The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[mlm Mike]

Sorry didn't add that. Its a Mini do it only holds 7. 3 D'anver, 2 Sizzle, 1 d'Uccle, and a polish. Stomach virus hit my son last night so I'm functioning half asleep today.

Thank You. I hope your son feels better soon.

 

[kodster]

Good morning fellow hatchers. Now that the incubators are stabilizing, I have a couple more questions. When I was running my incubator for my warm-up/pre-test, I managed to stabilize the temp at 99.5 and humidity at about 35%. Yesterday I added 41 eggs, and have had some changes. First of all, with no changes except the addition of the eggs, my humidity went up to 55%. I took out 2 of my 3 water cups, and that seems to be helping. Is it typical for eggs to add some of their own humidity?

Secondly, I have 3 thermometers in there, one of which is calibrated and spot on, the other two I tested in the incubator warm up, and know one reads high and one reads about right (the digital one). Anyway, I have one thermometer on top of the eggs, one in the bottom of the incubator, and one that is about mid-level. This morning the top one was reading 99.5. The mid level was reading about 97.5, and the bottom was 95.5. I have a fan going in there, but there still seems to be a temperature gradient. I am presuming that getting the mid-level thermometer to 99.5 would probably be a good target temp, even if the thermometer on top of the eggs reads a little high?

Thanks for all the great advice everyone!

The answer to both your questions is "Yes." The eggs do add humidity, when they are added, and get to the 99.5F degree temp. Once they attain that, they should stabilize and then you'll have a base humidity level to go on.

I have a GQF Hovabator, with fan and turner. When I first started hatching, last spring, my first two hatches were total failures. Thanks to ronott11, we were able to determine that the unit was actually off by 2.7F degrees (showing 99.5, but was actually at 96.8, which was enough to kill my chicks once they entered lockdown). I also was on Sally Sunshine's "Diary of Shipped Eggs" thread, which is a great resource for help when you run into problems, as well as having people who have been through difficult hatches, so they can talk you through anything that might arise. Sally has done a LOT of research into hatching (you'll see some of her posts here that are part of her sharing that research), and she is a great help, but if it wasn't for those that she has helped, and learned from her, she'd be overwhelmed with the number of members who need help! Anyways, several other folks were having the same problem as I with their brand new Hovabators, so we figured out that it was a manufacturer's defect... rather than return it, we just bumped up the temps to 102.5F degrees, and now, at the top of the egg level, it is at 99.5F degrees, and I have had successful hatches, getting at least an 80% hatch rate, of not better. I have 11 eggs in my hatcher (an LG circulated air), and tomorrow is day 21... 5 of them have externally pipped already, on day 20!

So, yes, increase your temps so that the thermometer at the top of the eggs reads 99.5F degrees, if you're using a circulating air incubator!

 

[kodster]

Good morning all!!! Morning #2 with a feverish toddler :-( Been up since 5am so I immediately checked my eggs and they look... well they look like eggs! HA!! Temperature is holding steady at 99.5. My humidity is at 51%... is this too high???? I had added a little water before I set the eggs - but I didn't realize that once I set the eggs the humidity would shoot up! Ugh :-( I suppose this is stuff you learn as you go along. I have my vent open too. On my little built in hygrometer on the top of my incubator it shows the needle is right in the middle of the "incubating" section so I'm hoping it's okay.

How's everyone else doing? I'm going to finish my coop build in sketch up today!! DH said next weekend we will start building it in the garage - YAY!!!!

If you can siphon off some of the water (use a turkey baster, if you have one, or a syringe... child's medicine dropper, something similar), then do so, to remove some of the humidity. Then put that plug back! Keep that plug in place for the first 10 days of incubation. It will actually help the embryos develop a stronger central nervous system. Sally found a research paper written by an agricultural college that showed this to be true, and shared it all with us on her "Diary of Shipped Eggs..." thread.

 

[LBKS]

Those colors! Wowza!

Thanks! I'll miss the green once it gets bred out, but the sky blue eggs are worth it - much easier to make EEs for the laying flock so I have green eggs than it is to recover the blue egg color.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I'll donate 12 wheaten marans eggs to drawings. PS I've never shipped eggs. subject to if they keep laying of course they laying great right now....

YAY!!! I put you on it for 10+ !! Thank you!!!!

Quote:

ok here are are a few pics of the last hatch not good the light is bad and they are from my phone.

SWEETNESS!!

If anyone is interested, I'll donate a dozen duck eggs for the mini contests. The eggs will be a mix of pekin, Rouen, a cross of the two, or they could be crested/runner/pekin or crested/runner/Rouen.

Here are some pics of my ducks.

This is my Rouen drake next to my pekin hen.


If you guys are only interested in one breed I can separate them they won't be happy about it, lol, but I can do it.

So do you want me to donate some of their eggs?

YAY!!! I put you on it for 10+ !! Thank you!!!!

****! My incubator has been steady at 100 for days, and today decides to jump up to 105 with 30 minutes last check. I opened it to cool it down and am still battling it. I hope this didn't kill my eggs - I've been waiting for these marans for a month!

is it a styrobator? those knobs are touchy it drives you insane!

 

[PAchickenlover]

 
****!  My incubator has been steady at 100 for days, and today decides to jump up to 105 with 30 minutes last check.  I opened it to cool it down and am still battling it.  I hope this didn't kill my eggs - I've been waiting for these marans for a month!

I had the same thing happen to me yesterday with a Brinsea 20 Eco.  Now I know why the last eggs in it did not develop.  I just thought it was because they were shipped eggs.

No more Brinsea incubators for me.  Too unreliable.

Mine are home made... Not hard to build.. Been reliable.. Might want to give it a try.. Just a thought

 

[Sally Sunshine]

CAN WE GET A HUGE
"THANK YOU" to everyone who is donating and sponsoring prizes for the Greatest (well I think it is! Easter Hatch-a-Long? REMINDER we take donations up until the 11th for the funny posting and fun night, so if you wish to donate with hatching eggs, small giftlike prizes, GFMs or any homemade items please message me!

Brinsea​

Nutrena​

Chookschick
Cayuse Ranch
mlmddh -
msladyhawke -
Prairie Chickens -
blacktop240 -
uphilljill -
Sally Sunshine -
sonew123 -
Christabelle -
angelsun -
abmaddox1981 -
Happy Chooks ~
chicken pickin ~
jksranch~
coopsbyty
abmaddox1981
chickenlisa
kodster
chickensnbees
uphilljill
angelobutter
Gardeningmama
Jessshan8
coopsbyty
Cynthia12
NotAFarm
(if your not on the list and have offered donations, please message me as I may have an error and apologize)

Adding to the list, more prizes for the 11th! YAY! Thank you everyone

Scrambles55
PAchickenlover
Sueg4332


edit to add!
LBKS

 

[PAchickenlover]

I'll donate 12 wheaten marans eggs to drawings. PS I've never shipped eggs. subject to if they keep laying of course they laying great right now....

YAY!!! I put you on it for 10+ !! Thank you!!!!

How do you win prizes from the hatch along?

If you read the first post here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/857062/the-5th-annual-byc-easter-hatch-a-long/0_90 it lists all of the contests!

ok here are are a few pics of the last hatch not good the light is bad and they are from my phone.

SWEETNESS!!

If anyone is interested, I'll donate a dozen duck eggs for the mini contests. The eggs will be a mix of pekin, Rouen, a cross of the two, or they could be crested/runner/pekin or crested/runner/Rouen. Here are some pics of my ducks. This is my Rouen drake next to my pekin hen. If you guys are only interested in one breed I can separate them they won't be happy about it, lol, but I can do it. So do you want me to donate some of their eggs?

YAY!!! I put you on it for 10+ !! Thank you!!!!

****! My incubator has been steady at 100 for days, and today decides to jump up to 105 with 30 minutes last check. I opened it to cool it down and am still battling it. I hope this didn't kill my eggs - I've been waiting for these marans for a month!

is it a styrobator? those knobs are touchy it drives you insane!

Sure thing, glad to contribute!

 

[JackieandChicks]

I had the same thing happen to me yesterday with a Brinsea 20 Eco. Now I know why the last eggs in it did not develop. I just thought it was because they were shipped eggs.

No more Brinsea incubators for me. Too unreliable.

I had a successful hatch just a few weeks ago. My only thought is that I am tilting it instead of opening and tilting the eggs, but that should not affect the thermostat itself.

I'm hoping the eggs are not so sensitive that an hour or so of fluctuating temps kill them off. After all, the hens don't all have the same body temp, just like humans don't.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

REMIND your friends to get their set numbers in to us!
POST the amount set here on the thread!

Thank you TONS!