octagon 20 eco thermometer question

[Bluemoon420]

I've haven't had to candle yet, but my "plan" is to use the small Mag flashlight DH has in the garage with a toilet paper roll taped around the end of it. It's a very bright flashlight despite it's size. I figure the toilet paper roll will focus the light better.

Bluemoon

 

[thespinningcottage]

Thanks for answering, Bluemoon and Randomchick! I will keep updating, I consider this an adventure both for having the new Octagon and for incubating in the classroom for the first time. The toilet paper roll is a great idea. Just be sure your egg won't roll down inside and out the other end!

I'm slowly becoming a fan of the Octagon. I am very impressed with how quiet it is and how well it holds the temp. Also, you don't lose any heat at all by lifting the lid an inch and adding water through a soda straw that's permanently placed down into the well. I use a plunger style medicine syringe for infants & toddlers, the tip fits perfectly in the straw. 10 seconds from start to finish. So for now I'll just let 'er cook away and keep doing interesting lessons with the kids while we wait. Have a good night, everyone!

 

[Bluemoon420]

I don't think the eggs will slide down the toilet paper roll. They are large sized eggs. The 4 bantams eggs might, but I didn't plan on putting those on it for that very reason.

Good Luck with the hatch.

I'll keep following the thread

Bluemoon

 

[thespinningcottage]

Bluemoon, have you started incubating?
Tomorrow I should have school pictures to post! Everything has stayed stable so

send some good vibes my way!

 

[Bluemoon420]

I'm on day 14. 4 more days until lockdown. I have candled the eggs a few times now. The first time I did it, I could not see anything at all in my blue and green eggs. I didn't expect to see much in my brown eggs either, but surprisingly, I saw the veins and movement in those the best.
I marked eggs I was unsure about with ?'s ( mostly the blue and green ones) and checked those periodically when I had to add water. I am pleased to report that I am finally able to see progress in my blue and green eggs. I saw movement in a few, and nice veins. I'm glad I decided to put those back, and just wait and see.
Two of the blue orp eggs had blood rings on day 8 when I checked them. I discarded those. I have been checking the other two, but I don't think they have been developing much either, and will probably discard those in a few days.

I'm sending you good vibes

, and good luck.

I can't wait to see the pics!

Bluemoon

 

[thespinningcottage]

Bluemoon, it sounds like you've got the candling down. I was never sure what I was looking at, and would never have felt confident enough to discard anything unless the egg was completely clear. Only once did I smell a slight funk coming out of the vent and discovered another clear egg upon closer inspection. It was very close to lockdown, so I was glad I discovered that. Good luck with your hatch, let me know how it goes!
Here's the school hatch. It went very well - as of this afternoon about 3:30 we had 8 out of 10, with no indication of movement or pipping in the other two. 80% is good, that's a B! I'd rather have an A of course. Anyway, we had other classes visiting throughout the day and the kids really enjoyed it, especially the kindergarteners. Here's a picture! I have some cute pictures of the kids gathered around the incubator staring with amazement, but I'm not allowed to post those because of the whole privacy thing. Understandable, but a sad commentary on how things are in society these days.

 

[cracking up]

Congratulations on your great hatch! You'll have to post fluffy chick pictures.

 

[Bluemoon420]

Congrats! I can understand the privacy thing.

I can't wait to see mine hatch. Hopefully, all goes well.

Bluemoon

 

[SunnyChic]

Congrats on your 80% hatch; your chick pic is precious! I'd love to see pics of your other chicks. So, would you recommend the octagon 20 eco?

 

[thespinningcottage]

Thanks for your continued interest. Here's a fluffy chick picture, 5 of the chicks were in the brooder at this time and the other 3 were drying off in the Octagon. Now that it's all over and I have taken the Octagon apart to clean it, I'd say that yes, I would buy it all over again. I got the Eco with the auto turn cradle as a separate purchase, and here in a nutshell are my personal pros and cons:
PROS: 1. compact size 2. quiet operation 3. great temperature control (to within .3 of a degree) 4. good design (because there seems to be a little handle or easy-lift for everything you have to do) 5. adjustable rails to accommodate different size eggs 6. excellent directions and customer support 7. my students LOVE the yellow and black color
CONS: 1. access hole to add water is woefully tiny A straw doesn't fit in there, even folded over. The solution to this is probably obvious to everyone except me. The vent hole does accomodate a straw but it couldn't be left in obviously because then you couldn't vent the incubator 2. the "clear" plastic is very murky (it was clean) and it was impossible to read the thermometer/humidity readouts without a flashlight and a certain angle during the auto-turn cycle
NEUTRALS: cleaning was messy but it is in the Little Giant also

By the way, the other 2 eggs that never pipped still hadn't done anything by the end of the day, so a brave colleague took them outside (with latex gloves and trash bags), opened them and reported back that it looked like they quit on Day 15-ish, according to a chart of embryo development I have. I was too squeamish to open them myself. I'm such a scaredy-cat. I know many things can happen in the process of development, and since they WERE all exposed to exactly the same conditions I don't think I did anything wrong, it was just nature's way of culling the mistakes.
The conclusion: This was a blast and I'm going to do it again soon, since there's lots of people around me who want more chickens!