Setting eggs tonight, and what a day I've had...(long)

[funnybirds]

First timer setting eggs here. The post office called at 6 AM and my husband answered. They weren't open yet but the nice lady said she would let him come get them early. So my daughter wakes me up and says "Daddy went to get the eggs ..."
Wow, and no phone call or email as I expected. Eggs weren’t supposed to be here till the 22 and that was what I thought would be a tentative date...so no place figured out yet for drafts, temp consistency, and hadn’t checked humidity information or levels with water in the Bator. (There are a few lessons in this for me.) This would be lesson 1.
Eggs are subject to laying status. I guess that means ballpark delivery dates. D’oh.
I had ordered another incubator. As from many postings I have read the one I had gotten originally would be problematic and would require a fan to increase effectiveness. I also ordered hatching eggs. The incubator I ordered to replace it, is delayed. The eggs were not. It will be here the 29th. Credit card denied because the business was out of state and it was labeled as a suspicious purchase by our bank. Twice. Over four days.

This was lesson number 2. Make sure the incubator you want to use is in your hot little hands before you order the dream eggs you wanted.
So in Hubby walks with eggs. They shipped two extra. I was pleased. I opened the box and it had that nifty soft foam holes cut in large soft foam foam blocks. The eggs are small so I gently pull one out. Wanted to check they were in large side up. Egg busts in my fingertips. Shatters. Poof, gone. And then there were 13. There's a lesson in here, but I'm not sure what it is.

Moved a bunch of furniture, placed Bator in corner of room away from windows and vents. Shut vent to room. Set house heat to 68, run run run. Raced around dogs and cats and kiddo. Lesson number 3. Get it done way in advance when nobodies around.

So I wait 13 hours to place them in the pre warmed and fussed over incubator. All 3 thermometers read differently. Fantastic. One is digital. Going with that reading. Lesson number 4. Calibrate and verify before hand and use ONE thermometer. Spot check with another.
When pulling eggs out of foam block , foam block came up and eggs remained down. All fell gently to their sides. Is this okay? Or are they messed up now?
Ugh.
So that’s it for now.
I’m a lot more stressed because I’m a first timer and this hasn’t been my best showing of effort or foresight.
Please tell me they still have hope.

 

[Mahonri]

You still have hope.

Good luck!

I think I'm going to order one of those Brinsea spot check thermometers.

 

[Kittymomma]

Breathe, ok now breathe again. You're doing fine. I had a 95% hatch my first time hand turning with a lg still air--granted that was with my own eggs so no shipping stress, but your hatch isn't doomed because of the bator. One thing to remember is to not mess with the temp. for the first 24 hours unless it spikes. It will prob. read low for awhile because it takes the egg awhile to warm up and that's a lot of mass. It's completely normal and if you mess with it too soon you'll spend the next several days pulling your hair out and worrying about temp. spikes--Don't ask me how I know...

When your new bator gets there you can get it all set up and after running it for a day or two to get things stabalized you can move the eggs into it. If fact, lots of people use their back up bators for hatchers so they can get another batch started right away--oops, did I just type that?

I'm not an enabler, I'm not an enabler...

 

[GiGi123]

I'm right up there with you.
i'm new at this whole hatching thing too and like you i cracked an egg, had both of my thermometers and humidifiers giving me different numbers and ofcourse i'm having temp spikes all over the place now it was fine last night but it is super high now.

good luck on your hatch!


keep us posted of your adventures

gigi

 

[funnybirds]

Yup its gotten worse. And I thought I'd go ahead and have my bad luck up front. Had a temp spike yesterday. 108. Have a feeling that was the end of all the eggs right there. Then this morning a cat managed to partly unplug the bator. So caught a temp decline at 96.
I dont think this clutch has even the smallest of chances now.
Anybody have this happen and still have a successful hatch?
Ohh this is so worrisome...

 

[Kittymomma]

It happens all the time to people and often the hatch is just fine. It really depends on how long the temp. was that high, because it takes the eggs quite a bit longer to come up to temp--if it was only for a couple of hours it shouldn't be a problem. As far as the 96 low goes, I wouldn't worry about that at all. I had a broody get back on the wrong nest once. When I got home from work her eggs were ice cold, not sure how long she was off, but it must have been for at least 1/2 of the day. She had 9/11 hatch. One of the dud eggs was clear and the other quit early on, well before the wrong nest mishap. Hang in there and please keep us updated. I'm not hatching anything right now and kind of miss it, so I'm really enjoying reading about your experience--Hoping for some fuzzy butt pictures in a few weeks!

 

[BHep]

Hey I am far from an expert but, I am on my 2nd ever hatching in a homemade incubator (a fishtank) . 1st hatch went smooth. 5 out of 8 hatched. Now, 2nd hatch....OMG! temps were all over the place. ????? low as 93 high as 106. I have no idea why, what or how. Anyway, I am sitting here looking at 3 beautiful little chicks that hatched this morning and 4 more that are pipped.(13 eggs total in) I posted pics on another thread. I'm new on here and if I knew how to show you...... it's named setting eggs 11 (something) any one with me posted by greeneacre. I'm sure you can find it.

Anyway...the point is there is hope! I will cross my fingers for you.

 

[funnybirds]

Oh thank you guys so much. This gives me a LOT OF HOPE.
Happy Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Gold Griffin Chicken Mom]

I too have two incubators. The older one, acquired from a yard sale, is used as the "dry out" 'bator.

When several of the little chicks are hatched and running about shrieking "Look! I'm alive!" and stomping all over their siblings' faces, they get removed from the hatcher. If the half-hatched chicks don't appreciate it, at least it makes ME feel better!

Yes, the lesson learned about pre-warming the incubator is a good one. I came home from Spring Break 2009 with 18 eggs and no incubator at all. Thank goodness, the feed store had ONE in stock! Since then I read here on BYC that you should let your eggs rest for several hours before warming. Guess I did ok in that regard. My first hatch ever was pretty poor: 5 of 18. I made all sorts of mistakes and tried to help the chicks. Not a good idea. This year I managed 11 of 12 and 13 of 18. Then at 6 weeks and ten weeks old we had disaster stirke: foxes killed 22 of my 24 babies in one night! (That score is now foxes 22/ me 3. I'm still out for revenge, but they get more humane treatment from me than they gave my babies. It was horrible! PLEASE build a secure run and coop for your babies! Rant done...)

Anyway, chickens are pretty hardy. My son dropped one and broke her toe when she was just days old. Spot is finishing up her first moult at age 18 months and will hopefully get back to laying her pink eggs soon. I keep an eye on the toenail on the broke toe and trim it with the cat nail clippers when it gets too long. I moved roosters around this evening and had to apply diaper cream to Dirty Red's comb and wattles. Cordon managed to grab him through the fence. They'll live. I guess I'll be refereeing roosters all weekend.

Look at all the fun that awaits you, lol. Remember to hold those babies everyday and tell them how good they are. Say it often enough and they'll believe it! Good hatches to everybody!