Should I take my hatching eggs on vacation with me?

[KenOmatic]

I have a small dilemma. I started a hatch on 7/14/12 at 4:30 pm, so this Friday 8/3/12 at 4:30 pm is the full 21 days. My dilemma is, Friday at 4:30 we are going on a planned three day vacation to the beach with family. This is my first ever attempt at hatching eggs. I finally got my homemade igloo 24 qt cooler incubator finished and I was so excited. It was holding temps and humidity perfectly. I had been saving fertile eggs for eight days. The time was right, so I set them when I did with no concept of time, or space I guess, not thinking of hatch date.
I have the 18 remaining eggs (Black Copper Marans and Olive Eggers) in an egg carton now with holes cut in the sides and bottoms and I've stopped turning them three times daily and humidity is holding steady at 80%.
I guess my plan is to take them all with me. I have used this for an excuse to get a hotel room near the beach (not that thrilled about sleeping in a tent on the beach anyway at my age) and can plug in the incubator there. I also have a converter to keep it plugged in while in route.
My question is SHOULD I take them with me or should I leave them here to fend for them selves until Sunday afternoon the 5th. I just don't think I could enjoy the outing, worrying if I don't take them. What should i do?

 

[brahmabreeder]

Can you get some one to come over and tend to them on saturday?

 

[KenOmatic]

I have dogs that i wouldn't trust with people in the yard without me here (I have plenty of food, water and shade for them). And I really don't have any friends that would know what to do (not that I do really). I would probably have to have real time updates with pictures and then be on my phone, all weekend. I don't remember being this excited about my last child! (sorry Cray lol)

 

[kays chicks]

if you have no one who can be there for your hatching chicks i think you have no choice but to take them with you , chicks wont need food straight away but will need water aslo the incubator may be to warm for the chick and have no where to go to cool down if they get hot . 24 hours is ok to leave or until dry if no more chicks are hatching . i think the chicks may be going on there first holiday

good luck

 

[KenOmatic]

The incubator will be in the AC on the way there and in the hotel room. we are stopping there first to get the room temps right and stabilize the bator. I guess my main concern is the moving and bumping that is bound to go on during transit.
Yes it looks like a chicken holiday! I Will have to give them beach names like Starfish or Seaweed....or Tarball.

 

[brahmabreeder]

Just drive extra extra careful and make sure the eggs move very minimally. ASA you get to the hotel plug the bator in. Good luck with this adventure.

 

[KenOmatic]

I think I'll let my wife drive then, and will definitely get the bator up and going quickly. Its only a 1 hour drive. This will be an adventure! Thanks for your help.
Ken

 

[Delilah1337]

Good luck with the hatch! I can't wait to hear how it goes. Its crazy the dedication we have for our little babies

 

[KenOmatic]

Update to my beach adventure....After some debating I was informed I was using "chicken math" if I thought it was worth it to get a hotel room for two nights for these 18 eggs that may or may not hatch. So I decided I could do this and that I would take them to the beach with us and camp down there. Friday about an hour before we left I had one egg hatch.By the time we were on the way, there were three. When we got to the beach there were five. Temps had remained kind of stable during the trip but when we got to the beach humidity was at 99%. I didn't realize it but one of the jars of water that I used in the bottom for heat holding had turned over and the lid wasn't on good and the bottom of the bator had water sloshing around in it. It was difficult getting the water out while trying to keep temps stable and chicks were popping out like popcorn by this time. I finally got it semi dried out but the humidity was still hard to keep down the whole trip.... By Saturday morning I had 15 out of 18 hatched. 9 BCM X EE and 6 BCM but one BCM died. It got so hot during the day that I had to leave the lid open to lower the temps inside. Temps and humidity were all over the place the whole trip to be honest. It really must not be as critical on the temps and humidity as some articles state or I'm a lucky old clucker!
We are back home and the 14 are in the brooder running around and happy. Three Marans eggs have not hatched. This was an awesome adventure with the Grand kids getting to be right there and see it all happen. I'm glad the timing worked out this way and I wouldn't go back and change a thing, if I could.
That's 14 the hard way!! Thanks BackYard Chickens for teaching me soooo much. I couldn't have pulled this one off without you!

Before we left.



Not long after we we got there on Friday.



Our camp site.



Gran kids having fun.



Love Texas beaches!!

Home in the brooder.

 

[Roxannemc]

Bet you are the first person to ever hatch chickens on a trip to the beach! Intesting thread!