November 2016 Hatch-a-long!!

[Cynthia12]

3 babies out one zipping! My friend received the ones I shipped her in less than 24 hours kudos to the USPS for a change they are all doing well maybe I can sleep tonight.... Until the rest are hatching tomorrow NEVER doing a stagger hatch again!!!!!

Come on chickies!

I know what you mean about a staggered hatch. Have done that a few times. This time, I set some in the morning, and the others at night..a bit of a staggered..but not by much. Shouldn't be too bad since the ones set at night were the silkie eggs. Smaller, and tend to start hatching early anyway.

 

[Cynthia12]

Hi folks! I'm setting up a new incubator so might be couple days before I set. Thought I'd share and get opinions/thoughts.

It's a Farm Innovators Pro Series 4250 digital incubator with auto turner. It has humidity reading, day count and included a candler. TSC for about $120, on sale.

I like the design. The heating element is similar to the Little Giant 9300. Digital read is much bigger. The inside is styrofoam but outside has a plastic shell which I really like. (Always afraid I'll poke my fingernails through the styrofoam). Mesh on bottom is metal, not plastic like the LG.

For background, I also have a Brinsea mini advance (love, but small) and a LG 9300 with turner. First hatch with LG was 50%. Humidity & temp control was a bear. I modified with a small computer fan (see pic). Second hatch was 93% and controlling humidity/temp wasn't nearly as bad. It actually went very smooth. Only 2 failed to hatch out of 27. Big changes with one modification. (Found fan at goodwill so was a cheap mod, too!) The fan on the new bator looks identically positioned to what I did. (Funny that's where I chose to attach it.)

Day count reads 23 because I'm going to test with my own hygrometer/thermometer and see how it compares. Once ready, I'll reset the days.

Anyone use FI? Thoughts?

Not this one. I have the 1580. When using this one, I need to really watch the humidity. The fan makes the water go faster. I just put a short glass in, with a low level of water so I don't need to worry about the wells. Filling one well still gets my humidity up higher than I like during incubation..glass works great! If you have the room in there for one. If not, just put a little water in a well..not filling it all the way across..watch until you get the mid 30's, then you will need to fill it to that point about every other day. Some folks do well with it in the mid 40's, which is probably what you would get filling one well. Have fun! They keep great temps!

 

[Cynthia12]

Babies!!!

 

[1611]

I have my Incubator full as usual! 80 quail eggs for a 15 day hatch, Texas A&M white coturnix, brown coturnix, Italian gold coturnix, and to top it off in the back I have 13 Barred Rock Bantam eggs for the 21 day hatch. I really have just way too many birds but it sure is fun, The pretty babies go fast on Craig's list so it's just pure fun.

These are my Texas A&M white meat birds that everybody loves!

I built several new cages that the eggs roll to the front where a built in tray catches the eggs!

 

[angnic22]

Thanks Cynthia! Humidity issue was the same with the LG. I just use a sponge. Works very well

 

[1611]

that's too cool! Pretty little chicks and they sure do look comfy in that towel.

 

[1611]

Nice Incubator! Just a suggestion, I set my top part outside in the shade to get the temp and humidity reading and go online or look on the local weather channel and see what the temp & Humidity is in the area and compare the two. That way I can make adjustments if needed. Personally I prefer a wood case incubator but those styrofoam work pretty good. You're going to have fun! But several years ago, mice chewed my styrofoam Incubator all to pieces. So I built a wood case to fit the egg turner and used the parts (heater element, temp control, etc) from the styrofoam and put them in the wood case and it's worked great ever since. So if you ever break it by accident just build a nice wood case one and use the parts from the styrofoam one. I put lights in mine and really dressed it up good. I even built a drawer for the new babies to run around in and get fluffy and dry. They love it!
Ira

 

[dcba flock]

One of the nuggets seems too warm on the heating pad but won't move off or over its panting suggestions? It's SO fluffy and bigger than the others

 

[Faraday40]

I have my Incubator full as usual! 80 quail eggs for a 15 day hatch, Texas A&M white coturnix, brown coturnix, Italian gold coturnix, and to top it off in the back I have 13 Barred Rock Bantam eggs for the 21 day hatch. I really have just way too many birds but it sure is fun, The pretty babies go fast on Craig's list so it's just pure fun.

These are my Texas A&M white meat birds that everybody loves!

I built several new cages that the eggs roll to the front where a built in tray catches the eggs!

Those look very nice. Did you design it yourself or find plans online?


I may be asking you several ?s over the nest 2 weeks. (Quail are completely new to me.)
- Do you candle the eggs & toss bad ones? If so, about what day can you easily see development?

 

[Faraday40]

I couldn't wait, so I candled a few chicken eggs that were set on Thurs. Every one I tested had veins!

Good for the chicks, but not as good for DD's data. She predicted the farmer's market eggs would have a lower hatch rate than our backyard eggs. After all, they were washed, refrigerated, & transported. Those must be some tough eggs!

On the bad news, I saw the quail incubator get up to 102'F this morning. I hope they didn't stay at that temp for very long!