After screwing up in every possible way with my first attempt at hatching, I'm trying again. Last time, I had a lot against me. No experience, still air LG bator, no egg turner until halfway through hatch, inaccurate thermometer, SERIOUSLY inaccurate hygrometer (reading 25% after the salt test, so yeah, makes sense why my eggs were full of dessicated little Silkies), shipped eggs...This time I'm doing it more correctly. The eggs are not shipped, 6 of them are my own from my white and blue Sizzle hens penned with the SQ white Silkie roo. The others came from my local breeder friend, who has BEAUTIFUL Silkies. Those are buffs, and I would so love them to hatch! I got a new set of thermometers, and a hygrometer that has been calibrated. I bought and installed the fan kit to the bator too. I've been running it for 2 days now, and it has been SO much easier to regulate the temps. I installed plastic tubing into the water channels and out the side through tiny holes so that I can add water without opening the bator. I know now not to fool with the temp, and not to open the darn thing any more than necessary. I know what to expect as far as candeling, and that it needs only be done twice. What I want to make sure on is this... I have the thermometers set right at where the middle of the egg should rest in an empty egg cup in the turner. I want it to be 99.5, correct? What is an acceptable range for variance- right now it's at exactly 100. I am thinking I'll leave it there for 24 hours, then adjust if needed. Does this sound good? I do not want to lose the entire hatch again! Oh yeah... I set the 17 eggs today, and their hatch date should be the first of August.
The temp should be between 98 and 102. Optimum would be 99.5 but being realists we need to understand that there will be some temperature variance due to increase or decrease in room temp.
Remember that it takes a while for temperature changes to the air inside of the bator to actually affect the temperature inside the egg. Think of how long it takes the eggs to come up to temp when you put them inside the bator - it can be up to 24 hours for a bator full of large eggs. So if your temperatures are fluctuating between say 98 and 102 every couple of minutes, it's very likely that the actual inside temperature of the egg will only vary by a few tenths of a degree. But if your temps are fluctuating between 98 and 102 every few hours and staying high or low for a couple of hours each time, that IS going to affect the inside of the egg. An air temp of 102 for a few minutes is not going to kill an egg, but an INTERNAL temp of 102 very probably will. A good thing to get for a bator is a digital thermometer that records max and min temperatures so you can see what your fluctuations are. Make sure it has a probe, and put the probe inside a toy 'water wiggler' (available cheaply on Amazon) that you will sit inside your bator at the same level as your eggs. This is much better than a thermometer that reads max/min air temperatures, as it's actually reading the max/min temps inside your 'egg'. Your improvements to your bator all sound very good. It sounds like you've been thinking a lot about how you can improve your incubating skills as well as just your bator. That's every bit as important. No. 1 skill - PATIENCE! You're right that you should let your bator sit for 24 hours after each adjustment, especially with an LG. I've never had one, but all discussions about them on here seem to be about how finicky they are and how hard it is to get the temp stable and how if you adjust it a tiny smidgen mid-incubation the temp shoots away up or down. Some people get awful hatches with LGs and some people manage to get great ones. From what everyone says about them, I think the trick is to get the temp stable before you set any eggs, and then to not touch it at all unless absolutely necessary. 100F is a little bit high, but not so much that it'll damage your eggs. Be careful you don't turn your temp down too low, then turn it up again and have it accidentally go too high. If you do adjust it tomorrow, wait a full 24 hours before adjusting it again after that. Good luck with your eggs!
So far all has gone fairly well. It's fluctuated between 100 and 101, but it's staying much more stable and slowly dropping down closer to 100 than 101. I did not place any eggs under the fan, as I've read that you shouldn't. Humidity is at 40% with just a small amount of water in there. I added an extra egg this morning, my white Sizzle left me another one and I figured one more possible chickie! If they make it, I'll get some possible pretty blue and white Sizzles, or just plain old Silkies, and some SQ buff. 11 eggs are the Buffs, 7 the white Sizzle, and 1 the blue Sizzle. I sure hope things progress well!
