Set Eggs 07-02-11 Anyone else

[Lovable Chicks]

I have 23 out of 30 going strong. I am getting so eggcited. PLUS my white leghorns are starting to 'pink' up. They are around 14 weeks.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

LOCKDOWN!

Last night I candled before lockdown, and all 15 seemed to be doing great. I filled up the water, put the eggs back, and went to bed. This morning the incubator temp was 96.5!

I hope they're ok! This happened the last time I went into lockdown. I have to adjust the thermostat on my hovabator a ton! Maybe it has something to do with the added humidity? The water I added was very warm. Nothing to do now but wait and hope I didn't just kill my hatch.

 

[LunarRayne]

I am trying a fairly different approach. See yes they are in an incubator, but I am not doing a "lock down." We actually have a staggered hatch, so some of my eggs will still need to be turned. I hope everything works. i have seen several people say they have forgotten when lock down was, so they forgot to increase humidity and such. I also understand that chickens don't monitor the humidity levels of the air, and we have a lot of chickens... That is also why I am not concerned about temp fluxes. Hens get off the eggs to eat and such, so the temp is not always constant.

Good luck to everyone who is locking down! I can't wait till mine get here! I can't wait to see pics of everyone's hatchlings!!

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
There is a danger that any eggs that are not developing can go bad and explode. That's smelly and messy, and can contaminate the rest of the eggs with bacteria. I candle partly out of curiosity, and partly to remove any that are not doing anything. That said, i don't remove anything until the second week.

 

[jwyoung2007]

Well its getting closer, I am going to candle one more time and then put them in lock down. This time around I tryed the dry incubation method. So i have to get the humity up.

 

[cdbeare]

Hi All,

Mind a last minute join to the hatch? I set 16 maran eggs and 5 silkies on 7/2. Added 12 more silkies a week later on 7/9.

All of them are currently in a hova bator with a turner but I'm planning to move the 12 silkies over to the homemade incubator tonight when I lockdown the others. After some tuning, I think the diy bator is holding steadynow but fingers crossed.

I candled a few of the silkies and things looked like they were progressing will take a closer look tonight. Haven't even tried with the maran eggs since they're to dark and my eyes just don't work that well.

This is my second hatch and the first round we got one mystery chick from fertile store bought eggs. Surprised we got the one given the temp fluctuations. I think its a buff orp and its name is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ( chosen by my 5yo son an 2yo daughter). We bought 3 other day old chicks (one cuckoo maran and 2 ameraucanas) from a local spot so that she (I hope) wouldn't be lonely. All will be 4 weeks old this weekend.

Happy hatching!

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

I have a pip!

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
Congratulations!

I wouldn't get too bent about the temp dropping to 96.5. I was going to say, that may only delay them by a day or two... but it sounds like they're starting to show signs of being ready now! It would be worse if the temp fluctuation was in the OTHER direction & spiked up over 100. I had a spike the second night of lockdown during my last in-house incubation, and it went up to 102! I was so scared. I immediately turned it down and watched it very, very closely. In the end, only 2 hatched out of 11. It was very disappointing and a hard lesson learned.

The LG worked fine when we lived in the valley, but I think up here in the mountains, the environment is much more arid & I think that's why we can't keep the humidity up in the LG since we moved up here. We didn't have that problem with the Reptipro up here, so our next set is going to be incubated AND hatched in the Reptipro. We've had the most success with that one.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

Quote:
Congratulations!

I wouldn't get too bent about the temp dropping to 96.5. I was going to say, that may only delay them by a day or two... but it sounds like they're starting to show signs of being ready now! It would be worse if the temp fluctuation was in the OTHER direction & spiked up over 100. I had a spike the second night of lockdown during my last in-house incubation, and it went up to 102! I was so scared. I immediately turned it down and watched it very, very closely. In the end, only 2 hatched out of 11. It was very disappointing and a hard lesson learned.

The LG worked fine when we lived in the valley, but I think up here in the mountains, the environment is much more arid & I think that's why we can't keep the humidity up in the LG since we moved up here. We didn't have that problem with the Reptipro up here, so our next set is going to be incubated AND hatched in the Reptipro. We've had the most success with that one.

I think keeping the humidity up in the mountains here would be very seasonal. I think I just happen to be incubating during the right month. We're in a temperate rain forest...very rainy and humid during the short summer, dry and cold during the long winter.

I would freak if I woke up and it was 102! I've learned a few hard lessons now from my short time hatching, and one of them is to try not to get too worked up about anything that happens. I was very excited to see that a few hours after I got the temp back up, half of the eggs started rocking. This is only day 19, and lots of action already!

AND...I have a 2nd pip!

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
Congrats. I guess that's my cue to go get the brooder set up.