Styrofoam Incubators Club

[snowy Mtns]

Cheering from the eggs!! No external pips yet

Now to get some sleep while waiting!

 

[snowy Mtns]

Awoke to a new baby! One more is pipped

 

[SpinningJenny]

Ok guys, here we go! 7 viable, wiggling (they are wiggling!!!!) eggs are now on day 18! I'm excited, but I"ll miss turning them. I was really bonding with them thru our daily calisthenics.

I've increased the humidity to about 60%... Should I go higher now, or wait till day 21? I've got several varieties in there with different sized air cells so I'm wondering if I should put off full hatching humidity. Recommendations?

For those with experience incubating Bantams, since the eggs are much smaller, are the air cells typically smaller too? I've got one in there with an air cell that doesn't seem congruent to the rest. But I also have one EE egg in there with a HUGE air cell. I'm worried about him being shrink wrapped, and thus I'm worried about the humidity being too much for the bantam but too low for the EE.

What would you do?

 

[BrieCheese23]

If the humidity is too low, they will all end up shrink wrapped as they start hatching. How much tinier is the little guy's air cell? You could always wrap a wet paper towel or wash cloth around the one you're concerned with drying out?

 

[SpectrumPoultry]

I wrap a blanket around my Genesis 1588. I have experienced less heat loss and even humidity.

 

[MeepBeep]

This isn't so relevant to 'commercial' foam incubators by anyway I busted out my cheapy DIY foam incubator the other day that I made on a whim a few years ago as something to do that day as I was bored, it's been in storage since last October... Dusted it off, cleaned it, bleached it and let it sit in the sun to air out for a few hours... Plugged it in, gave it two hours to stabilize and this is the temp of my fake egg in it... This is the third year I will be using this incubator and I have only adjusted it twice, obviously the first year setting it up and last year out of storage it was 1° too cool, this year no adjustment necessary... I keep wanting to build a bigger and better one, but this thing is like that rusty trusty car that starts and never breaks down, it's ugly tossed together in one night but incredibly reliable... The only thing I have done since day one is build a DIY turner for it, it's nearly hands off now...

 

[angry rooster]

I just went into lock down with my LG with the added fan.  I'm thinking that the 23 eggs mostly BCM, will probably not hatch.  On day 14 I candled the eggs in a darkened room and when I replaced the lid I inadvertently left the thermostat on the outside of the incubator.  I didn't notice it for almost an hour and it got pretty warm as it was reading my room temperature and the heater stayed on.  I don't know if the eggs survived or not.  We'll see in a couple of days.  I'm feeling pretty stupid right now.  I had noticed a post on here with the suggestion to get rid of the flimsy plastic that the probe wire is attache to and glue it to a golf ball. I was planning on doing that for the next hatch.  Maybe if there was a golf ball flying around and bonked me in the knee I would be sure to place it in the incubator.  on another note, does anyone have any tips for candling very dark Marans eggs?

I heard somewhere that sanding dark eggs it help them breath witch can help with hatch rates and it makes them easy to candle

 

[Papachook]

Thanks angry roo. That batch did in fact all die. Since then I tried another batch of 11 black copper marans. I had 4 hatch. 1 died while trying to hatch. It seemed very weak from the start. One looked like it only partially developed (it was only about 1 inch long). Three were apparently infertile. And three appeared to be about full term except they had not fully enclosed their yolk sacks yet. I'm wondering if they were shrink wrapped. I dry incubated them until day 18 with humidity fairly constant at 40 to 45%. upon lock down I added water and the humidity was then between 60 and 65%. Should it have been higher? Interesting tip on sanding the dark eggs. I might try that next time. The three that developed but did not hatch were the darkest brown eggs.

 

[SpinningJenny]

I've got peeping eggs! Ahhhhhhhh! I'm so excited.

So what now? I'm monitoring humidity and temp, and I opened it a couple times to listen and watch a minute. That's OK, right?

Can I candle then after they pop internally? Can I pick the others up and candle them for internal pips if they arent peeping? I'm going to set my alarm very early and hope I catch them hatching!

 

[SpinningJenny]

So, as it turns out, I "misunderestimated" my feed delivery date and the chick starter won't be here for another week... I know the chicks that are hatching now will have their yolks to use up for a few days (2? 3?) but what pantry items would be good for grinding up for them until the feed arrives?

I have some nice mixed grain scratch I can grind up, as well as:

rolled oats
rolled rye
green split peas (dried)
red lentils
green lentils
brown rice
breads crumbs
pecans
cashews
walnuts
pine nuts
pumpkin seeds (shelled)

Can I make a mix of this stuff for a few days in the blender for them tis their "proper" feed arrives? Anything to avoid?