My first chickens of 2024 - Hatch-Along

[SamLockwood]

Ya I use a govee. I know you can calibrate the NR360. I did it last summer and it was pretty accurate for temp. Can't remember if u cal calibrate the humidity though.

When I got mine I got them as a pack of 3 because I wanted to compare the incubators and have a spare. I just use the govee's numbers, particularly the 24 hour average. I've also had fun seeing what the temps are in the brooders, and I've even put one under a broody chicken to see what temps & humidity they produce naturally.

I like to set up the incubator a day before I put the eggs in and set the starting temps & humidity, which I've usually got to tweak once I fill it up with eggs. There's a also a big temp & humidity swing when a bunch of them hatch: the temps go up 1 to 2 degrees and the humidity goes up 15%.

I also use the "shoe string" method which keeps the humidity more consistent: it cuts down the refill interval on the water to once per 24 hours: I don't have to worry about topping off before I go to bed and waking up to a dry incubator.

I find with the Maticoopix as long as you keep the water filled the humidity stays pretty much constant once you get it calibrated. The temperature has a regular swing through about 1 degree and the best result seems to be setting it at the 24-hour median. I think it's just the way the thermostat works: you can tell when it kicks on, it maintains it for a bit, then shuts off the heater until the temp hits a threshold. I'm guessing it's some sort of energy saver routine or the heating element has a limited duty cycle.

The eggs don't seem to mind if the average is 99.5, and an actual chicken is way less consistent than that.

 

[SamLockwood]

Yesterday was officially day 0 at 10pm. I had one more hatch but I ended up having to euthanize the chick this morning: one leg was formed twisted, which explains the difficulty it had hatching, and it seemed to be in quite a lot of discomfort.

That leaves 3 eggs left in the incubator, but from experinence this is more wishful thinking. In the six hatches I've done so far I have yet to see more than a 48 hour spread between the first hatching and the last. Still, I'll leave them in until Saturday night.

This hatching by the numbers so far:

30 eggs in. 29 were fertile. 25 hatched, 24 viable so far.

The highs: 24 fluffy, chirpy chicks! Every time I do this I learn something new.

The lows: Had a bit if a panic attack on day 1 when I realized the egg turner wasn't working (there was an accident in storage over the winter), but I was able to fix this with some 2-stage epoxy on the broken part. And yes, I did wait for the epoxy to fully cure before putting it back in the incubator.

Not as good a hatching rate as last time. In that one I put 18 eggs in and got 16 chicks (88.8% versus 80%). I put it down to forgetting to check the water level one day and the incubator dropping to 25% humidity for a couple hours.

Lessons learned:

• Always inspect your equipment fully before starting a hatch.
• Keep a regular routine with your incubator checks.
• Hatching chickens is awesome!

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Yesterday was officially day 0 at 10pm. I had one more hatch but I ended up having to euthanize the chick this morning: one leg was formed twisted, which explains the difficulty it had hatching, and it seemed to be in quite a lot of discomfort.

That leaves 3 eggs left in the incubator, but from experinence this is more wishful thinking. In the six hatches I've done so far I have yet to see more than a 48 hour spread between the first hatching and the last. Still, I'll leave them in until Saturday night.

This hatching by the numbers so far:

30 eggs in. 29 were fertile. 25 hatched, 24 viable so far.

The highs: 24 fluffy, chirpy chicks! Every time I do this I learn something new.

The lows: Had a bit if a panic attack on day 1 when I realized the egg turner wasn't working (there was an accident in storage over the winter), but I was able to fix this with some 2-stage epoxy on the broken part. And yes, I did wait for the epoxy to fully cure before putting it back in the incubator.

Not as good a hatching rate as last time. In that one I put 18 eggs in and got 16 chicks (88.8% versus 80%). I put it down to forgetting to check the water level one day and the incubator dropping to 25% humidity for a couple hours.

Lessons learned:

• Always inspect your equipment fully before starting a hatch.
• Keep a regular routine with your incubator checks.
• Hatching chickens is awesome!

View attachment 3760879

24 fluffy chicks is good though!!!
Im sorry about the one you had to euthanize.

I have one chick that hatched so far and another that externally pipped!!

 

[SamLockwood]

24 fluffy chicks is good though!!!
Im sorry about the one you had to euthanize.

I have one chick that hatched so far and another that externally pipped!!

So far with hatchings since I started this insanity last year, I've hatched 71 chicks and keets. Of that I've lost a total of four: the one this morning, two keets that died in the nesting boxes from unknown causes, and one of three keets that ran off into the woods when I was transferring them to the outdoor brooder (two came back the next morning). Health problems all I've had was a couple cases of spraddle leg that were easily curable.

Overall, I count myself lucky, because there's no way I'm that good at this.

Sometime in March I'm going to hatch some guineas. I bought a second incubator as a backup (not the Maticoopix because it was out of stock but one that's the same construction except for one less egg rack), so I'm debating hatching another 30 or going for 54.

 

[SamLockwood]

FYI, I don't know if I already said it, but these chicks could be thought of either as "barnyard mix" or F1 / F2 olive eggers.

The hens are either cream legbar or olive eggers (based on either legbar or cuckoo marans based on the way they look), and the roosters are blue marans (cuckoo and copper) or olive egger.

 

[SamLockwood]

Here's one of the OE eggs hatching on Wednesday:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/jhXZE6UpFqDFbN169

 

[junior67]

When I got mine I got them as a pack of 3 because I wanted to compare the incubators and have a spare. I just use the govee's numbers, particularly the 24 hour average. I've also had fun seeing what the temps are in the brooders, and I've even put one under a broody chicken to see what temps & humidity they produce naturally.

I like to set up the incubator a day before I put the eggs in and set the starting temps & humidity, which I've usually got to tweak once I fill it up with eggs. There's a also a big temp & humidity swing when a bunch of them hatch: the temps go up 1 to 2 degrees and the humidity goes up 15%.

I also use the "shoe string" method which keeps the humidity more consistent: it cuts down the refill interval on the water to once per 24 hours: I don't have to worry about topping off before I go to bed and waking up to a dry incubator.

I find with the Maticoopix as long as you keep the water filled the humidity stays pretty much constant once you get it calibrated. The temperature has a regular swing through about 1 degree and the best result seems to be setting it at the 24-hour median. I think it's just the way the thermostat works: you can tell when it kicks on, it maintains it for a bit, then shuts off the heater until the temp hits a threshold. I'm guessing it's some sort of energy saver routine or the heating element has a limited duty cycle.

The eggs don't seem to mind if the average is 99.5, and an actual chicken is way less consistent than that.

Thanks for the comparison. I also just use the average on the humidity and I have had great luck with it so I don't stress too much about the swings at all. I haven't tried the shoestring method yet but have read about it with the NR360.