Starting up the 'bator - I must be crazy :)

[rarebreedeggs4u]

Me too Steve. Didn't I say I was done for a month or at least a few weeks? My little Serama girls are just way too busy. I left their eggs with them all week and couldn't stand it anymore. They are on top of the bator warming to room temp...craziness~LOL

 

[Intheswamp]

99.5/110.4 ???

Quote:

 

[SilkieTime]

Sorry I mean 99.5/100.4. It's 10:16pm now and it 99.5/100.2 36%. I'll try not to do that again. I pluged in the turner at 6:30pm. I think it's time for bed.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We turned them off in July or August. We were planning to start setting small batches of 30 or 40 eggs in early Jan for spring chick sales anyway so we are just a couple weeks early. Last fall we had a owl kill a couple of Sharon's blue Cochin hens The others we are just working on improving the lines. It's to cold to ship eggs this time of year, mid 20's at night here so I know it is ALOT colder north and west. It just doesn't give me a "warm fuzzy" feeling to even try shipping, i'd hate to have somebody spend good money on eggs and then not get a hatch because they froze on the way.

I checked the temp this morning and it about 99 to 100 depening on which thermometer you look at and 30 % RH. I wasn't thinking and should have taken one to work last week and calibrated it. Most of the digitals are reading low and the analog is dead on 100. I'm going to put a human thermometer in and see what that says before I adjust anything. It's cold in the back room to that may be the issue as well - it's about 60 in there and probably colder when we are using the fireplace.

Steve in NC

 

[speckledhen]

Well, you are crazy, but that's beside the point, Steve.

J/K! I've incubated all during fall and winter and swore I wouldn't do it again, but next month, I'll be making myself out to be a liar.

 

[nivtup]

We are still working on learing the "how to turn it off" part of incubating.

We have been on a weekly hatching schedule for a while now, and need to get to the point the incubators are empty.

Right now I have a tray out of the sportsman on the counter, filled with eggs, trying to convince myself that we already have to many chicks as it is.

My bet is that they will get set today.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I just finished a hatch of bobs and chickens but fortunately they were sold/preorders. Unfortunately I couldn't help myself and stuck 3 silver Appleyard duck eggs in. Two were fertile and one is hatching now. I said last spring that I would NEVER hatch/brood ducklings again until the weather was warm and they could go outside...

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We are only going to do small batches to start with, we should only have about 18 eggs going in today depending on how the lay today - it was rainy and cold all day yesterday so I doubt they will lay very good today.

Steve

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Quote:
You have to do something to think spring other than drool over seed catalogs. lol Beside that, what would I do all winter build more coops and pens????? We have two going now that aren't finished yet. lol I ended up setting 19 eggs and I'll add whatever we get today to the mix.

Steve

 

[Bookspryte]

I had already told DH that I planned to fire up the incubator on Christmas Eve. But then we lost power and heat for 48 hours because of the storm. The idea of getting the little ones so far along and then losing them is too hard to take. So I guess I'll have to wait for now.

Good luck to everyone else, though.

Denise