Newbie hatching

[AMBene]

Hi folks! I have kept chicks for about 4 years. Small backyard flock. My daughter and I are about to set out first batch of eggs. We bought a magic fly incubator, cleaned it well, and have it running as we wait for our eggs. We should receive them on Monday. BAntam partridge sillies. I know that starting with shipped eggs is probably not the best way to start but we haven't found local bantam silkie eggs locally. I have my bator set at 37.5 and it has held steady. Any suggestions to start out? Appreciate any help we can get.

 

[Pyxis]

My first suggestion is to make sure the incubator is actually at 37.5 - are you going by its internal thermometer or have you checked it against a thermometer you know to be accurate? A lot of times with these incubators the temp they say they are on the display isn't accurate.

 

[AMBene]

By what the incubator was saying. Thank you. I will put a temp probe in and monitor it. I have it set up in my studio which is quiet, still and I maintain the room temp at a constant temp. So hoping that will help.

 

[RubyNala97]

Hi! So exciting to set eggs for the first time! My first hatch was with shipped eggs too (silkies too). I agree with Pyxis, about having a seperate, calibrated thermometer to check the temp. Also a seperate, calibrated hygrometer. My silkie eggs like a little higher humidity (around 45%) but you have to monitor the air cells and adjust your humidity accordingly. The biggest issue with shipped eggs is internal damage, seen mostly at the air cell. Air cells can be loose or totally detached and shipped eggs need extra gentle care and handling throughout incubation. You really can't treat them like regular (local) eggs. Have you read hatching 101? I believe there is a shipped egg section. The whole page has excellent information. I read it about 3 full times before my first set and it really equipped me with the info I needed! Good luck!!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

 

[AMBene]

I bought and put in a separate thermometer and hydrometer. And was shocked at how off the bator thermometer was. I made adjustments to the temp. I gave it holding at 99.8. I read hatching 101. I am so nervous about getting my eggs tomorrow.

 

[RubyNala97]

I bought and put in a separate thermometer and hydrometer. And was shocked at how off the bator thermometer was. I made adjustments to the temp. I gave it holding at 99.8. I read hatching 101. I am so nervous about getting my eggs tomorrow.

That is all excellent news! (Not that the incubator was off) but awesome that you caught it and corrected it! If you've read hatching 101 then you should be good to go!! When you get the eggs, unpack them gently and candle them to see how damaged the air cells are. You can post here about the damage and hopefully I can offer some tips. Keeping my crossed that USPS is good to them. Good luck!!

 

[AMBene]

I candled the eggs and only one had a floating air sack. I have 7 eggs. The remaining air pockets were fairly small. Dime size, one quarter size. I marked the air sacks and let the eggs sit at room temperature for 6 hours. I am off work until Friday so will watch temps closely. I marked Xs on one side to monitor the automatic turner. Am I headed in the right direction?

 

[RubyNala97]

How were the air cells on the other 6? Did they jiggle around or were they totally firm? Did you already start them in the auto turner?

 

[AMBene]

I missed your post. Only one jiggled, the others looked good. They have been in the incubator since last Monday. I candled tonight and they all looked like the candling pics. I could see veins and little embryos. I could even see little heartbeats in some of them. What should my humidity be kept at. I've need keeping it steady around 50% and my air temps 99.5 to 99.7 have held steady. Fingers crossed they all keep going!

 

[RubyNala97]

I missed your post. Only one jiggled, the others looked good. They have been in the incubator since last Monday. I candled tonight and they all looked like the candling pics. I could see veins and little embryos. I could even see little heartbeats in some of them. What should my humidity be kept at. I've need keeping it steady around 50% and my air temps 99.5 to 99.7 have held steady. Fingers crossed they all keep going!

That's great! There is no set % that anyone cal give you for humidity. It depends on how the air cells grow. There are so many factor that contribute to what the correct humidity should be. Such as, incubator, ambient humidity, your home (air conditioning/heat), and the eggs themselves (shell quality, size, etc.). The best way to find the correct humidity is by monitoring the growth of the air cell. An easy way to do this is to trace them with a pencil on days 1,7,14,18. They should look like this:

And here is a good article that goes into more detail about what I stated:
http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity