Testing incubator ... Question

[Arielle]

One section of our drive is a bit of a hill, so the waters rush down pulling the drive with it. One morning, I had forgottena bout he torential rains the night before and the added effects of the clogged drain pipes added to the flood. I had to get the kids to school so I drove down the slope in 3 inches of water over a very rough and craggy gravel. I walked back to the house!!!

I just checked the drive, no heavy rain yet. DH put extra speed bumps to divert water off the drive.

To increase the moisture I did use 4 clean (new) sponges; I wet them with warm water and placed them on end to get the highest moisture levels . and used 4 baby food jard with tolls of paper towels in side as a wick. I easily hit 90% (doing turkeys). Obviously, it depends on the layout as to which and how many. Note: not all paper towels stay standing up when wet!! ANd I did need to tear them in half to fit height wise.

You'll want the hatcher tight like the incubator, so you can control the air flow and humidity.

I also keep a notebook with all the readings for temp and humidity, and what changes I made if any, each time I rolled the eggs; Since you are using the roticcery thing (pardon the spelling, it is late) you would want to check 4 times a day if you can. It allows you to catch a problem early.

Mine was running low by 1 degree, and once I looked back over the recent history, I realized it had been running low for 4 days, YIKES. I took steps to increase the temp; I actually had to move the WHT a little. DIdn't like doing that--that's a major change. THe temp did bump up to 100, hopefully making up for the 98. Sometimes I hate incubating! It's all a learning experience.

Good job on yoursl THe count down begins.

 

[DMRippy]

Hatcher seems to be running perfect!!! I used a different thermostat and think I may go get another one for the incubator and swap it out after this hatch. Humidity was a 62% without much effort so loving this box! I do need to calibrate the hygrometer and see if it is off and by how much.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
You will want a much lower humidity days 1-18, the eggs must lose enough water like 13% of its weight. Most of the hatch failures seem to be because of the humidiyt to high. I don't calibrate as ball park is ok. Shoot for 40% and look at the egg size for grwoth. I am at the library no phone/ no imternet/ no power. Look for my Link to univeristy sites for a link to a site with pics that you can use to understand how the size of the air cell needs to increase. Bye.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
You will want a much lower humidity days 1-18, the eggs must lose enough water like 13% of its weight. Most of the hatch failures seem to be because of the humidiyt to high. I don't calibrate as ball park is ok. Shoot for 40% and look at the egg size for grwoth. I am at the library no phone/ no imternet/ no power. Look for my Link to univeristy sites for a link to a site with pics that you can use to understand how the size of the air cell needs to increase. Bye.

The incubator humidity is fine. I built a separate hatcher so the high humidity is for that. Now I can have staggered hatches.

Tomorrow is the official candling and I will let you know.

I hope things get back to normal soon

 

[cva34]

Im in the process of building an Inc. And its so hot out in my Garage that I need a need an AC to control my temp not a heating element.Thought you guys needed a LOL, to de-stress.Its been over 100 for like 30 days other than 1 day that broke a 24 day string of 100+.Hope it all works out for you GUYS...cva34

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
When I was collecting eggs the other day I thought... gee even with out a hen you could incubate eggs in here!!!! I feel for you... we have had our share of hot days here too, but not like that. GOOD LUCK TO YOU....

 

[DMRippy]

Candled the eggs and this is what I got... out of 57 eggs I got 31 developing nicely.

26 that are not

Some were really dark and could not see anything but a large mass so I didn't know what was going on in those. I put the good eggs on top and the not sure eggs on the bottom just in case something happens.

One was really moving around in there, that was kinda neat to see

soon... 14 days to go

Oh yeah this is what I think I got so far

2 Lavender Splits (now what am I going to do with them? More roos I guess

) 10 EE (6 pos brown egg layers and 2 white egg layers) 8 NH or pos crossed with a red shouldered yokahomas (the neighbor gave me these and they were free ranging so we will see) 5 Blue Barred Rocks, 3 NHxRIR (production reds?) 2 cuckoo marans x lavender Americana (olive eggers) and 1 unknown olive egger.

This is so exciting

Update: I found one more in the 26 with veins so now i have 32 viable eggs and I tossed 11 that never developed at all. The others I have kept because I was just unsure and will candle again tuesday...lockdown is not far away now! Half way done!!!! Got to finish the brooder boxes and test the hatcher again.

 

[DMRippy]

Just wanted to add pics of the hatcher I made from a free box. I had to buy insulation, WHT and thermometers but that is it! It worked just right with no adjustments

I have 2 75 watt bulbs and an old laptop cooler fan that moves 26 cfm as the fan. It is in at an angle (the thin black thing under the wooden ledge. The thermostat cycles often so it stays very steady. May need to get that model WHT for the incubator... I like it much better. The temps held between 99-100 and the humidity was steady at 65% so i think I am good, but I will test one more time to make sure. I also want to make sure the water will hold for 3 days if not I need a hole to fill the water with. I also have three 3/4 inch holes on the opposite side at the top for ventilation.

View of the hardware and electric stuff.

 

[Arielle]

I see a standard WHT in the hatcher --is this the original controller?? If not, what do you have in the incubator for a model (specifics if you would)?

I did the same thing with eggs I wasn't so sure of--keep them until I'm comfortable with tossing. Actually, I didn't toss ANY the first time I incubated! The second go round, I felt more confident in my candling skills.

 

[DMRippy]

I don't know what kinda model it is. It is just a wht. It says hot and this one says 90/125/150, I got it at Lowes if that helps. I can list models after the hatch if I can find them

I fell better about candling since I tossed the 11. I cracked everyone open to make sure. one had blood spots in the white but nothing else. I have one that has some blood? just floating around but is dark so I will check again. A couple had blood rings and where dark so I don't know about those but they are with the suspect eggs and marked.

glad you are back

How are the chicks hubby was bringing home? and what are they?