My first lock down Pheasants

[Nakihunter]

Hi,

My first hatch - 56 ring neck eggs set. Day 22 today (now 7:30 pm)
I am using 3 thermometers in the basic chinese fan incubator hexagon type 60 egg capacity

I am in New Zealand & it is our summer. I realise that most here will be in mid winter!

One digital thermometer sits on top of eggs with a GQF glass thermometer. Reading is 100F on GQF & 99.3 F on Digital with humidity reading 54% on digital. Another digital probe model reading 98.5 to 99F

I have a perforated rubber mat that I will put the eggs on tonight.

I have a funnel with a rubber tube (from a drink bottle) and this is now set through one of the vents and I can pour water without opening the incubator.

I hope the tube in the vent will not affect air flow. I have both vents on top open from day one. You can see the black ring on the left and there is similar one under the wire on the right where I removed the screwed bit to make it bigger

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Good luck with your eggs

I'm going to be doing some pheasant eggs this coming spring for my other halfs shoot that he runs. It's quite exciting doing a new species and I'm looking forward to it.

I have the exact same incubator as yourself so I'm pleased to hear you have extra thermometers in there. My first time using this model was a total disaster as I went on what the incubator said and totally cooked the eggs I now use it as a hatcher if I have a staggered hatch, with some babysitting it does ok. The only thing I do differently is adding the water. I use a syringe and small tubing that I place through one of the holes in the base of the incubator. You can take the tube in and out as you add the water so that it does affect air flow.

 

[Nakihunter]

Thanks for the encouragement.

The eggs feel warm and so I presume I have not cooked them!

After adding water to the outer channel, I got 71% humidity & so I added a small bowl of water and now it is 78%.

The temperature was dropping with the increased water surface and so I had to adjust the thermostat. Strangely all the 3 thermometers are much closer in reading now - 37.3C, 37.4C and 100F. The glass GQF model does not seem to move much as the gradations are too small to show small changes.

 

[Nakihunter]

Yesterday a blue glass bulbe Brinsea thermometer arrived and I placed it next to the GQF red glass model. The Brinsea has much smaller gradations & it is easy to see the reading 0.5 degreeC variance.

Day 23 and temperature of all 4 thermometers are very close - 37.4C, 37.3C, 37.5C (Brinsea) and 100F (GQF). I am not seeing much fluctuiation now.

Humidity is ranging between 71% & 81%. After lock down yesterday I did not open the incubator for 24 hours. Opened it today to adjust thermometers as they had moved. I added water in the channels

I was wondering when the chicks will pip - I guess it will be day 24 and hatch on day 25.

A bit anxious!

 

[Nakihunter]

My eggs have started pipping 8 am 24th day. Saw one tiny triangular crack.

At 9 am I checked again and started finding a few more - saw total 5 piped eggs. I opened the incubator for 5 seconds to remove the 3 thermometers and I heard one chick chirp from inside the shell!

Very thilled. For a 60 year old guy this is awesome. Showed them to my family.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Congratulations, your hatch sounds like it's coming on great

 

[Nakihunter]

It is now 8 pm day 24 and just 8 or 9 have pipped. The early ones do not seem to have progressed at all - shells look the same. Will my shinig the torch affect them? I hope I have not hurt them by opening to remove thermometers.

I moved the first egg to the front so I could monitor it.

A bit disapointed that more have not pipped in last 10 hours and that the early ones have not made bigger cracks on the shells.

Should I spray the eggs to help? I have added a total of 400 ml of warm water through the funnel & tube over the last 10 hours - 3 times I think.

 

[Nakihunter]

8 am - 2 chicks. Very quiet and looking wet with clumped feathers. After shining torch, a few chirps. Opened incubator to remove small water dish I had put in - checked other pips and counted about 12. A bit disappointed.

9 am the 2 chicks are looking more lively and drying out. More chirping.other eggs seem the same. Did not open the incubator.

Wonder how many chicks I will get.

 

[holm25]

I wouldn't have opened the incubator. I would close it and not touch it for another day. Just let the babies stay in there. It's not gonna hurt them and is probably better than taking them out right now. Congrats on the babies!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Congratulations on your hatched chicks

For me personally opening the incubator whilst hatch is taking place is a no no. Opening fluctuates the humidity and the drop in humidity can cause chicks to become shrink wrapped in the egg. I say can as this may or may not happen but the risk is always there. Some people do open regular to remove hatched chicks with no ill affects but I find it good practice to keep the lid closed until hatch is complete.

Hatch can sometimes be dragged out and unfortunately each chick is individual and they all won't pip and hatch at the same time. Hatching is long and slow and very hard work for them. Once you have hatched chicks they should encourage the others to get a move on.

Good luck with the rest of your eggs and I hope you more hatched by now