The 10th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!!!!!

[ronott1]

The Ovation was so easy to clean, I normally pop out 8 screws (I think) I use a paint brush to get danders off the fan and wash and sanitize the rest.

That is a big improvement over the Octagon. Thanks!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Ventilation is very important at the end of incubation. Vents need to be full open and if incubating in a small room, make sure there is some fresh air in there.

Yeah, I know. This is more to drop the humidity than anything. It's been rainy here, though, so I'm not sure how much it's going to help. Gonna be tracking air cells much more closely the next few days.

Does anyone have favorite methods for separating eggs during hatching from different breeders? I’m using the Brinsea Ovation 56.

You can make little walls or boxes out of plastic canvas or hardware cloth to fit in there. That's what I did for my Octagon and will be trying with the Ovation. This thread has a couple pictures for some ideas:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...for-the-incubator-to-separate-chicks.1220873/

If you eat a lot of fruit, the plastic boxes that berries come in work as well and require no assembly. I've also seen people suggest to use mesh fruit bags or those bags they make for delicates in the laundry. Can't say how well any of those work as I haven't tried them.

The Ovation was so easy to clean, I normally pop out 8 screws (I think) I use a paint brush to get danders off the fan and wash and sanitize the rest.

This is really good to know, as I'll be hatching in my Ovation for the first time with this batch!

 

[jolenesdad]

Yeah, I know. This is more to drop the humidity than anything. It's been rainy here, though, so I'm not sure how much it's going to help. Gonna be tracking air cells much more closely the next few days.






You can make little walls or boxes out of plastic canvas or hardware cloth to fit in there. That's what I did for my Octagon and will be trying with the Ovation. This thread has a couple pictures for some ideas:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...for-the-incubator-to-separate-chicks.1220873/

If you eat a lot of fruit, the plastic boxes that berries come in work as well and require no assembly. I've also seen people suggest to use mesh fruit bags or those bags they make for delicates in the laundry. Can't say how well any of those work as I haven't tried them.






This is really good to know, as I'll be hatching in my Ovation for the first time with this batch!

Oh thank you that’s perfect and I still have time on amazon before lockdown!

I ordered a set of those cardboard hatching mats from Brinsea and that plastic canvas will be perfect, I can even set it up outside the Bator easily. Whew! Having a plan helps.

 

[two j farm]

I had had 21 days to get the chick brooder set up but for some reason I waited to the last minute to do it Now that I have it ready I can't find the light bulb that I had for my heat lamp. Chicks have to come out today because some started hatching Friday morning. I have a green light in the heat lamp for now and I can feel the heat coming from it. Is it OK the use a green light on chicks? I have always used a yellow light or red. The only place around me that has them is closed on Sundays.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Green light should be fine, especially if it's only overnight. I've actually read a study where the chromatic preferences of broiler chicks was determined by offering different colored lights at different areas in their brooder, and green or blue was the strongest preference, implying that this is the most soothing to them. The idea that red lighting is best for chicks is really a fallacy; its only real use is to disguise wounds in overcrowded brooders where pecking and cannibalism is occurring. Some work has even shown that red light is more damaging to chicks' eyes, even as compared to white light (though, truth be told, any setup where they have absolutely no break from constant lighting is damaging to their eyes).

 

[Rammy]

I had had 21 to get the chick brooder set up but for some reason I waited to the last minute to do it Now that I have it ready I can't find the light bulb that I had for my heat lamp. Chicks have to come out today because some started hatching Friday morning. I have a green light in the heat lamp for now and I can feel the heat coming from it. Is it OK the use a green light on chicks? I have always used a yellow light or red. The only place around me that has them is closed on Sundays.

I use a 100w light bulb set ontop of the brooder box. Alot safer than a heatbulb.

 

[two j farm]

Thanks, I put them under the green light and I could tell it wasn't enough heat by the way they was acting. So I put in a normal light bulb. They are fine now, but I will be changing it tomorrow.

 

[two j farm]

I use a 100w light bulb set ontop of the brooder box. Alot safer than a heatbulb.

They yellow lights I buy are just outside bug lights, I feel like they are safer then the big heatbulbs and they don't get as hot.

 

[igorsMistress]

My wife doesn’t understand why I get so excited at this stage of incubation and I have no idea how to explain it to her but she does get excited when babies start cheeping in the incubator

Anticipation for them to hatch and see them is a fun kind of torture

 

[igorsMistress]

Did a quick candle this morning since I haven't done one in a few days. All my developers are still going. There was a couple I'm a little worried about but I saw movement so time will tell. Air cells seemed a little large so I went ahead and bumped the humidity up a bit. Don't want the air cells getting too much bigger the last few days. Fingers crossed!

Side note: Only 5 more weeks until my first little "chick" is due. Starting to feel super nervous about her arrival. Getting the crib set up the other day helped a bit but now I'm just sitting on my hands with a million and one thoughts rushing through my head.

Congratulations! Do you you have a name for your little one picked out?