My First Incubation Experience! Pictures Included!

[MadHatcher]

So I set my first group of eggs into my Repti-Pro 5000 incubator last Monday night at 6pm.

There are 10 eggs in total, Araucana from Sky Blue Egg - all beautiful with no cracked shells but, two with ruptured air cells.

So the ruptured eggs are "standing up" in the incubator being rotated back and forth three times daily. I'm hoping to help orient the leaked air to the correct area of the shell and possibly give the embryo a chance to develop. I must admit I'm not hopeful about these two.

The other eight without the broken air cells are sitting on their sides with the smaller end pointed down slightly. All of the eggs are resting on little foam egg holders that my husband found around the house somewhere.

These are the times of day the eggs are rotated:
6:00PM
2:00AM
10:00AM

The humidity is being held between 50% and 55%

The temperature is holding between 99.5 - 101

I am measuring humidity with the Caliber III

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Humid...6?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1282925529&sr=8-6

I am measuring temperature using the Brinsea Probe - Reads highly accurate in my opinion

http://www.amazon.com/Highly-Accura..._1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1282925603&sr=1-1-catcorr

The Repti-Pro 5000 holds the temp amazingly well after its been calibrated. It is a forced air incubator and has a two degree variant from the bottom to the top of the unit - however with the probe being positioned right over the eggs I feel I'm getting a really accurate temperature reading and have adjusted the digital temp readout at about 107 to achieve the desired temperature range.

http://www.amazon.com/ReptiPro-5000...8&s=electronics&qid=1282925683&sr=8-1-catcorr


I have been candling using a highpower LED flashlight from Inova - Man this thing will seriously light up your egg and doesn't get hot at all

http://www.amazon.com/T3-MP-Inova-Tactical-Flashlight-Lumens/dp/B0014BUEW8


So we're on day four today and I'm so excited because last night at the 6pm turning I was too impatient and had to candle. I'm so glad I did because I saw three hearts beating!!!

So all my hard work (and my dearest husband's as well of course) is really paying off!!

I'm going to try to get some pictures of the developing embryo tonight!


Until then here is a picture of the incubator with the lovely eggs inside - You can see the two bottom left eggs in the front being oriented differently than the rest of the eggs on their side and the probe wire running inside the incubator.

 

[MadHatcher]

So I just candled again and now I distinctly see little octopus shapes floating around in six eggs!!

 

[NonnasBabies]

So how did your hatch turn out?? I'm thinking about getting one of these and I'm curious if you still like it!!

Thanks!!

 

[MadHatcher]

_

 

[MadHatcher]

My hatch experience with this machine was fabulous. I hatched six out of ten eggs.

That might not sound as fabulous as I feel it is without taking into account a few things:

1. These were shipped eggs.
2. Two of the eggs had broken air cells before I even received them.
3. These were Araucana eggs.
3a. Araucana eggs are known for being Very hard to hatch due to their delicate nature.
3b. Araucana eggs are known to have a lethal gene combination that prevents a certain percentage from hatching.

So even with these odds against me (and that it was my first time hatching eggs ever) I managed to hatch out 60% of the eggs I received. The four eggs that didn't hatch (two had broken air cells) never even showed fetal development and were clear until day 16 when I removed them. I broke them open and absolutely no development was occurring.

So I think this machine is fantastic for hatching eggs of all sorts!

There are a few things I want to point out about this incubator though.

First, it doesn't hold very many eggs. So, if you're looking to hatch a few eggs at a time this would be perfect.

I wouldn't put eggs on the shelf at all for a number of reasons.

1. Air circulation causes the temperature to change pretty dramatically at differing elevations within the machine. So you wouldn't be able to keep the temperature accurate for the eggs on the shelf vs. eggs on the floor of the machine.

2. Eggs on the shelf fit very well in the holes in the platform which makes rotating them a breeze but when it comes time to hatch the little chicks have the potential to harm themselves by falling through or getting stuck in the holes.

3. Even if you plan on only having one set of eggs on the shelf (for temp reasons - OR don't care if the temp is off between sets) and put down some sort of matting that would prevent the chicks from falling through then the other thing to consider is the way the door opens. The little chicks often want to rest against or very near to the "glass" door - which would prevent you from opening the door until they moved or you could risk them falling off the shelf.

Taking all of this into account I recommend that you place your water container and hygrometer on the shelf and hatch the eggs on the bottom of the machine.

It holds temperature really really well once you get it set to the correct temperature at whatever height you're incubating the eggs at.

I never noticed any problems with the contained air of the unit not allowing enough of a oxygen return. It seemed that opening the unit to turn the eggs was enough air exchange. Also, during lock-down I would open the door once a day just to maintain air exchange. Whenever I opened the unit I kept a paper towel roll that I would mist with a hand sprayer and pop that into the unit on the shelf. That would raise the humidity really quickly back to "normal".

I loved my experience with this unit and plan on hatching out more babies as soon as my girls start producing enough for me to increase the size of my little flock.

Let me know if you have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer any you might have.

Good luck!

 

[quintinp]

i love your incubator, it is really nice, i wanted one for a long time, but finally decided that for the small amount of eggs it holds and the space it takes up i didn't think it was worth it, i do still really like this incubator, but also my mom probably wouldn't like this incubator for the same reason, it is very good though for small amount, i must say i am impressed by your hatching abilities,

i am kidding, i am sure you have been hatching longer than me i do think you did awesome though