies.

The heating element in my incubator is a 25watt bulb, and it works great at keeping the temperature... But only on one side of the incubator. I have a computer fan in there to try to even out the temperature but the eggs that are farther away from the light only get to about 95-97 degrees while the ones closest get about 101.5. The eggs that are a few inches away are at a perfect 99.5.
I rotate the eggs every time I turn them (3 times a day). So I move the ones closest to the heat to the area that's far away from the heat, and visa versa.

Is there anything I can do to stablize the temperature better?
Thanks!

 

[marcbarsby13]

Just set second batch. First was a big disappointment. 36 chicks and 6 mallards. Fingers crossed this time.

 

[FarmGirlForLife]

I set two dozen eastern black turkey eggs on the tenth that are set to hatch on the 7th and three more set to hatch on the 8th. I also set nine Dorking eggs and 1 mille Fleur on the eleventh that are due on May first. I'm getting some more eggs from swaps that will be due in May as well. Lots of chickies! I'm also looking for some lakenvelder eggs. can I please join?

 

[Kelsykin]

Was checking the eggs and realized that some of the duck eggs were mixed in with the turkey eggs. Was rearranging the eggs so the duck eggs were all together. I dropped a turkey egg and cracked it when somebody yelled in the next room. So I am down to 48 eggs in the incubator.

 

[rayray983]

Here's my may hatch so far may 5th 7 welsh harliquin eggs should hatch 2 royal palm turkey eggs 3 peking eggs may 12th 7 welsh Harlequin eggs should hatch may 16th 6 Chinese goose eggs should hatch pretty much will have 7 welsh harliquin eggs hatch a week from April 22 on till she stops laying lol

 

[rayray983]

I hope everyone is having a good hatch so far!
Out of the 27 eggs I have 26 that are growing! One of them had a scrambled yolk, so I cracked it open and saw no signs of life in that messy little egg.
My home made incubator is far from what I'd call "stable". But they're all growing great! 3 of the eggs I set about 2 weeks before the rest of them, so those ones are due to hatch on April 24th. They look great and are very active little duckies.

The heating element in my incubator is a 25watt bulb, and it works great at keeping the temperature... But only on one side of the incubator. I have a computer fan in there to try to even out the temperature but the eggs that are farther away from the light only get to about 95-97 degrees while the ones closest get about 101.5. The eggs that are a few inches away are at a perfect 99.5.
I rotate the eggs every time I turn them (3 times a day). So I move the ones closest to the heat to the area that's far away from the heat, and visa versa.

Is there anything I can do to stablize the temperature better?
Thanks!

is your fan blowing directly on the light? And next thing I would say is mass on jar filled with warm water and sealed the water acts as a heat sink and helps keep temps stable

 

[Meinertzhagens]

What we do when we have thermometers disagree is get a cup of ice water. put the thermometer in and see how far off 32 degree F it is..... That is the number we add or subtract to get the correct temp in the bator.

I read this to my husband and we both said "duh"! Thank you!