November Hatch-A-Long (2014)

[Sustained]

Just set 9 khaki Campbell/Welsh Harlequin duck eggs

 

[darkbluespace]

I thought for sure we were going to lose power. We had really bad winds and horrible rain (even for WA). Luckily we didn't lose power. Never would have thought to put chicks in front of the stove, ours gets so hot.

I put them on a hot water bottle till it cooled off... so that worked for a while. It was 90 to 95 degrees about 2 ft from the stove. I had to move them forward or back as temp went up or down... they would try to crawl toward the stove if they wanted more warmth or look at me panting if they got too hot. Just happy I didn't have to do that all night!

 

[Renee572]

I've been following along since this thread was started!! We have finally decided to hatch some eggs for sure. We aren't going to set them until November 21st so they won't hatch until December but I am following along with this thread to get any information I can. This will be the first time we have tried to hatch chicken eggs and we are still new to chickens, just got our girls in April. We won't be hatching our own eggs as we don't have a rooster but we are looking forward to it.

I see that people usually post how many and what kinds of eggs they are setting, and then updates are made when candling is done. I was just wondering if you all wouldn't mind posting some other information as well. I'd really love to know if people are doing dry or wet hatches, still air or forced air, I'm curious as to what temps and humidity you all are shooting for as well.

I have been doing my research "in case" we hatched eggs. I say "in case" because in the back of my head I have been determined to do it all along. But anyway, now that it is really going to happen and I have eggs lined up to purchase and I have an incubator that will be borrowed I am feeling like I don't have all the info I need. I know this first time is going to be a learning curve but I REALLY want it to be successful. I am very OCD and I am also a huge worrier by nature but I am really hoping that I can feel confident with the info I know and be able to enjoy the experience whether we don't end up hatching any chicks or we hatch all or nearly all the eggs we purchase.

Thanks for you input, I look forward to following your hatches!

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

Here's a question. I started with 20 eggs(10 chicken, 10 quail), I had to toss the quail and 5 of the chicken as they were all clears/infertile. So if all 5 of the eggs I have left hatch, would that mean I have a 100% hatch rate or is it based off of something else? I was lucky to get 10% hatch rate with my first incubator/inexperience/impatience.

I will admit I am a candleholic. I try to keep my addiction down to once a day. I just love seeing how much they grow day to day, it's a visible growth and love to see them move around. With that being said I was tickled pink to have white eggs this time and could see when the veins started growing, heartbeats and how one day I saw heartbeats and next day they were gone but you could see the start of their eyes. It just amazes me to no end.

I love candling, too, but I'm fearful that opening the 'bator too much will screw up the eggs too much. I'm on Day 5, and I want. To. Sooo. Bad.

 

[MrsFitzDarcy]

Well, I managed to find a hygrometer, and it was about 80% humidity in the incubator, so I lowered the water, and it hit 20%...argh. Lockdown is on this coming thurs, so hopefully I'll manage to keep it at 30-40% until then, and I won't get swollen chicks...who knows.

At least next time I'll have more of a clue, even if I fail these guys.

Anyone know if the hygrometers that cigar smokers use for their tabletop humidifiers would work for an incubator? I've found some that stick. It would be cool to stick it to one of the windows of the Hova-Bator.

Like this one: http://www.famous-smoke.com/small+hygrometer+1+3~4+inch/item+16285

 

[darkbluespace]

I've been following along since this thread was started!! We have finally decided to hatch some eggs for sure. We aren't going to set them until November 21st so they won't hatch until December but I am following along with this thread to get any information I can. This will be the first time we have tried to hatch chicken eggs and we are still new to chickens, just got our girls in April. We won't be hatching our own eggs as we don't have a rooster but we are looking forward to it.

I see that people usually post how many and what kinds of eggs they are setting, and then updates are made when candling is done. I was just wondering if you all wouldn't mind posting some other information as well. I'd really love to know if people are doing dry or wet hatches, still air or forced air, I'm curious as to what temps and humidity you all are shooting for as well.

I have been doing my research "in case" we hatched eggs. I say "in case" because in the back of my head I have been determined to do it all along. But anyway, now that it is really going to happen and I have eggs lined up to purchase and I have an incubator that will be borrowed I am feeling like I don't have all the info I need. I know this first time is going to be a learning curve but I REALLY want it to be successful. I am very OCD and I am also a huge worrier by nature but I am really hoping that I can feel confident with the info I know and be able to enjoy the experience whether we don't end up hatching any chicks or we hatch all or nearly all the eggs we purchase.

Thanks for you input, I look forward to following your hatches!

It is wonderful to try something new and good to do much research before you start! The odd thing I found about that is that many people have conflicting opinions so when you are new it is hard to know what to make of that. Please read the Hatching 101 article here on the site. She recommends humidity between 20 -30% and that has worked the best for me also. Local eggs are the easiest to hatch. Shipped eggs have many complications and are more difficult to hatch... I wouldn't recommend them for the first time.

There is no reason you can't have a great first hatch, but remember to give yourself a break and know that it takes some time and hatches to gain experience... so just know that this is just the beginning and there are many more hatches to come. If you are like most of us, there will be many many many more hatches to come!

 

[darkbluespace]

Anyone know if the hygrometers that cigar smokers use for their tabletop humidifiers would work for an incubator? I've found some that stick. It would be cool to stick it to one of the windows of the Hova-Bator.

Like this one: http://www.famous-smoke.com/small+hygrometer+1+3~4+inch/item+16285

They are the same thing... measuring humidity... so it should work.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I've been following along since this thread was started!! We have finally decided to hatch some eggs for sure. We aren't going to set them until November 21st so they won't hatch until December but I am following along with this thread to get any information I can. This will be the first time we have tried to hatch chicken eggs and we are still new to chickens, just got our girls in April. We won't be hatching our own eggs as we don't have a rooster but we are looking forward to it.

I see that people usually post how many and what kinds of eggs they are setting, and then updates are made when candling is done. I was just wondering if you all wouldn't mind posting some other information as well. I'd really love to know if people are doing dry or wet hatches, still air or forced air, I'm curious as to what temps and humidity you all are shooting for as well.

I have been doing my research "in case" we hatched eggs. I say "in case" because in the back of my head I have been determined to do it all along. But anyway, now that it is really going to happen and I have eggs lined up to purchase and I have an incubator that will be borrowed I am feeling like I don't have all the info I need. I know this first time is going to be a learning curve but I REALLY want it to be successful. I am very OCD and I am also a huge worrier by nature but I am really hoping that I can feel confident with the info I know and be able to enjoy the experience whether we don't end up hatching any chicks or we hatch all or nearly all the eggs we purchase.

Thanks for you input, I look forward to following your hatches!

Good luck!!! Once you decided to hatch eggs time doesn't move fast enough...lol the wait to get and set your eggs, the wait until you can candle and actually see something, the wait to lockdown and the wait to hatch day....I hate waiting!!! lol. My first hatch attempt was a bust. My thermometer was 6 degrees off and we only ended up with two hatches and one survivor, so my biggest thing now is having more than one thermometer at all times. My first hatch I strove for 60% humidity (upped it over 70 at lockdown) because that's what the book I had said. We set eggs on the 16th of this month and this time we are going dry. Now, I can't guarantee my meter is accurate, but dry it's reading 45. Same as the humidity in the house. Even if it was reading 20% high, I'd still be in healthy 'dry range'. But I am keeping a close eye on air cell size. We are using a forced air incubator temp as close to 99.5 as we can keep it. Usually stays good between 99-100. My eggs are from my sisters chickens. Originally she brought me 32 for incubation so we set those plus two of the fridge eggs she brought us (we get our eating eggs from her as well) as an experiment. We are on day ten. I've pulled 3 due to bacteria (2 blood ring but no embryo, one very funky one that the shell cracked all the way around while in the incubator.) One of the two fridge eggs started growing but ceased at about day 3 ish and I had 13 clears that got tossed today. So I have 16 (counting the second fridge egg) that are definitely developing and I can see good movement in 15 (one is a bit dark to see well.) And I have one that I do not think has developed, but I can't tell, so it's staying in there as long as I don't smell anything.

 

[Steampunked]

I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work...I got a little reptile one for my incubator. I candled my eggs and the air sacs looked a bit on the small side to me. I'm maintaining temperature, and letting them dry out a bit. I've no idea if it will work.

Next time, for sure, I'm doing dry incubating - it seems to be a bit less fraught. The only issue I have is that our house is quite dry (we used to have moisture problems so we really worked to fix them), so it's lower than the general humidity available elsewhere. Maybe I'll keep a bowl of water near the incubator on the outside.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Since you did not do a fertility test on the eggs before testing? I would say that any eggs that were clear should not be counted in the hatch rate. If some developed but quit (blood ring), that should be counted. So if we count based off fertile eggs, and all 5 of yours hatch, you will have a 100% hatch rate but if you base it on total set, you will have a 50% hatch rate on chicken eggs.

So you would count the eggs with the blood rings even if there were no embryos forming? Both of mine that had the blood ring had no formation what so ever and neither did that funky one that was close to blowing up.