Simulated Natural Nest Incubation~Experiment #1 So it begins....

[Beekissed]

a human adult is suppose to give out heat like a 100 watt light bulb, if I understand your question,,,,,is an embryo generating heat? Great question ! it is alive therefore it may be.

I don't know that I have an embryo producing heat by the first night...would it?

 

[enola]

I think if the eggs are fertile they should begin ti develope. If the fluctuations cause deaths of chicks you will be able to determine this with eggtopsies.

I use a Little Giant incubator. I have noticed day time temperature change patterns similar to the ones you have mentioned. I don't tweak my incubator. As long as the temperature stays between 99º - 101º I still get good hatches.

Another thing I do........ I leave the lid up every morning when I am perking my coffee. Trying to copy the cool down from the hen leaving the nest to eat, drink and poop.

 

[Beekissed]

So, third day, but it's only actually been almost 2 days since starting the hatch. How do you all count that? Twenty four hour days or just calendar days?

It's pouring the snow here, so I'll be running the vaporizer in the bedroom today and I've misted the soil in the nest box down pretty good on the perimeters of the nest. Did the morning shuffle and turn as softly as I could and it seems that the eggs on the perimeter of the nest are a tad warmer than yesterday, though nothing has changed in the nest or the heat source....maybe it's just finally reached a more even heat throughout the nest site? The eggs in the middle are, of course, more notably warmer.

I've read that the actual brood patch on a brooding chicken isn't very large, mainly just the triangle of area right under their sternum, so this nest feels just about right for that...the middle eggs very warm, the eggs on the next circle out are a little less so and the perimeter eggs even less than that. I think this mimics an actual nest situation pretty well and the shuffle of the eggs inward and outward, though random for me, is a way that the hen controls the growth of the chicks so that they all grow at the same rate and hatch together. What I've read seems to indicate that the broody can tell through their vocalizations and movements which chicks are growing the fastest and those not so fast and shuffles the eggs accordingly.

Since I won't have that ability, I'm going to have to hope that the random but steady shuffling of each egg throughout this incubation will sort of keep growth rates even and onward.

 

[Beekissed]

I think if the eggs are fertile they should begin ti develope. If the fluctuations cause deaths of chicks you will be able to determine this with eggtopsies.

I use a Little Giant incubator. I have noticed day time temperature change patterns similar to the ones you have mentioned. I don't tweak my incubator. As long as the temperature stays between 99º - 101º I still get good hatches.

Another thing I do........ I leave the lid up every morning when I am perking my coffee. Trying to copy the cool down from the hen leaving the nest to eat, drink and poop.

I'll be doing that "leaving the nest" thingy after the end of the third or fourth day. I've noticed my own broodies keep that butt clamped to the nest on those first days but will get up after the third or fourth to drink and poop, take a few bites and then back to the nest.

When I turn the eggs I'll just leave the nest open for about 10 min....I've not seen one off the nest for longer than that and still have a successful hatch rate.

 

[ronott1]

So, third day, but it's only actually been almost 2 days since starting the hatch. How do you all count that? Twenty four hour days or just calendar days?

It's pouring the snow here, so I'll be running the vaporizer in the bedroom today and I've misted the soil in the nest box down pretty good on the perimeters of the nest. Did the morning shuffle and turn as softly as I could and it seems that the eggs on the perimeter of the nest are a tad warmer than yesterday, though nothing has changed in the nest or the heat source....maybe it's just finally reached a more even heat throughout the nest site? The eggs in the middle are, of course, more notably warmer.

I've read that the actual brood patch on a brooding chicken isn't very large, mainly just the triangle of area right under their sternum, so this nest feels just about right for that...the middle eggs very warm, the eggs on the next circle out are a little less so and the perimeter eggs even less than that. I think this mimics an actual nest situation pretty well and the shuffle of the eggs inward and outward, though random for me, is a way that the hen controls the growth of the chicks so that they all grow at the same rate and hatch together. What I've read seems to indicate that the broody can tell through their vocalizations and movements which chicks are growing the fastest and those not so fast and shuffles the eggs accordingly.

Since I won't have that ability, I'm going to have to hope that the random but steady shuffling of each egg throughout this incubation will sort of keep growth rates even and onward.

The embryo starts developing as soon as the egg reaches incubation temperature. The first day counts if you set them before noon.

Use this chart for the hatch date. If you set after Noon on the first day, use the next day as the set date. This will help to see if you had close to the correct temperature during incubation.

http://homesteadapps.com/app/free/hatchchart/hatchturnscheentry.php

 

[Beekissed]

The embryo starts developing as soon as the egg reaches incubation temperature. The first day counts if you set them before noon.

Use this chart for the hatch date. If you set after Noon on the first day, use the next day as the set date. This will help to see if you had close to the correct temperature during incubation.

http://homesteadapps.com/app/free/hatchchart/hatchturnscheentry.php

Oh, Wow!! Thank you for the chart! How cool! I was thinking I had to keep the temps at 99.5 for some reason and was feeling pretty good about 100.0 but was worried about going over that any...thank you!!

 

[rayray983]

I would also watch out for temp fluctuations around day 10 to 13 I always have to turn the heat down a little between those days with my lg seems like the developing embryos start producing more heat around that point and I wonder how much heat the decaying of the organic material is putting into your nest

 

[Beekissed]

Side note: Just as soon as I added that moisture to the soil my nest temps spiked by several degrees and I've had to turn everything down and air out the nest twice to keep them at 100...got it stabilized now but that was pretty neat. I'm guessing that the moisture created some steam heat there and increased temps. I've got it regulated now but will keep that in mind for the future. Since the moisture increase in the ground is a natural change, I will continue it each time we get precipitation and will adjust like I guess a hen would have to do for the same reason. Got the vaporizer running in the room now also...will monitor temp changes, if any, throughout the day.

This is so fun!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Pretty sure those humidity readings wont do you any good here... It seems like you are going for something closer to a "dry hatch" than that chart indicates. Not that you are tracking humidity at all... But around 50-60% humidity is when you would get a lot of condensation on plastic at those temps.

 

[Beekissed]

I would also watch out for temp fluctuations around day 10 to 13 I always have to turn the heat down a little between those days with my lg seems like the developing embryos start producing more heat around that point and I wonder how much heat the decaying of the organic material is putting into your nest

It feels cool in that material...very cool to the touch. But, as you can see from the post above, any added moisture to it can turn up that heat. I think that is a wonderful response and can even show what happens in a natural nest situation when that nest is located on a forest floor litter.

Fred had warned me about that 13th day spike in temps...I'll be watching it closely.