Set eggs today Saturday 2/22 - anyone else?

[sasimpson77]

Mine are 23 from a fellow BYC member there are Polish, Silkies (possibly showgirl), Frizzle Cochins, and the rest will be a surprise. The other Dozen are Rhodebar eggs I ordered off ebay., and then it threw in some of my BYM just hoping I would at least have something in case the shipped eggs did not make it.

 

[sasimpson77]

So excited I went and picked up three lavender Orpington Roosters today and I am having 11 orpington chicks delivered today there will be one blue and 10 dark blues and they all are out of a lavender roo heres hoping they are mostly hens lol.

 

[matlock585]

I'd like to get in on this hatch a long.
I set 36 eggs late last night. I'm using a home made styro cooler bator that survived a total loss house fire, but seems to still be kicking. The outside looks rough, and my glass cracked, but it's still holds temp and doesn't smell like the fire inside. It held the temp right on 99 while I was getting it ready, but since I put the eggs in it I'm having trouble getting it above 97. I've been slowly adjusting it all day.
I have a dozen rhodebars, 6 or 8 marans, some olive and easter eggers, and some super blue egg layers. All my eggs I picked up locally from DMrippy, a fellow BYCer.
Hope everybody has a good run, and I'm looking forward to following along with ya'll.

 

[shannondee12]

I set 16 quail eggs yesterday along with 12 crested BBS swedish duck eggs. All were shipped. I have 2 frizzle eggs due to hatch in 2 days but only one looks like it might hatch. Not sure what I will do with one single frizzle yet, hoping that our Tractor supply gets the chick days going so I can at least run and get something for company if I do get a single chick.

 

[matlock585]

The TSC stores here in middle TN started selling chicks already, and there's a store like a mega TSC called Rural King that is a paradise of chicks. I like to look at them, but I only hatch my own. I like the connection and my kids love to help with the incubator.

 

[shannondee12]

I think ours starts tomorrow. My kids have Karate on Monday and thurdsays so I spend my time in TSC while waiting for them to get done. It's my "me" time.

 

[justoldbobo2]

I put 47 mix eggs in my homemade incubator today. All eggs are from my flock I hatched out over last spring/summer.

 

[matlock585]

I have a couple questions I'd like to poll you all on.

A) Where do you target your humidity the first 18 days? On my very first run I kept my incubator at about 40% humidity and had several drown in the shell once they pipped internally. Since then I've always done dry incubation keeping the humidity low and not adding any water until lockdown. I've had good results with that but I always have several shrink wrapped and have to assist them. I was thinking about keeping a little more humidity this time, maybe 25-30%, but curious what you all do.

B) Do you wash your eggs? I read on this when I started and decided never to wash the eggs so as not to damage the blume on the egg. But I've noticed eggs I set that were dirty tended to be early quitters. I mean if you have an egg with poop and mud on it and you're keeping it warm I'd think you'd be growing the bacteria right there on the porous surface of the egg. This time I washed my eggs in warm running water and just used my thumbnail to gently scratch away any mud or poop. I'm hoping to achieve a better hatch this time but we'll see I guess. I usually hatch 85-90%, but I use local eggs so I'd like to get everything that locks down to hatch.

 

[sasimpson77]

I run my humidity at 25% until lock down and then raise it to as close to 60% as possible. I had issues my first hatch that I ran at about 16% didn't get a single chick.

I never wash the eggs and have had dirty eggs hatch no problem.

 

[keblerdutch]

I run my humidity between 40 and 45%. At day 18 I attempt to get it up to 60%, but since I live in a really dry area I had difficulty keeping it that high during lockdown on my first hatch. I am going to try and keep these same numbers this time since I am still new at this.