The 7th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-A-Long!

[gander007]

Well I got home this evening to do my last candling before my March 27 Easter Hatch and this is what I found

And you guessed it the little guy was placed by me on the eggs as I removed the eggs shell to make room so new eggs can be added in a couple of days and the other eggs were candled and marked and four were removed due to being under developed or quitters and one egg was hatching so I guess I should be expecting another chick in the morning or Thursday at the latest but the hatching egg was started on the fifth of March so ether way it's an early bird .



When I opened the incubator the out side temp was 88F degrees and no air was being moved by fans or wind if anyone was wondering .




There are different eggs in the incubator Russian Orloff, Easter Egger, Molten Houdan, Kaki Campbell ducks ..























gander007

 

[sjturner79]

Candled for lockdown. Only 1 chick. Rest were dud. I may have a hen going broody so if she does sit tonight, I'll give her the egg to hatch, so I don't have a lone chick screaming at me for the next 2 weeks

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Quote:
@Wickedchicken6 can I see the fan you are using? It may be too large for the area your incubating in. Also I LOVE the idea of the pudding cups like that!!! Do you have more pic of the install of them and what are the holders you have the cups in? Would love to add to the helpful links for humidity. Such adorable chickies!!

@Sally Sunshine I found your post again...lol. Whew!

The fan in question is most definitely too large for the my small styro bator...lol. I call it the cyclone 6000. It's a 6 inch USB/120v convertible fan from Walmart. I bought 3 of them last year for the bator (overkill I know.) I didn't have access to a computer fan and the making of my incubator was time sensitive with the eggs from the my predated hens being 2.5 weeks old when I was making it last year. I've raised several bunches of stagger hatched chicks with this bator and can hold perfect humidity with this fan.

Is there any reason I shouldn't be using that much air other than it blowing chick fuzz all over inside the incubator??


Old/small incubator

New incubator


The holders for the pudding cups (and eggs) are just pvc covered drawer organizers I got at dollar tree last year. Three of the long, narrow size just happen to fit across the top of the incubator. I use the other two sizes for stacking eggs to maximize egg holding capacity. I already had a bunch of washed pudding cups to water marble my nails. They just happened to be the right fit in the trays AND the chicks can't fall into them and drown.

PVC racks.

Stacked with pudding cups for lockdown.

Stacked with eggs at start of hatch.

 

[Eps32]

My Orust shipped eggs set on 3/3. Woke up this mourning two are out. And got two more pips. Will get pics up soon. Easter Orust baby's yay!!!!

 

[Wickedchicken6]

I'm super late to the party with this but here is the incubator I'm now using when it was parts.
It's the largest clear sterilite container the store carried. (It was also on a GREAT sale!)
It has a flat bottom and flat side for ease of cleaning. Ease of cleaning and capacity is what I was going for with this incubator.




This is what I ended up with. This pic was taken part way through the HAL. I don't have one of the light sockets mounted. I put a towel under the container since it's on the cold metal of the dryer. The white behind is a small length of paper towel I taped to the side and back. I originally was planning on covering it with a towel...but so far I've found it has ben keeping steady temps despite being right under a window and beside a drafty door...lol. The far back corner where the fan is shows cooler temps...so I will have to rectify that. Otherwise it's been performing better than I expected.




This is the incubator tonight. I'm experimenting with humidity above the chicks in this one.
I still have two eggs from the end of February developing and eggs from early March.

But my best advice is don't build an incubator when you're tired. I did and a made a HUGE oops. I had an extra wafer thermostat that I was going to use. When drilling out the holes through the side of the container I didn't get the hole for the adjustment screw quite right. I thought I could just touch it up with the drill with the thermostat mounted behind! No, No, NO! Don't do it, I don't know WHAT I WAS THINKING!! I caught the edge of the flange that the screw fits into. Being a soft metal the rest of the raised flange flaked off and I was left with no way to keep the adjustment screw steady or tight to adjust it.

I tried hot gluing it (ok, don't laugh.....too hard.) I tried using a nut on the inside of the thermostat body, which would have worked if it wasn't in the way to make adjustments. My hubby drilled a thin piece of metal to mount on the inside of the thermostat. But we hadn't used a tap and die set, so it was going to strip off the threads on the adjustment screw.

So I used two nuts as a spacer and fit them between the container's side and the body of the thermostat. I mounted the body of the thermostat onto the container with long bolts that gently squeeze the nuts and keep them in place. The two nuts provide a precise adjustment. .


Hopefully this may help someone else out.

 

[Eps32]

My Orust shipped eggs set on 3/3. Woke up this mourning two are out. And got two more pips. Will get pics up soon. Easter Orust baby's yay!!!!

There still wet so must of just hatched. My German Shepard woke me up. These chicks are stunning my goodness.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

My Orust shipped eggs set on 3/3. Woke up this mourning two are out. And got two more pips. Will get pics up soon. Easter Orust baby's yay!!!!

Awesome!!

 

[Eps32]

Look how beautiful they are. Fluff little guys fluff up. It's only day 20 so I can't open the bator to grab them. I also have 9 barnyard mixes that are rocking but no pips yet. Looking at these guys I say to my self that's why they sell 99 dollars a chick. But I'm glad I paid for eggs instead. Fingers crossed for a least one hen and one Roo. So I can make more.

 

[Grub Digger]

Awww! It's cute!

 

[Chaos18]

Just noticed DH mixed in the chick feed with the layer feed. He said he filled the bin two days ago. It looks like what I've been feeding is mostly chick feed but with layer crumbles here and there. I'll be getting flock raiser on Thursday to prevent future mishaps. So will my chicks be ok till Thursday?

Yes, they'll be fine until thursday.