Well, I wish I had happy news but unfortunately I don't.. When my son and I first started this adventure, I built my own bator. I've had temp fluctuations but not very often and I overcame the problems pretty quickly. I would say that about 90 percent of the time, The temp stayed in the range I thought it was supposed to, between 100 and 101.5.. I watched it closely and opened a vent or two if it went over 102 and would close it up better if it went below 100.. Well, I buried the strongest chick this morning.. When i got up and i didn't see anything, I can't explain it to you but maybe it was a little birdie (pardon the pun) told me to check the eggs... I know how important the temp and humidity is so i just used the mini mag light and slipped my hand into the bator to put it up to the eggs.. The egg that was holding the strongest chick was amazing but sad at the same time.. I saw it's beak but realized quickly that something was wrong when it was literally gasping for air.. I heard no peeps even though it was through the membrane of the aircell.. The poor thing seemed as if it had very little strength so i poked a small hole in the shell at the top of the aircell as to not harm the check any and then I used a q-tip to dampen the membrane. In less than an hour, the chick died. I took it out and buried it in the backyard.. I came on here to maybe find some answers as i always do and found a post that says for a still air, the temp should be 102 at the top of the eggs.. My temp was too low the entire time because I was being careful not to "fry" them and actually killed them in the process.. I am so sick about this.. I feel like i have failed my son and these poor babies.. If I had to do it all over again, I would let the temp go just a bit higher since it is a still air and maybe they would just hatch a day earlier at the very worst.. I was looking forward to my son watching these little babies hatch.. We still have two eggs in the bator and I have bumped the temp up by about a degree but I'm thinking it's too late.. Like i said, the one that I buried today was the strongest in the whole hatch.. Always had the most movement and the most visible/biggest veins.. And one of the two in there has not had visible movement in about a week although it don't smell or anything... Goddess
Oh My Green Goddesss Im so sorry I hadnt seen nor heard from you and thought you had gotten busy....I know how you feel, Ive been there before. *hugs*....
oh i'm so sorry to hear that terri, hope the other will make it. nothing we can do except waiting.... i also just intervene one of the egg but he's doing well now. i wish the other will make it better.
Thank you everyone for the condolences.. I've been beating myself up all day and feeling horrible but I am going to try again as soon as I can find some eggs local if anyone has any this late in the season.. Mary, humidity was actually pretty good.. It fluctuated between 33 and 53 for the first 18 days.. Most times it stayed in the 40's.. and then i bumped it up to 60% for the last few days.. Goddess
Incubating is a learned ART. That means mistakes are made. Showing your son not to quit in the face of learning is going to be good for him. Write down what you did this time, and what you have learned. Talk with him about it. About how failures happen and we learn and try again. It's one of the BEST lessons you can teach him, ever. Immediate success is easier on the heart but teaches little. Failing your son would be not teaching him about taking notes, learning from failure and planning future attempts and successes. You'll do fine. The sticky thread at the top of this forum - Read me on hatching... may still be useful. Ventilation is an important concept and closing vents to maintain heat or humidity is a less than optimal set up.
Quote:Forgive me if this message is messed up.. The internet is down and I am replying from my phone lol.. I definitely agree with you.. I have taken notes everyday with what the average temp and humidity levels were and plan on posting it once the net is back up. I cracked the other egg this morning to find a fully formed chick and surprisingly the yolk sack was more absorbed than the one that got through the air cell... BUT I did notice that the membrane was dry and pretty thick so I am thinking it just couldn't get through it. I am trying to talk DH into letting me go get three or four fuzzy butts from the feed store tomorrow.. The only part of the process my ds will have lost out on is the actual hatching but in 3 or 4 weeks I plan on getting more eggs from someone on here that I spoke with last night. This will give me time to get a better incubator set up or bought and hopefully the hatch will be much more rewarding.. Goddess
