Setting eggs Today due 3/11, anyone wanna hatch with me? We got chicks

[blueseal]

i have a broody golden laced wyandotte sitting on 6 eggs since monday 2/22/10/ hopeing for a march 15th hatch.

 

[pfmoore17]

Day 7 Report .

My Brinsea ECO 20 has been solid all week. 99.5-100F temp all the time, and even after being open up, it gets back to temp within 5 minutes.
Humidity has stayed 40-48%. I have added water every other day since day 3. Fill one channel and lay a wicking cloth to increase surface area. The vent has been closed to 1/4 open.

I candled today using a Maglite Flashlight with 2 C batteries. My eyes suck and I was cupping my hands around the eggs to get a visual on the eggs. The Marans were way too dark. The Salmon Faverolles looked okay and the Silkies shells were light enough to do a little culling. I ended up losing all 4 Splash Silkies and breaking them confirmed the candle. That leaves 6 BC marans, 5 Favs, 8 Partridge silkies and 3 blue/black silkies.

I will continue to open the bator as needed when humidity falls below 40% and add water.

When would be the next time to candle?

 

[BawGock]

Quote:
I usually check on the 14th, then the 18th.
I've never incubated BC marans before but I know with the cuckoo marans I am pretty certain on day 18 if they are keepers or not.
Sounds like your Eco 20 is working great

Carolyn

 

[pfmoore17]

I candled again today and culled 3 partridge silkies, I have 8 silkies left, like you BawGock, but then you added some, be sure you keep track!

The ECO 20 is great. The eggs were out yesterday for 5 =7 mins and once back in the bator, it was back to the correct temp and humdity in 5 mins.

I'll candle again next Friday. Can you detect movement in the eggs when you candle? I thought I did but between my shakey hands, crummy eyes and weak flashlight, who knows?

Hey Ms. Fuzzybutts, a shout out to your bator!

 

[Chickenfarmer 1-2-b]

Hi Carolyn, How are your eggs doing so far. It's day 14! that means candling time. I happened to open my bator yesterday and there was an unfamiliar odor came out. Talked to myself this is not good, oh crap! Got my flash light out starting to candle the 12 eggs, sniffing each one like a dog. Well this is my 1st hatch and dont know what the eggs supposed to smell like, LOL. Anyhow, got to egg #10, it has definitely different smell than the rest. It also candled differently, just a large dark shadow. Deep down I thought it is the rotten egg I was looking for, but there is a slight hesitation that what if I am mistakenly throwing out a perfectly good egg. Well, after about repeated 10 candling, I decided to crack the egg and see. Got to the bathroom, turned on the exhaust fan, slipped on surgical gloves, and cracked open the egg. Whoooooo, now I know what a rotten egg smell like. You betcha I am not going to open another rotten egg again, ever. Well still have 11 out of 18 eggs left (5 infertile, 2 quitters). Four more days til lock down, 7 days from hatching, I am going to take a Xanax now.

Andy

 

[pfmoore17]

I did a day 12 candling because of a humidity issue and I had to add some water.
I thought had a Maran dub and a Silkie dub, so I cracked both to find embryos. Nuts...
Those Marans are tough to candle....dark eggs.
I still have 5 BCM, 5 Favs and 6 silkies.

Humidity went high overnight to 51%, for about 6 hours. I opened the vent and it has steadied at 42%.

Tonight I went to do my evening egg collection and found a hen in the nest, sitting on a broken egg, with egg yolk on its butt/vent area and all over her beak. I promptly removed her to another coop. The egg was in the back of the box, i rarely find them there as they are usually in the middle of the nest. This hen has never eaten eggs and never broken them either. I put a rubber egg or two in the pen for her to play with and we will see tomorrow whether she lays another one and intentionally breaks. Hope not.

Tough 24 hours....

On a good note, my wheaten marans hens have been hanging with their new rooster friend since the weekend and today we had a fertile egg. Next week, I should have enough eggs to start a WM hatch when the current eggs go from the bator into the hatcher..

 

[Ms.FuzzyButts]

I go into lockdown on Tuesday. So far I have only had 3 to be duds.

 

[pfmoore17]

Ms.FuzzyButts :

I go into lockdown on Tuesday. So far I have only had 3 to be duds.

Me too.

 

[nmantime]

I'm a little late to this party but i have 12 eggs with a 3/11 hatch date. This is my 2nd hatch with my Brinsea Eco 20 and i'm loving it. In the 1st hatch (saturday) i had a 100% hatch rate for shipped eggs...

I set 12 more eggs (3/11 hatchdate) in the Eco20 4 days after this past saturdays hatch and so far when i candled on day 15 all were developing... yes... In the hatch saturday 4 speckled sussex and 8 black copper marans... on the hatch coming up on the 11th 3 favorelles, 3 araucaun's, 4 golden cuckoo marans and 2 Jersey Giants.
I read where some else with a Eco 20 was keeping their humidity rate up, i kept mine between 29 and 35 with 2 calibrated hygrometers. I have an accurite hygrometer/temp device but after testing it was 16% off. Bought 2 hygrometers on amazon for $9 apiece and they are calibration adjustable.
On day 19 raised the humidity by putting water in the second trough. This raised the humidity to 48%. I kept the vent at 1/2 open the whole time to insure i had fresh air circulating. I have tried to hatch before with higher humidity with very bad results.
I really want to see if the 3/11 hatch works as well as Saturday's hatch did.

Good luck everyone... I heard pipping just now so maybe i'm off a day. lol lol

Norm in N.CA

 

[pfmoore17]

Glad of your good results Norm,
My Brinsea was rock solid on humidity and temp until day 12. Then the humidity bounced around. I had the humidity between 40 and 47 for the first ten days then it went as high as 50 for about 7 hours, but I got it down. It then hovered between 25 and 37. Right now it is at 37.

Tomorrow for shutdown, I plan to fill the second channel and get it up to 50-55%. That seems to be the collective wisdom here at BYC and I am doing this for the first time so we will see. My plan is to do marans in the future and i understand they are difficult.

How was the Brinsea as a hatcher, day 18 and on? Was it a mess to clean? did you have to add water between 18 and 21?
thanks norm