Setting Today (03-02-2012)

[MyNameIs86]

I have resisted candling, although i had to open the bator today to put in a new thermometer and hydrometer, so i did candle one! Didnt see anything seeing it is only day 2....lol I regularly sit and stare at EGGS! I want them to start pipping NOW

Cant wait for day 7 so i can check them all!!!!!

I am also very careful about having clean hands before handling my babies!!!!

My boyfriend thinks im nuts!!!!

I know what you mean 1sttimechick,
i want them to pip now (at day 2). I am planning to candle when I can see something...perhaps 5th or 7th day... i'm a newbie @ this and not sure what I should be seeing, even though i have looked at the pics on the info page here on backyardchickens. . Can't wait!.

Do people generally candle all the eggs?
If you do decide to take an egg out, do you have to put it in the same spot or can you put it in a different spot in the incubator on the rack?

 

[Fuzz Fuzz]

I did candle some of my own eggs before setting. To check the shells, my chicks just started to lay for the first time.

I'm going to candel at day seven. If i can manage my curiositi.

I go to the incubator multiple times a day and just look at the eggs.

I do hand turn them, because i want to, there came a turner with the incubator, but i want to turn them by hand to keep me involved. I have them in eggcartons so turning is quite quick.

It's nice to have so many buddies to hatch with. And we all are as exiting to see the little chicks coming out. I hope everybody makes it to the end and have a great hatchrate.

 

[chkinut]

yeah, i kinda wish i hand turned cuz i just like to DO stuff with them. and with an egg turner you basically set them and forget them till day 19 (with the exception of adding water every few days). but still, i'm happy for my egg turner, but i can understand wanting to hand turn them as well!
and i also consider hatch rate based on how many did i set and how many hatched? although i must say, i am NOT counting the smelly egg i had to remove after only one day of incubating. wish me luck on these eggs, they guy i got them from said most were about a month old! well, i'm hatching them for him anyway....aside from 3 eggs, they will all be his chicks. then, i asked him to save some more dark brown and olive eggs for ME so that when i'm done hatching for him....then in go MY eggs. so after these hatch, i'll be starting all over again! that means i'll have to find new hatching buddies which will be sad cuz i'm sure we'll all get to know each other pretty well during all this fun! well, i'm sure my new hatching buddies will be fun too, lol. today during my break i am going to do some research on candlers that a couple of you have mentioned. for one thing, i can't even candle now cuz hubby has lost his high powered little flash light. this is killin me! lol!

 

[Fuzz Fuzz]

I'll calculate my hatchrate by all the eggs i set. Thats what i like.

After this hatch i will be hatching more, i'll get more bantam silkie eggs from my own silkies and some i've ordred, jersey giant eggs and marran eggs i've ordred. So who nows maybe we'll hatch together more. But then again my runner duck eggs are going to take a week longer then all the chicken eggs.

And now there seems to be a little hen getting broody on as far as i know no eggs.................

Unless she just layd one.

Ah well, i think that i've contracted the chicken virus.......bugg...........eeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh, you know what i mean........
And the brooding bugg to.........

 

[dreamer5577]

I used a PC fan. It's weird. It was working perfectly fine, but you know as soon as the eggs go in and whatnot...it quits on me. I got it off of ebay and the company is sending me a new one, but it's quite a bummer because I cannot rig this new one up until the hatch is over.

this is my fifth hatch, using a GQF sportsman cabinet. Last hatch was mine and two other folks, sort of a community hatch, we had 86% on them. My eggs were 93%, some of theirs were pretty old and pushing the limit. Now for percentages, I do it based on what I put into the incubator, not what goes into lockdown. So, an infertile eggs count against your percentage, an early quitter counts. Only those that actually hatch out and survive are considered in my hatch percentage count. I know some other do it differently, they count based on what they lockdown. I'm not freaked out about percentages, what happens happens. I just figure if I set 100 eggs, 94 hatch, I have a 94% success. Others set 100, put 60 in lockdown, all hatch so they call it 100%


Different accounting methods, not discounting anyone who does it the latter way.

Dreamer: What sort of fan did you use? I've heard the PC fans work well, heck mine is running all the time and this puter is a couple years old. I'n not big on restarting every day, turn it on and leave it run. (I know it's bad, just not patient enough to sit here and watch it boot up)

 

[RachaelS]

Can I join? I set 13 on 03/03 at around 6:00 PM. Those were 9 shipped Barnevelders and 4 BarneBars (from my own stock).

Last year I did 3 hatches, with VERY poor results on the first 2. On the 3rd, I got 8 out of 12 eggs set (all were shipped). Hoping to do much better this year

. I picked 03/03 as the set date so I could “Hatch by the moon”.

I have the cheapest hovabator they make, not sure of the exact model number, with an auto turner and still air. I put water in when I first set the eggs, then no more until lockdown. That is the method I used with my 3rd batch last year. The two prior I kept the humidity at 50-55% and did not have much luck, but then again I was REALLY new to it all, so who knows

.

Yes, I am addicted to watching them also! Keep waiting for something to happen LOL!

 

[Fuzz Fuzz]

Well, i schould say the more the marrier.

We can all share our worries, highs and lows.

And ofcourse our sometimes a little weird habbits.

 

[chkinut]

yes fuzz fuzz, maybe we WILL hatch again soon!! i just candled my 3 light brown eggs with an LED flashlight and so far i see NOTHING. i would think i would see SOMETHING by now, i set these 3 on friday (march 2nd) so they're almost at day 4.

 

[Fuzz Fuzz]

Just lookt at a couple of mine and i don't see anything yet eighter.
I think you'll have to have a little more patience before something is to be seen.
I 'll be patient till day 7 and then i'll be able to say more about it. And i hope you will to.....

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

I have a small 9 led flashlight that I pop on the eggs when I go to turn them, they are all white shells so I get a brief look every few days.

Patience is one of my strong points.