testin' out the homemade bator - questions, questions, questions

[herechicky]

Maiden voyage for my homemade incubator (thanks for all the instructions/ideas forum members).

It's super ghettofabulous.

So I threw in some fertile eggs from Henry's Farmer's Market after reading about people hatching out the Trader Joe's chickies. I figured if I totally screw it up at least I'm only throwing away $3.

Not holding out much hope that anything is going to hatch. The lay date was a couple weeks old when they went in and a few of the shells seemed very porous when candled. Anyway, the temp seems to be fluctuating between 98.6 and 103 inside the incubator but the temp reading inside the homemade water wiggler ranges between 98ish and about 100.8ish. Is that too much fluctuation for the eggs to handle? It sort of cycles through the range about every hour or so as the light goes on and off. Humidity is holding pretty steady in the mid 40% range.

Also, I decided to break one open last night (day 5) just to check things out since I wasn't seeing anything while candling. There was a blood spot and what looked like some clear gelatinous stuff in the middle of the yolk but nothing very structurally identifiable as a little chicken. Is that normal for day five or should I just assume that nothing is growing and try again with fresher eggs?

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

No...........don't open them.....especially as early as 5 days!!!!! Just let them be until at least day 10 or 14. Then you will know without a doubt whether they are growing chicks.

Good job...the temp fluctuations are normal in a homemade bator. The one I used to use did the same thing and I had some great hatches. Are you using a hot water heater thermostat or a rheostat (dimmer)? Dimmers don't work well if there is any fluctuation in the ambient temp of the room.

 

[herechicky]

Ok, thanks. I guess that falls under the heading of "don't discount your chickens before they hatch."

I'm using a water heater thermostat. Seems to be working pretty well.