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

[IHeartPoultry]

Yay! My eggs are rocking!

Who else has rockin' eggs? Any guessing when they'll be hatching?

 

[ronott1]

Don't spray any other eggs!

Yes, just clean the mess--and do not get the ooze on other eggs.

That can hurt them.

 

[Penny Hen]

Can't wait to post pics of fluffy Orust chickens. Day 20 and 3 are out and doing great.

You have got to enter the Mug Shot Contest with them!

 

[Penny Hen]

Don't spray any other eggs!

Yes put the cleaner on a paper towel and sponge out the goo. I like using vinegar for this. The high acidity kills most germs without harming the eggs.

 

[Razadia]

No external pips yet, but I hear chirping!

 

[IHeartPoultry]

No external pips yet, but I hear chirping!

Awesome! What day are you on?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

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.

I think if your getting stuck it may in fact be the fan, its a great fan for sure! perhaps a dimmer switch would work for hatching.
Or try a higher humidity, but lowering fan cfm is less harmful than too much humidity at hatch.

I've tried to post a few times, but my computer hasn't wanted to cooperate. I lost my silkie chicks last week. My broody squished them. I know she didn't mean to. She's got some eggs from Blizzard's pen under her now.

Had friends visiting from Virginia over the weekend. I haven't seen them in 8 years, so it was great getting to see them. Unfortunately, the weekend was overshadowed by bad news. Blu lost his job because someone else blamed their screw up on him and they believed that person over Blu.

I still haven't had the chance to butcher and process Saint. Thankfully, he hasn't attacked again and my leg is healing.

My sinuses are so backed up I can hardly think. It started early this morning and only got worse. If I run another fever like I did today, Blu is going to make me go to the doctor to make sure I don't have a sinus infection.

I have more hens laying and I'm drowning in eggs. I can fill a bator in 4 days now. I'm pretty sure both of my BJG hens in Blizzard's pen are laying.I caught one of them coming off the nest a few times and found freshly laid eggs.

oh no!!!!! Raz!!! I wish I could give you the silkies I have now!! they are lovely too!!

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.

I will add this build to the incu thread bators list, How much variance in temps do you have?

ANNDDD we have internal pips and drawdown!!

Sounds like you have been blessed and are going to be very busy!!! Good luck on the remaining eggs and the weakling

 

[mlm Mike]

Quote: Awesome!

 

[mlm Mike]

LOCKDOWN!!!! Do not touch!!! This means me

Good Luck!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

[COLOR=4B0082]Yay! My eggs are rocking![/COLOR] e

Who else has rockin' eggs? Any guessing when they'll be hatching?

Mine are too crammed in to see any rocking and double stacked in a few spots lol. This will be another interesting hatch!