Setting Eggs on the 27th...

[Feather duster]

I made a incubator this winter out of a container that caterers use to transport hot or cold foods in. Got a STC 1000 temp. controller & egg turner on ebay ,light sockets,fan, and other little things at Good-Will. I did splurge and ordered a Spot Check Thermometer for it. I put it through a two week testing period this winter to figure out all the ins & outs of how to work it and get the temps stabilized. Well I got impatient to try it out so I order 21 Plymouth partridge rock hatching eggs from Meyer Hatchery in Ohio. I live in mid coast Maine. Much to my delight when I received the eggs they were shipped in foam which have the cut outs for the eggs to fit into. There was no broken eggs and only one saddle shaped air cell all the rest were perfectly normal. I received them on Thursday March 26 first thing in the morning,they were shipped on Tuesday. I candled them and let them rest until Friday morning the 27th. when I set them in the incubator. The temperature has remained rock solid at 99.5 with the spot check. I also have a couple of other thermometers to go by. I'm kind of doing a semi dry hatch. I have a wood stove in the house so I'm adding just enough water to keep it at 35% to 40% humidity until lockdown. I did the 7 day candling last night April 3rd out of the 21 eggs I had two that were infertile,and one quitter. The remaining 18 I can see veins and the embryos are moving. The one that had the saddle shaped air cell is hanging in there developing. Thought I would chime in because I see some of you set on March 27th also. It will be fun to follow along and see how we all make out.

 

[Feather duster]

MyNameIs If the egg is fertile and developing I would try putting fingernail polish over the hairline crack. If it quits on you then go ahead and dispose of it. I saw that on you tube from the University of Nebraska extension service. Its worth a try anyway.

 

[MyNameIs86]

MyNameIs If the egg is fertile and developing I would try putting fingernail polish over the hairline crack. If it quits on you then go ahead and dispose of it. I saw that on you tube from the University of Nebraska extension service. Its worth a try anyway.

Good to know for my next hatch. I already disgarded all the cracked eggs the first 2-3 days of the hatch. I'm down to 7 fertile eggs but I think 1 quit on me since it wasn't moving as much as the other eggs. But I'm going to recandle tonight. I try not to candle as much but I want to see if it is fertile and alive. lol. The last time i checked the temp it was 102 on the egg turner so i think i am good?

I think since i put my eggs in on the 27th my 18th day would be the 14th??

 

[MyNameIs86]

I made a incubator this winter out of a container that caterers use to transport hot or cold foods in. Got a STC 1000 temp. controller & egg turner on ebay ,light sockets,fan, and other little things at Good-Will. I did splurge and ordered a Spot Check Thermometer for it. I put it through a two week testing period this winter to figure out all the ins & outs of how to work it and get the temps stabilized. Well I got impatient to try it out so I order 21 Plymouth partridge rock hatching eggs from Meyer Hatchery in Ohio. I live in mid coast Maine. Much to my delight when I received the eggs they were shipped in foam which have the cut outs for the eggs to fit into. There was no broken eggs and only one saddle shaped air cell all the rest were perfectly normal. I received them on Thursday March 26 first thing in the morning,they were shipped on Tuesday. I candled them and let them rest until Friday morning the 27th. when I set them in the incubator. The temperature has remained rock solid at 99.5 with the spot check. I also have a couple of other thermometers to go by. I'm kind of doing a semi dry hatch. I have a wood stove in the house so I'm adding just enough water to keep it at 35% to 40% humidity until lockdown. I did the 7 day candling last night April 3rd out of the 21 eggs I had two that were infertile,and one quitter. The remaining 18 I can see veins and the embryos are moving. The one that had the saddle shaped air cell is hanging in there developing. Thought I would chime in because I see some of you set on March 27th also. It will be fun to follow along and see how we all make out.

Thanks for joining in on our hatch Feather duster. I'm curious to see the out come of your eggs and would love to see pictures of your incubator.

 

[Feather duster]

Took some pictures today of my incubator. It wasn't easy with the lights cycling on and off with glare. So I shut it down for a couple of minutes to get some pictures. It only took a couple minutes for the temperature to settled back out and maybe five for the humidity to recover. I have four mason jars on each end filled with wet sand for heat sinks. I have water containers and sponges all prepositioned under bottom screen so I won't have to pull everything out at lock down just put warm water in. The funnel and tubing is used to fill water containers without removing cover. That's my rig it seems to be working so far.

 

[MyNameIs86]

awesome. Thanks for sharing the pics.
Today I checked out my eggs. The humidity got down to 16... so I put more water in today even though I just put more water in on Saturday How can the humidity go down so fast? All 7 still seem fertile except one is like not moving as fast as the others. The humidity is now 51 on day 11 so I think i'm good with water. I opened the incubator when i saw it read 51 to let some out. Wow.

 

[dreamer5577]

Awesome incubator Feather Duster! I remember for my first hatch, I made an incubator out of a fishtank, washrags, and a lightbulb. Ended up with a successful hatch. Still can't believe it!

MyNameIs86- I am NO expert on humidity so I have no idea why it's escaping so fast! I've been lucky and mine has stayed constant, for now. Do you have a VERY dry house? When we run the dehumidifiers this time of the year I have to add water a lot.

8 days til hatch day! I cannot believe it went so fast!

 

[Feather duster]

Well Thought I would check in to see how everyone is making out. It's day 14 and I just finished candling the eggs. Good news I only lost one egg this week so down to seventeen now. The air cells seem to be on target. The one egg I had with a saddle shaped air cell is still hanging in there developing and the saddle shape doesn't seem as pronounced as it did. So far the incubator is maintaining 99.5 degrees flawlessly, so if something unexpected doesn't happen or the power go out I should be ok. We had six inches of snow yesterday that made me a little nervous, but no power outages luckily. In Maine you never can tell what the early part of April has to offer weather wise.

 

[MyNameIs86]

That's good. I am still have 7 eggs. I had low humidity a few times but I added water. Everything seems to be going well still.
I'm still questioning the red vents. I didn't take any of them out. I'm afraid if I do the humidity or temp will drop and the hovabator book says only unplug the vents if you are in an elevated area of the country and to dry the chicks...
I'm sooo looking forward to the 14th of April = Day 18 at 2pm.
What time on day 18 is your lock down? mine is 2pm.

 

[Feather duster]

I set my eggs about 8:30 am on March 27th, but I'll probably put them in lock down on the afternoon of the 14th. I work nights so when I get home I tend my big girls and go night night lol. I have nine Barred Rocks which have been giving me between 42 & 45 eggs a week all winter long even during the coldest and darkest days of winter.
This was my first winter with chickens an mother nature dealt me a rough hand to learn cold weather chicken keeping, but we all came through. I'll put a couple of pictures on so you can see the conditions we had here. The coldest night was eighteen below zero,but the girls came through like champs and no frost bite either. That's why I'm sticking with some form of Plymouth Rocks, their really winter hardy.