Multi breeder hatching thread.... Hatch-Along

[Sazbaby]

My problem is that I just don't know which thermometer to trust... they are all fairly stable with the numbers they show, but they range greatly...

One weather station reads 102.6 on the outside probe (inside the bator though), this was very consistently 101.5-101.7 during all my trial runs. The same weather station reads 99.4 on the inside reading, it was very consistently 99.9 through trial runs.

Another weather station reads 100.0 on the inside reading, it was consistently 100.5 to 100.6 in trials. The outside probe on this one is broken.

My meat thermometer is reading 100-101 from what I can tell, it's small and the marks are really close together...

Not sure why I'm getting such diverse numbers, some are higher, some are lower than in the trials, I just don't really trust any of them. Thinking when I go to candle on day 7 I will just pull the thermometers out so I don't stress over it... or maybe keep the one that is currently 100.0... I like that number just fine.... lol

Two of my meters have humidity on them, I'm showing 50% on one and 44% on the other, again not sure why they never seem to agree. I've just got the inner trough filled up like the directions state and will try to let it go. I did weigh all my eggs before setting them, so I'll be able to monitor weight loss over time and will maybe adjust based on that...

How do mama hens make this look so easy? lol I was pretty pleased at how quickly the bator got up to temp after putting the eggs in, they had been sitting at room temperature prior, and I think easily within an hour the temps were up in the expected range. Keeping my fingers crossed that the good ol' Genesis will come through for me and next go-round will be less stressful!!

 

[Conchis]

So I've got 6 runner ducks set up to start tomorrow. If ducks are allowed, I'm in too.

 

[Sazbaby]

Yay, another to hatch along!!! Ducklings are so darned cute, wish we had a place to keep them happy, I'd have a bunch in a heartbeat!! Can't wait to see pics!!!

 

[Derrick]

Ducks are awesome!!.

Don't stress too much on the temps. Just get a couple that are close together and use them. The other thing is to watch closely as I found that in the past the incubator could trend up or down after the first 24hr or more.

 

[Sazbaby]

Keeping an eye on the temps and so far we're stable but seems very slightly warmer than it was in trial runs- someone on another thread pointed out that having the turner running sometimes raises the temp slightly, I guess a little bit of heat from the motor? So far so good, humidity is going a little bit low (one says 44 and the other says 50%) but I'm going to try to stick it out with just keeping the inner trough filled...

Closing in on the first 24 hours mark and let me tell you this is going to be a looooong 21 days!!! I want chicks!!! lol

 

[Derrick]

Looked at my bator as well this evening. I think all is well. I too worry about the temp's with the different guages reading different numbers. I did this about 3 years ago with the same machines and it worked. I'm doing it the same way I think.

 

[Conchis]

Well....so far so good...temps are holding steady and the eggs are sitting there staring at me. I probably won't turn on the turner for a few days because these are shipped eggs and the post office thought they were shipping a football to me. Sheesh...those guys don't know what fragile means. The guy actually tossed the package up on the counter to me! Amazing!

 

[Sazbaby]

The guy actually tossed the package up on the counter to me! Amazing!

AAAAAAHHHHH!!!! Pretty disheartening, isn't it? I've only done shipped eggs one time, really REALLY wanted some nice quality silkies, and got a good deal on a dozen eggs. Packed impeccably but out of the dozen I only had one chick, the rest were yellow glop inside. As luck would have it, the chick disappeared from under the hen one night when it was a week or two old, can't figure anything other than a rat got in through a hole or something, the coop is pretty well predator proof for anything bigger than a rat, but I was so disappointed... He was there when I closed them up that night and the next morning she hopped off the nest and all that was left was a little wing... Don't know if I will go the shipped route again, that was an expensive dead chick!!! lol

 

[Conchis]

I hear you about the expensive dead chick. I've only just started this hatching thing. I got a few maran eggs and hatched out 2 of what ended up being 6. I think that might actually be about average based on what I've seen posted here. 33% is pretty decent. Of the two, of course, one turned out to be a rooster, he's cool, but of course I wanted hens. Soooo....but anyway....here I am trying ducks out. I do like hatching so, I will probably give it a few more times, before I switch over to hatching out my own. I think today I will turn the turner on.

 

[Sazbaby]

Ok, closing in on the start of day 4 I guess, this afternoon. I think when I candle on day 7 I'm going to take out one of my thermometers... It's still reading over 102 on the external reading and after staying steady for days, the internal reading is saying something like 98.4! The meat thermometer looks steady at 100 and the other digital thermometer is consistently 99.9 to 100.0, so I think that one will stay!!! Haven't yet had to add any water and things are looking good. Had to laugh because I have a few eggs in there from my Americauna hen who is 7 years old and hardy to beat the band, she has long outlived the others from her hatch, and I desperately want some chicks from her... I hatched one last summer and of course it turned out to be a roo... Anyhow, I was afraid the eggs wouldn't be fertile because she seems to be on bad terms with our standard roo, but yesterday I saw him breed her! But, the laughable part is that I have a black silkie roo out there too, and was thinking he wasn't getting any action, but I saw him breed one of my red sex links!!! LOL So the eggs could *all* potentially be silkie crosses!! OMG That's not what I was going for!!! Guess we'll see what we get!! lmao