She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[sideWing]

My early morning pipper is now at about 12 hours. Ugh! Good news is, I just saw it move a piece of shell, so its still alive.

And my sweet darling wonderful hubby brought home some lemonade (Mike's black cherry

) so I'm good for a long evening! Polish has widened its pip a little, and the floor pipper is hanging in there too.

I want to see that one make it out!

Lol maybe his name will be Ringo.

You're a daisy if you do.

 

[scflock]

What is your altitude? Are the eggs shipped or local? I leave chicks in the incubator and then pull them when they fluff up at about 24hrs. I keep lockdown humidity closer to 75% so that I can grab chicks out quickly and not kill the humidity.

He is a **** handsome rooster SC.

Thank you for the feedback. I will post him up on the "French" Marans thread if he keeps his comb and his next set of feathers look right. The bottoms of the feet on my Marans are white not slate like the legs. Like, white white. That's good to know about the ear muffs I didn't even know to look. His comb right now has a little wave to it, it's not perfectly strait. I don't think it's a DQ but will probably get nasty looks from the "French" crowd.

How old when you guy got the extra points?


What is the fun of hatching in a Brinsea?

I can't honestly say when he developed the extra point. I didn't even notice until I posted that pic on the yumyumeat'emup thread

From what I saw, it doesn't look like yours will have them. I reread your post and saw that you said white feet. That's good. Some lines have whiter feet than others, but yellow is a DQ. I picked Little Man because he had the straightest comb, but have since learned that wavy is better than carnation. Like I said, I'm really ignorant as far as what all goes into picking out all the faults for SOP. Just go to the GoldenCorral thread and ask snowbird

I have read plenty of these styrobator threads to know that that is way too much fun for me. We play for blood, remember?

 

[scflock]

You're a daisy if you do.

You're no daisy, you're no daisy at all

 

[NTBugtraq]

By lockdown, I don't think there's much that the Brinsea could do to help weight loss, but it would be an extremely stable environment for hatching. If you are having fully developed, live chicks that are then dying during lockdown, I would give it a shot.

So I was thinking that if I have some eggs that have no achieved sufficient weight loss by day 18, and others that have, having 2 bators to split them would be good. Those that have achieved weight loss can have the humidity bumped up, and those that haven't can keep the humidity low till one pips, then gets bumped up.

Oh right...you're the no muss no fuss guy, I should be talking to Amy...;-]

What is your altitude? Are the eggs shipped or local? I leave chicks in the incubator and then pull them when they fluff up at about 24hrs. I keep lockdown humidity closer to 75% so that I can grab chicks out quickly and not kill the humidity.

What is the fun of hatching in a Brinsea?

My altitude is around 400', not an issue. My eggs are all from my flock.

And the fun hatching in a Brinsea is that now I will be able to set 81 eggs, instead of only 41. Remember, goal is to get 100 new layers this year.

 

[NTBugtraq]

I have been checking in on my 9 in the brooder ever 30 mins for the last 9 hours, and in the last 30 mins 2 more chicks have died. One was in bad shape from the beginning, but another I thought was thriving. I have placed them on the food, put their beaks in the water, made sure the heat was good...sheesh, this is turning into a nightmare.

 

[WalnutHill]

I've just finished my 2nd hatch ever (I'm doing my project breed of chickens), and my results this time were worse than my 1st hatch.

1st Hatch set 41 in a Hovabator 1588 with fan and turning tray. Candling didn't work well (was trying to use a flashlight with too few lumens) and I did not know about weight loss vs. humidity. Followed the instructions in the bator box, kept humidity ~50% till Day 18 then increased it to 75%. I was very hands on after Day 18, removing shells, and chicks, as they were ready (dry). I got 19/41...no idea really how many were infertile but I suspect it was 8 or so.

2nd Hatch set 41 again, candled (with Ova Scope HI) and weighed Day 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, and 18. Removed 7 infertile by Day 10, the rest I thought were viable. 14 hatch on Day 20, and 8 more by the morning of Day 21. I candle a couple of the eggs, and while no movement, they didn't appear dead. So I left everything in the bator and took Sally Sunshine's advice, left them be. Nothing happened Day 22, but on the morning of Day 23 (this morning) I find 11 dead chicks in the bator. 2 more die within 10 minutes of being placed in the brooder. So 9/41 this time. Temps appeared appropriate ~100F, maybe a little high) and humidity was 53% this morning.

Clearly I am crushed at this massive failure...but I thought they would be ok in the bator for 3 days. This makes me want to go back to my previously Amy-ish behavior.

Set 41 more this morning with the plan of not touching anything (adding no water, it runs around 25-30% humidity) until Day 10, then again on Day 16, and 18. Candling and Weighing on each of those days, and adjusting humidity as required. Also, will drop the temperature on each day after Day 18 by 0.5F each day. This time I will take out the dry chicks and shells when they are available. I will also have a 2nd bator by the time this set goes into lockdown (a Brinsea Octogon 40 ADV EX), and plan to put eggs which have not achieved enough weight loss into it on lockdown day so they can be handled separate from the rest.

Any post numbers you can point me to that you think I should read?

This last hatch I started Day 1 with ~50% humidity, and let it drop naturally (vent open) over the rest of the incubation till day 18, when it was ~25% (which is house humidity). Then I brought it up to 75% on Day 20 (since there were no pips on Day 19) after I saw pips. It dropped naturally down to 53% by the morning of Day 23.

No matter what you humidity you start at the first 7-10 days, you can generally correct by lockdown.

After dozens of carefully documented variably successful hatches, I've improved my hatch rates considerably, especially on turkeys.

I incubate and hatch both chicken and turkey eggs, mine, local and shipped. I've incubated eggs set the day of lay, and those three weeks old; refrigerated eggs vs sitting on a table. No matter what you start with, here are the guidelines that have given me the best results (though not like Amy's as I don't watch my incubator 24/7):

Storage: Okay at room temp up to 7 days, if planning on storing more than 7 days before setting, put in your kegerator (55-65F).

Turning: I use a spare turner to keep them moving before setting. Tilting a carton would work just as well. During incubation, I use the LG continuous auto-turner. I prefer to stop turning around day 16 for chickens and day 21 for turkeys, especially as my Easter Eggers are sired by a very large fowl and my turkeys are mothered by a BBB, so the chicks and poults grow very large before hatch.

Fertility: Use good breeders. This is one factor that you can't fix during incubation.

Humidity: Chicken eggs (and especially bantams) seem much less particular about humidity up to time of hatch. With turkeys, ambient incubator humidity in my climate (ranging from 16-65% with an average of 25% this time of year) provides appropriate air cell development. I do add water if humidity is below 25% for more than a few hours, but only a couple of ounces. I use the commonly available air cell charts rather than weighing as I try to handle the eggs as little as possible. At lockdown, I have had best results around 75-77%. Natural spikes have caused no issues.

Temperature: I have a still air hatcher and a forced air cabinet. In the forced air, I prefer 99.5-100.5 per the Brinsea Spot Check to deliver hatches on days 27 & 28 (or 20 & 21 for chickens). In the hatcher, I drop the temp to 99 - 99.5 at center of egg level. Dropping the temp lower at hatch has resulted in weak, tired hatchers with open navels. Higher temp at hatch has resulted in chicks that hatch vigorously but suffer heat stress immediately after hatch.

Ventilation: You can't have too much after day 4. Day 0-4 do better closed up.

I take the middle road on pulling chicks from the incubator and moving to the hatcher. When they are dry, and when all zippers are done zipping, only then will I open the incubator to snatch out the babies. I have left them for 2 days when they hatched when I wasn't home, but that is with lower hatching temps only.

 

[scflock]

Oh right...you're the no muss no fuss guy, I should be talking to Amy...;-]



.

That's me

Yep, Amy can steer you in the right direction

 

[WVduckchick]

Buy a Brinsea

You're pushing your luck mister

 

[chickiedoodahs]

My early morning pipper is now at about 12 hours. Ugh! Good news is, I just saw it move a piece of shell, so its still alive.

And my sweet darling wonderful hubby brought home some lemonade (Mike's black cherry

) so I'm good for a long evening! Polish has widened its pip a little, and the floor pipper is hanging in there too.

Yay, I wish my broody was transparent now! Sounds like you should have at least 1 chick very soon... just hope I wake up to fluffy babies!

 

[scflock]

I have been checking in on my 9 in the brooder ever 30 mins for the last 9 hours, and in the last 30 mins 2 more chicks have died. One was in bad shape from the beginning, but another I thought was thriving. I have placed them on the food, put their beaks in the water, made sure the heat was good...sheesh, this is turning into a nightmare.

I had a very similar experience in my first attempt in styrofoam. That's when I lost my mind and bought a 20 Advance. You bought the 40EX, so you are certified

In all seriousness, when that 40 gets here you will wonder why it was ever so hard. That incubator is truly set it and forget it. I hope to have one myself by next year