My first try with the incubator

[Taysherm]

Well, I am 2 days in to my first ever incubation attempt. I will try to update this post with our progress in order to pass the time. For starters, I am using a Hovabator 1602n with a Hovabator 1611 egg turner. I removed the stock thermostat and replaced it with an STC-1000 I got off Amazon.com. The temperature is holding between 98 and 101 with an occasional 97 or 102 reading. I have another hydrometer/thermometer inside. It's showing me right at 99 with 50% humidity. This seems reasonable, but please let me know if you would suggest changes. We have 10 hens already, but no rooster, so I had to get the eggs elsewhere. Eggs 1-12 were bought from a nice couple down the road and 13-36 were shipped. Here is the lineup of eggs:
#1-12 are Barred Rocks (the eggs purchased locally)
#13-20 are Bantam Easter Eggers
#21-22 are Mille Fleur d'uccle
#23-24 are Porcelain d'uccle
#25-28 are Golden Sebright
#29-30 are Gold Neck d'uccle
#31 is an Old English Game Bantam
#32-36 are various Serama
#37 is an egg from one of my hens that has been separated from a rooster for 39 days. I'm not expecting anything from that egg, but it was worth a shot for curiosity's sake.

I see the question of how long can a hen be fertile come up all the time, so I thought I would try my own experiment. We've been eating her eggs, but I haven't been looking for a disc since the last dozen or so that she laid became deviled eggs.
Please wish me luck in this endeavor. My 4 year old daughter, that thinks I hung the moon, is expecting a tremendous hatch so we can add some mini-chickens to our flock. Our due date is 9/26, but I've read that our bantam eggs may hatch sooner. I'll start lockdown on day 16 just to be sure.

 

[AlleysChicks]

Well, I am 2 days in to my first ever incubation attempt. I will try to update this post with our progress in order to pass the time. For starters, I am using a Hovabator 1602n with a Hovabator 1611 egg turner. I removed the stock thermostat and replaced it with an STC-1000 I got off Amazon.com. The temperature is holding between 98 and 101 with an occasional 97 or 102 reading. I have another hydrometer/thermometer inside. It's showing me right at 99 with 50% humidity. This seems reasonable, but please let me know if you would suggest changes. We have 10 hens already, but no rooster, so I had to get the eggs elsewhere. Eggs 1-12 were bought from a nice couple down the road and 13-36 were shipped. Here is the lineup of eggs:
#1-12 are Barred Rocks (the eggs purchased locally)
#13-20 are Bantam Easter Eggers
#21-22 are Mille Fleur d'uccle
#23-24 are Porcelain d'uccle
#25-28 are Golden Sebright
#29-30 are Gold Neck d'uccle
#31 is an Old English Game Bantam
#32-36 are various Serama
#37 is an egg from one of my hens that has been separated from a rooster for 39 days. I'm not expecting anything from that egg, but it was worth a shot for curiosity's sake.

I see the question of how long can a hen be fertile come up all the time, so I thought I would try my own experiment. We've been eating her eggs, but I haven't been looking for a disc since the last dozen or so that she laid became deviled eggs.
Please wish me luck in this endeavor. My 4 year old daughter, that thinks I hung the moon, is expecting a tremendous hatch so we can add some mini-chickens to our flock. Our due date is 9/26, but I've read that our bantam eggs may hatch sooner. I'll start lockdown on day 16 just to be sure.

9/26 is far too long if the incubation had started on chicken eggs. Also humidity should be lower, like in the 30s or your chicks will drown.

 

[Taysherm]

You are exactly correct! Our due date is 9/6. I don't know where that 2 came from. Would it be fine to simply let the humidity go down over the next few days, or do I need to go in and remove some water from the bottom?

 

[AlleysChicks]

You are exactly correct! Our due date is 9/6. I don't know where that 2 came from. Would it be fine to simply let the humidity go down over the next few days, or do I need to go in and remove some water from the bottom?

I just wanted to make sure just in case lol
You should be fine to let it go a few days. My first incubation was trial and error. I found out that dry incubation worked best for me because I live in a area with lots of water. And I checked the air cells when I candled to see if I needed to add water. I didn't add water until lockdown.

 

[aliciaplus3]

Definitely adjust your humidity to your elevation and local humidity...... I am at 6000 feet above sea level and the best hatch I have had so far was at 50% humidity..... but we are very dry here. Allyes chicks makes a good point about watching your air cells and adjusting from there.

 

[Leaguinea]

So I am running my Bator dry, but the humidity in the air has been so high that my Bator is reading 41% is this too high, will my eggs die? They are on day 11.

 

[abraga]

So I am running my Bator dry, but the humidity in the air has been so high that my Bator is reading 41% is this too high, will my eggs die? They are on day 11.

If ur running it dry and ur humidity is running at 41% u should be fine.

 

[Leaguinea]

If ur running it dry and ur humidity is running at 41% u should be fine.

Thank you for your response

 

[Taysherm]

Well, we are over one week in the incubator now. I've got the humidity around 30%. At 7 days I removed a few infertile eggs (including my test egg #37). All other eggs seem to be progressing nicely. There are 31 eggs still cooking. The the seramas didn't seem to do nearly as well as the others; I'm down to 2 of 5 serama eggs. I also added a CPU fan to keep my temps constant. I would highly recommend that to others hatching with still air incubators.
Other than that, I'm trying to be patient and not overhandle these eggs. It's a fascinating process that everyone should try. Only about 12-15 days to go. Because 2/3rds of the eggs are bantam eggs, I'm thinking an early lockdown around day 16.

 

[Taysherm]

Also, 2 of the eggs that I removed had floating, detached air cells. I considered them as scrambled in the shell from the shipping process.