Texas

[CatKai]

I ignore all eggs, mine and shipped. I candle a couple of times before lockdown. What works for some won't work for others for sure. Staggered hatches are about to make my eyes cross. I keep planning on the last set I will do and then, have to do more... Stacked eggs I have not tried but I use the auto turner so don't think that would work.

once you know your bator.. and how it reacts with your environment year round (basically once you find out what works for you).. you don't need to candle unless you're working with waterfowl, parrots or turkeys..
then mainly it's to check for internal pips


but with shipped eggs you have a lot of unknowns.. thickness of shell.. porosity .. and so on.. so I make sure I candle them to check that .. plus to look for hairline cracks!

with everyone though (especially newbies to incubation) I always suggest monitoring eggs.. it's the best way for them to learn how things work for them


heck.. 9 times out of 10 I forget when hatch date is.. just had chicks hatching out the other day when I went to turn the darn things.. plus I do so many batches of stacked eggs and staggered hatches it's easy to lose track of who is hatching when

 

[Little Wing]

once you know your bator.. and how it reacts with your environment year round (basically once you find out what works for you).. you don't need to candle unless you're working with waterfowl, parrots or turkeys..
then mainly it's to check for internal pips


but with shipped eggs you have a lot of unknowns.. thickness of shell.. porosity .. and so on.. so I make sure I candle them to check that .. plus to look for hairline cracks!

with everyone though (especially newbies to incubation) I always suggest monitoring eggs.. it's the best way for them to learn how things work for them


heck.. 9 times out of 10 I forget when hatch date is.. just had chicks hatching out the other day when I went to turn the darn things.. plus I do so many batches of stacked eggs and staggered hatches it's easy to lose track of who is hatching when

I should keep better records. Someone has a spreadsheet for tracking hatches and whatnot, I need that if anyone has one.
Recently I have forgotten a couple of hatches that were supposed t go into lockdown and they started hatching in the incubator instead of the hatcher. I hate it when that happens...messes up the bator.

 

[yinepu]

I ignore all eggs, mine and shipped. I candle a couple of times before lockdown. What works for some won't work for others for sure. Staggered hatches are about to make my eyes cross. I keep planning on the last set I will do and then, have to do more... Stacked eggs I have not tried but I use the auto turner so don't think that would work.
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lol.. I don't do "lockdown"..

 

[Kilsharion]

Thanks! Tell DH not to pick it apart too bad. I'm not at his level.

Hah! I think you did an awesome job. See, I'm going to use this to goad him into making me a cabinet incubator.

 

[CatKai]

lol.. I don't do "lockdown"..

I did that once - turned out fine but I figured it might not always work that way

Heard chirping as I walked by! Unloaded the turner and waited.

 

[jnntefend]

Well, it's done... The first one, anyway. it turns out, we are SLOW chicken processors. I think it took two hours from the last march to cut up in quarters, wrapped up in the fridge. Oh, and I may not be hungry for a while. But we feel kind of proud of ourselves, like we've taken responsibility for something.

 

[bnjrob]

Well, it's done... The first one, anyway. it turns out, we are SLOW chicken processors. I think it took two hours from the last march to cut up in quarters, wrapped up in the fridge. Oh, and I may not be hungry for a while. But we feel kind of proud of ourselves, like we've taken responsibility for something.

It makes you stop and think about things differently when you kill a chicken for food.

 

[Zootopia]

Quote:
Originally Posted by NickyPick

What should the humidity be during incubation? I had an egg turner in the incubator, so they were being turned constantly until lockdown.


What does everyone do on this? I don't even check it day 1-18 then go to 55-60 at lock down on day19 and have great hatches.

I don't worry about humidity until lock down. Then I crank it up to 50 -60 and unplug the turner if I hatching in the bator. Mostly I do staggered hatches so I have an old LG I move them to for hatching.

 

[topdycke]

I just got the new bator working. Just need to stain it. I had everything I needed on hand. The glass in the door is a piece of 3/8" thick tempered glass that I honestly can't remember where I got it from, The fan and heater is a hand dryer (like the ones in public bathrooms).that I had, (imagine that) the plywood was leftovers, the thermostat is a water heater thermostat that I had in an old cooler-bator. I didn't have to go to Home Depot for anything! It's holding temps perfectly without any insulation. It holds 138 eggs.

I went ahead and set some eggs tonight without staining it cause I couldn't wait. It probably won't ever get stained.

Wow! Great job!

 

[yinepu]

Quote: lol.. they hatch out fine under broodies.. so I'll be darned if I'll leave the bator closed up and untouched at hatch!

If I'm paying attention to the hatch at all.. I'm opening the bator to check for pips.. removing chicks.. and for waterfowl checking with a candler to make sure they are all working out ok since some waterfowl can have a hard time breaking through those darn thick shells shells.
I've had a few shipped goose eggs with shells so thick the goslings couldn't even pip them.. but once I got things started for them and a few cracks added they made it out just fine

Well, it's done... The first one, anyway. it turns out, we are SLOW chicken processors. I think it took two hours from the last march to cut up in quarters, wrapped up in the fridge. Oh, and I may not be hungry for a while. But we feel kind of proud of ourselves, like we've taken responsibility for something.

ah.. you get faster as time goes by... plus it gets a lot easier

the worst thing I ever had to do was work at the slaughterhouses (yup.. more than one).. the blood and guts never bothered me.. it was the smell of death that clinged to my skin, hair and clothes.. even in the cafeterias all the meat smelled of death..

I think I went vegan for a bit since all meat smelled like dead animals.. even the stuff I had at home