Temperature Spikes: Stories Wanted

[justtoni44]

I'm really sorry Sport.
Hope you try again and get 100% hatch.

 

[SweetMotherOfMars]

Sorry, Sport.

 

[justtoni44]

Unbelievable.....................I have pips..............2 cuckoo's and one Blue so far........
Will check back later.unless I miscounted, this is day 20............
I swear I have messed up more with this hatch than any others.......
The time is mess up for me, states 5:51 am
Is actually 12:53 PM
I'll figure out how to fix it.

 

[SweetMotherOfMars]

So relieved you have pips!

On mine it shows you as 12:54p... (and we are both in the PNW) so may just be the setting on your file.
Click on Profile at the top of the page. It should take you to Essentials.
Time zone should be under email address.

 

[SportChick]

Quote:
How are your chicks doing??? Did they hatch Ok?

FYI, your time on the last post said 2:54pm, which since I am Central Time, would be right for 12:54 Pacific Time.

 

[justtoni44]

HI,
Have 6 hatched..4 cuckoo maran, 1 BCM, 1 easter egger...1 zipped,a few more pips...
So grateful..
Later

 

[Kedreeva]

Glad to hear it Justtoni!

 

[WindsOfChange]

Quote:
Ok, so if I try BCM's again, I will go with the lower temp range. Hmm, I wonder if I can convince my husband to let me do this all over again . . .

I wouldn't necessarily try the lower temp with the BCMs. They invariably hatch later than my other eggs, even Welsummer. I think they take a littler longer to develop, all around.

From time to time, I do a few post-mortems, when I am ABSOLUTELY sure the chicks aren't going to hatch. Of those BCMs left alive(so sad) they haven't absorbed all the yolk.

I run 6 LGs. Most with egg turner and fan, but then I use a few for hatchers, too without anything. (And God forbid the fan conks out on you and you aren't around to notice! Instant overheat!) In the hatchers(no fan), I notice that if the temp drops to 97,98, 99- I'm not getting hatches. If I adjust it to 101 ish (Because of COURSE I can't get it to simply 100, most of the time, lol), then I have chicks progressing and hatching out. I try to keep it between 100 and 102, max.

I think the thing with LGs is that you have to WATCH them! You have to try to be around enough to check them multiple times a day. If you can't be, then I'd say you should go with another incubator with a fixed temp capability.

The LGs go up in the warm day, and down in the night, it's incredible. In the daytimes, I have to adjust them down, sometimes I even have to put a small book in the edge to keep the top up because between the eggs' incubation activity and the heat outside, it WILL keep heading up to 103+!

Some nights before I go to bed, I see temps of 97! I find a lower night temp not SO crucial when the eggs are just developing, but during a hatch, it can make a huge difference.

Here's a spike story though- I had a broody sitting out in a little chicken house. One day the temp outside was like 98. One of those horrible scorcher days we've had here in the Northeast. The broody left the nest and was panting around the yard like all the others, so I sent my 13yo outside with the thermometer and then forgot all about it- I had intended to check it in ten minutes! Of course my 13yo didn't remember either.....two hours later...that thermometer said 106. 8 Ameracauna eggs, maybe day 15?...ARGH. But I rushed them in and stuck them in the incubator. Turned them for a few days. Bit my nails for another few...and omg. 4 of 8 hatched! Black chicks, too! What a miracle.

I just bought an old Leahy-Montgomery Wards red wood incubator. Am so excited about this! Can't wait to try it out!

Barbara

 

[SportChick]

Thanks for the advise Winds. My temps actually didn't budge. I watch them a lot (ok not in the middle of the night but definitely up until mid-night) and they were very stable. I set my house thermostat to stay at 78 degrees so the house temp didn't change much and they are in a room with heavy curtains drawn, so I think that helps. Good to know that the 101 thing is probably Ok. I did just invest in a fancy Brinsea thermometer and will check my incubator for hot spots although I mixed up the eggs around the incubator so I would think the other eggs would have been just as affected by hot spots.

Justtoni, did your eggs zip and pip just like they are supposed to or did they show difficulty getting out of their shells?

My new eggs arrive next week.

 

[justtoni44]

My first to hatch was a BCM in a very dark shell...
Next is almost every cuckoo maran...lighter shells...............and easter egger.
Helped a BLCM last night.darl shell.
Really weird, had worked and worked, then qiut and after about 24 hrs after zip started I pulled it out.'The chick was bleeding on it's beak and there was a little blood on the shell where it had been zipping.
Looked like it injured itself zipping.shell was really hard but pooped off amost in one piece after I held it in a wet, warm rag.
Chick is fine.beautiful splash and very feathered legs............
I have 12 out and a few pipped.
I do not know why my hatches drag out......
Last two hatches went to day 25.
Most left are dark BCM