Setting (Again) April 16th-18th...

[bburn]

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Flashlights, I have now learned, come in different strengths. I bought what I thought was a good one....cost more than what I wanted to pay. But I can't even use it to take to the chicken yard after dark!

So I looked at them again and it seems there are different strengths. Maybe yours is like mine and not really strong enough. I could see in more of mine than not.....but the ones that I could not see in good that I put a ? on....they hatched.

I have ordered a candler.....hopefully that will help me Sunday night when I candle.

 

[MjChickens]

Quote:
Flashlights, I have now learned, come in different strengths. I bought what I thought was a good one....cost more than what I wanted to pay. But I can't even use it to take to the chicken yard after dark!

So I looked at them again and it seems there are different strengths. Maybe yours is like mine and not really strong enough. I could see in more of mine than not.....but the ones that I could not see in good that I put a ? on....they hatched.

I have ordered a candler.....hopefully that will help me Sunday night when I candle.

Are you still looking for a GOOD flashlight??? Because I know of 1, and I use it for EVERYTHING.. Great for candling looking for chickens in the dark.

 

[Delmar]

Not sure why but my temp started climbing a bit the last day or two. It was getting up to 102, not for long, just a minute or two. Then it would drop back down to 97. I was going to try to ride it out but it was making me pretty nervous. I decided this morning to take mt screwdriver to the thermostat. took it down the smallest turn I could manage. It seems to have settled down to between 100 and 98. It makes me crazy that when the temp goes higher, it also seems to drop lower when it drops! I think that might end up being a good thing though because, if the temp doesn't stay high for very long and it drops to slightly cooler, the internal temp of the eggs might not have changed.

I have decided that no matter how well or ho badly this hatch goes I am not starting another hatch until I have experimented with the bator for several weeks. The next thing on my agenda is to play with the position of the thermostat. Truthfully it is where it is because that was the easiest place to stick it, and it looked like that might work good enough.

 

[chena16c]

I bought my "candler" at walmart. The sell LED flashlights and each one had a different lume number. I went with 96 Lumes and it was aroun $17. It works pretty well, but not so great on dark eggs.

 

[meepitqueenie]

definitely found one bad egg today... my flashlight is a small led on and I am finding it difficult to see what is bad vs good.

but this egg had a smell too it and looked very porous so bad egg to begin with i guess. had hubby smell it to confirm... yup... so i tossed it out back.

so down to 30 eggs and going to try to devise a better way of candling.... i don't have the $ to go out and purchase something so I'm going to see what i have around the house....

Hubby has some extra computer fans so i gave him instructions on how to build a fan for the bator online...

and how much water needs to be in the bator? the LG has the square ring for water and 2 additional rows. do i fill all of them up?

 

[bburn]

I was determined NOT to mess with mine this time. I have it set and it has held steady at 99.5 since last Sunday night. I am not standing on top of it like I did with the last hatch and also it is in the big bathroom and there are no drafts and no one is here to go in there.....all that I think is helping me.

Just came back from picking up the mail and getting my egg-o-meter and my incubright candler. I got an egg carton out and filled it with eggs from the incubator and candled all from the top where they were sitting in the egg carton. ONE egg looks like maybe, maybe it is not gonna go the distance. I have put a question mark on it and will candle again next weekend....just that one....and not again until lock down. I am at day 9 today. So, 40 are looking good now.

It makes a huge difference on the flashlight. I have one of those max ones from Lowes...it did me no good and is hardly bright enough for me to use when I put the chickens to bed at night to make sure all are on the roost. I also have three different little LED flashlights. They did not do it for me either. This candler is nothing but a LED flash light....but man, is it bright!! Could see the veins clearly in all the eggs including my darkest brown ones I had trouble with last hatch. AND the blue ones that I could not see in at all I could clearly see veins. So, for me, it was worth the $10 for another flash light!!

The egg-o-meter....that makes 9 thermometers....I have laughed at myself and have been very grateful that DH is still out of town working! I have an LG and still have the one of the two thermometers that I am using that came with it.....this one seems really close to the aquarium thermometers that I have counted on. Looking forward to using the egg-o-meter and seeing what it shows.

Now, if one of the eggs will quit on me I will have a place to put it! Good luck to everyone on their hatches this time!! I am excited. My chicks are doing really good and it is amazing how quickly they grow. Now....to figure out the roosters and find someone to take them!

****and, now to get the small corner coop ready to transfer my Dark Cornish into it who has gone broody with the same hatch date as the incubated eggs! I was shocked when it dawned on me she was still in the nest after three days...finally went out after dark and did a head count and checked the nest....and there she was and there she still is. I have to go out and secure the corner and make sure it is going to work for her and make her nest. Tonight after bedtime I am going to go out....with some friends to help and transfer her....will candle her eggs as I remove them from the nest. If they are good I will take them to her new nest.....I might swipe a couple out of the incubator since they are on the same schedule and put them under her also.....wish me luck and yes, I have gloves!

 

[bburn]

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THAT'S IT....the lume number....could not remember what it was. The higher the number the brighter the flashlight is and the better you can see!!

That is all the one I ordered from incubator warehouse is....an LED...but the end where the light is has soft rubber so it won't hurt the egg...and it was $10....so not bad...and it works really well.

But I do think that is the answer....the lumes.

 

[meepitqueenie]

ok hubby helped me and we had a older pedistal style lamp and put a hologen bulb in it, took a can made a hole in it placed it on top where its not sitting directily on the the bulb and it works - found 2 more clear ones- and not sure whats going on but in 2 so far i see a mass but its laying on one side of the egg. dont know if its "scrambled" or what, will look at them later on tonight when its more dark in my room.

 

[woodprairie]

I set a batch in the incubator on Friday April 15. I took some of my own araucauna/dominique/banty cross green eggs, one of my neighbors barred rock/silky eggs, and a pile of partridge wyandottes I bought here on auction. early in the week it got cold in the house and the temps went down in the incubator (fluctuations of 2 degrees from 99.5). so I moved the incubator back into my home office where it is very steady. I added water to one channel at the start, then left it closed for 8 days, - today. I added a couple spoonfuls of water and now I should candle them, then leave them again for another week.
Well, I'm not good enough at candling to tell, not to mention the green eggs are pretty dark. We did see life a couple then put the cover back on.

 

[snazzyboots]

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welcome!!!