new guy has a couple questions about bator

[jayburd]

This is my second time hatching in my homemade cooler bator. The first time I hatched out 8 chicks out of 24. The eggs were bought from mc murry and shipped. I kept them out of the bator for 24 hours. My temp stayed between 99 and 100 the humidity stayed around 50% and the eggs were turned twice a day till day 18 When they went into lock down. On the night of day 19 I noticed one was starting to hatch. All 8 hatched within 24 hrs.
The temp. stayed at 99.5 through the whole hatch. The humidity was around 50 until lock down, when I tried raising it but could only get it to 55-60. On day 22 I opened all eggs to find 4 more that were fully developed But had died.
Since hatch 1 I modified the bator with a homemade turner. I moved the water pan to a shelf close to the glass top & moved the 12 volt fan so it blows directly on the bulb. I switched from a 100w to a 60w bulb & put a shield on the bottom because it is closer to the eggs due to the turner with the mods. I did drill 2 more holes for the turner so there is more venting.
I use a springfield precise temp. therm.humid and a dial probe thermometer I used for maple syrup put between a ziplock baggie filled with water that's wrapped around the probe, & I lowered the temp. to 98.5 thinking that the early hatch was due to high temps?
The pan for water is a bit bigger than the one that I used on the bottom. A problem I'm having now, is when at 50% there's alot of moisture on the inside of the glass that I use for the lid. Should I cotton ball off some of the holes, & what do you think happened to the 4 that died.
My buddy & I have 48 local (non shipped) eggs ready for hatch #2. I'm hoping for at least 50% this time.


P.S. What type of store (locally) sells the good hydrometers that I have read about on BYC?
Thanks!

 

[ginbart]

Quote:
About what???? What happened to you????

 

[jayburd]

sorry I really messed up that bad had all typed and somthing happened. My time is wrong also it is 11:11 pm. how do I fix this.

 

[bigdawg]

sounds to me like the temps were much higher than you thermometer was reading. i also use two thermometers. but my last two silkie hatches they started hatching on day 19. i used a egg-o-meter thermometer from incubator wharehouse for the last two hatches also. i didnt use a backup thermometer either. i fell like my temps were a little high also. i would try using two thermometers. yours like mine must be reading lower than the actual temp. brinsea makes one called a spot check thermometer that comes highly talked about on here. google brinsea, i think they are around 20.00 bucks. they read within .1 degree. hope i could help

 

[chickenlittle32]

Did you calibrate your thermometer?

 

[jayburd]

The springfield precise temp fluctuates too much from high to low in the air. The probe thermometer works really good in the water filled zip lock. I'm going out to get a digital probe today. What do you guys think my humidity problem is? So you think the 4 dead are from High temp too. I will try to calabrate today with under toung thermometer in the ziplock. I've learned so much on this website.

Thanks for all your help, Jay

 

[quailbrain]

If your humidity was 55 I don't think that would be the issue. Your temps sound good but maybe the readings were wrong??? Was the turning device functioning? I missed something.... What were you hatching? I usually don't open eggs on day 22 and you said some hatched on day 19 so now I'm wondering.

 

[duckluck]

Personally, I think the problem might have been the eggs themselves...I had a similar issue with this week's hatch; 14 eggs set, 8 hatched fully healthy chicks although the last two had a bit of shell stuck on them and hatched slow, then 1 was clear, 2 had stalled out somewhere before the chicks were fully developed and three had dead but fully developed and un-pipped chicks inside. My friend who has hatched a lot of eggs says that they likely saw some partial freeze before they were collected, thus the perfectly healthy chicks in with the non-pips. Eight were fresh and the others were collected on the two days' prior; all stored at 50F in my fridge before setting but I don't know how cold the lady's fridge is that I got them from, nor do I know how cold they got out in the coop before she collected them. The "mummy" chicks had not torn their membranes but I do recall seeing the eggs wiggle while the others were hatching, so I am thinking they suffocated fast. The membranes were collapsed in on top of them and looked tough. Still not a bad hatch for winter eggs though, I originally set 16 eggs and 3 were completely clear, so I'm still at 50%+. Next time I see anything hatch out with shells sticking I am going to try and pip at least one latecomer myself and see what happens. One of the chicks had a little hat of shell on while he was walking around in the hatcher and was crashing into everything until it fell off! Kind of like the US Acres cartoon!

 

[jayburd]

I lowered temp by 1 degree on dial probe therm. .I used an under tongue therm next to dial probe and it read one degree higher. So the early hatch could have been high temp. Does the chicks that already hatched, getting onto and rolling the other eggs affect the ones that haven't hatched?

 

[rocketdog312]

Quote:
I wouln't worry about that, good luck!