My very first try at incubating

[AmazingRachel]

One word of advice.
When the eggs are hatching, do not open the incubator. Even if there are 5 chicks running around and knocking into the other eggs, do not take the chicks out. A sudden drop in humidity from opening the incubator traps the chicks that are trying to hatch. I made this mistake last year and I had to manually hatch 3 chicks because they got stuck in the membranes. Best thing is to leave them be in the incubator for a good two days.

 

[BlueChai]

Congratulations on your first attempt incubating! It's a very fun experience, I just had a batch hatch this morning. It took me a long time to figure out how to do this correctly, I hope you have better luck than I did. I now have 80-100% hatch rates everytime. I always keep temperature 37.5-38.0 C and the humidity 50-60%. I have tried dry hatching before, and that gave me 30% hatching rates. I've also opened the incubator to take chicks out, and I've never had an issue. I've found the less mindful I am about the incubator, the more successful I've been. I don't know why this is, haha. I would still not open the incubator though, just in case. I hope your babies hatch, what breed are these eggs?

 

[Lins_BE]

Congratulations on your first attempt incubating! It's a very fun experience, I just had a batch hatch this morning. It took me a long time to figure out how to do this correctly, I hope you have better luck than I did. I now have 80-100% hatch rates everytime. I always keep temperature 37.5-38.0 C and the humidity 50-60%. I have tried dry hatching before, and that gave me 30% hatching rates. I've also opened the incubator to take chicks out, and I've never had an issue. I've found the less mindful I am about the incubator, the more successful I've been. I don't know why this is, haha. I would still not open the incubator though, just in case. I hope your babies hatch, what breed are these eggs?

They are campines. Silver and gold ones. I already know this hatching thing is going to be an addiction. I’s nervewrecking waiting for the 21 days to be over. I think i will be starting staggered hatching after this batch, that way the wait isn’t too long and i have a constant supply of chicks.

 

[Lins_BE]

One word of advice.
When the eggs are hatching, do not open the incubator. Even if there are 5 chicks running around and knocking into the other eggs, do not take the chicks out. A sudden drop in humidity from opening the incubator traps the chicks that are trying to hatch. I made this mistake last year and I had to manually hatch 3 chicks because they got stuck in the membranes. Best thing is to leave them be in the incubator for a good two days.

I will be good and not open the incubator. I did read though that leaving the chicks dependent on their yolk sac isn’t always that good, especially when it’s a longer time, it’s said to make the chicks grow much slower then they would otherwise. So i’m thinking about putting a nipple in there with nutridrench mixed into water so they have something to go on. Any toughts on that?

 

[Lins_BE]

I would throw out the clear eggs and then leave the rest my goose egg with a air pocket on the side is doing fine

I did throw them out. The yolk was very runny, not a sac anymore, it spilled immediately after opening the eggs. Does that mean there has been sole development or is that because of the warmth inthe incubator?

I had a Cream Legbar egg with the airsac on the side and even though it developed and was alive by lockdown, it didn't hatch.
I've heard stories of embryos with air sacs on the sides hatch so don't be discouraged.

I’m putting my thumbs up for this little one. If it hatches i’m calling it bubble.

 

[Spartan22]

Following! Had my first hatched last spring got 15 chicks out of 20 eggs. I will set 12 eggs tomorrow for this year’s hatch.

 

[HannaKessler]

I'm excited to see the babies!

 

[JaeG]

It can depend what your ambient humidity is as to whether you should open the incubator or not. I have no trouble opening the incubator with my quail as it's horribly hot and humid where I am at the moment, but also because I make the incubator humidity very high.

Once you reach lockdown make sure your humidity is nice and high (not just on 60%) and that way it gives you a lot more leeway to be able to open the incubator. I aim for at least 80% because quail need to eat quite quickly after hatching, and my incubator is one that the whole top half is the lid, so a lot of humidity can escape when I do lift up one side to open it. I take out dried hatchlings and have never had a pipping quail get shrink wrapped. My humidity never dips below 60% even when I'm removing hatchlings.

As long as your eggs have lost enough moisture during the first stage of incubation and your air cells are on track, there's no danger of the humidity being 'too high'. Mine has spiked at 99% and my pipping and hatching eggs have been just fine.

Good luck! It's very addictive and you'll be hooked!

 

[Lins_BE]

Following! Had my first hatched last spring got 15 chicks out of 20 eggs. I will set 12 eggs tomorrow for this year’s hatch.

Good luck!

I'm excited to see the babies!

Rest assured, i will post pics!

It can depend what your ambient humidity is as to whether you should open the incubator or not. I have no trouble opening the incubator with my quail as it's horribly hot and humid where I am at the moment, but also because I make the incubator humidity very high.

Once you reach lockdown make sure your humidity is nice and high (not just on 60%) and that way it gives you a lot more leeway to be able to open the incubator. I aim for at least 80% because quail need to eat quite quickly after hatching, and my incubator is one that the whole top half is the lid, so a lot of humidity can escape when I do lift up one side to open it. I take out dried hatchlings and have never had a pipping quail get shrink wrapped. My humidity never dips below 60% even when I'm removing hatchlings.

As long as your eggs have lost enough moisture during the first stage of incubation and your air cells are on track, there's no danger of the humidity being 'too high'. Mine has spiked at 99% and my pipping and hatching eggs have been just fine.

Good luck! It's very addictive and you'll be hooked!

I'll try to leave it closed. I do hope it doesn't't take 2 days, i'll be getting so worried about the chicks that already hatched...

 

[aart]

Great Candling vids!