The Old Folks Home

[Wisher1000]

I have good luck when the RH stays around 65 - 70%. How often I add water depends a lot on the outside humidity, but once they start hatching, I rarely have to add more hot water.

I wash the sponges after they hatch and then put them in a pyrex dish and microwave them to sanitize before the next lockdown.

 

[ronott1]

Can someone please tell me how do you get the right humidity level for hatching eggs? I failed so many times last summer at it, and I really want to do this. I have three thermometers one is digital and I have marked the dial and the lid for the temp to stay at 100 degrees and the humidity is now at abt. 35-40. But when I go into lock down how much water do I put in the bator for the best hatch rate?

Make sure the hygrometer is reading correctly. A trick is to put the hygrometer outside, under a covered porch or similar place. Let it sit for a half hour or so and then check the humidity for your zip code using intellecast or similar website.

You can use things like this to raise humidity a little bit:



It sits on its side in the incubator with water up to the cut line in the lid. Each tub will raise humidity about 10% and they last for about 4 days.

For hatching, fill all the wells. Remember, no plugs! If humidity is less than 65 to 75% then add a food storage container with a clean kitchen sponge.

One of your thermometers is a Brinsea Spot Check?

The three factors that cause late chick death, in order of most common are:

Temperature--Eggs need to be as close to 99.5 as possible
Humidity--wide range her--30 to 45%
Ventilation--As the chicks develop, they need more oxygen so dead air spots and poor ventilation will kill them.

 

[ozexpat]

Hi, Chicka, I think you are near me (in Alabama) so I will tell you what I do. I use no water in the bator unless the RH gets below 25%, which it rarely does. When I put them into lockdown, I use cellulose sponges, cut to fit in the spaces between/around the cartons I hatch with. I soak those sponges with all the hot water they will hold. If they drip a little into the tray under the rubber shelf liner, so be it, but I don't fill the channels. Then I watch the humidity. If it gets below 60%, I add hot water to the sponges through the vent holes with a syringe and aquarium tubing or a drinking straw.

Wisher's routine is pretty standard.

I vary a little - I do not up humidity until I hear chirping. Then I add wet sponges and wipe the insode of the bator with warm water to get the humidity up fast. I even et up to 80 or 90% without worrying.

The only time I have ever had birds shrink wrap is when I have interfered with lock down by opening the incubator for whatever reason. Typically hatching birds add humidity and there is not a problem.

Most people that have had to treat for shrink wrap that I have talked to have admitted to "peeking" in the bator

 

[chickadoodles]

Hi, Chicka, I think you are near me (in Alabama) so I will tell you what I do. I use no water in the bator unless the RH gets below 25%, which it rarely does. When I put them into lockdown, I use cellulose sponges, cut to fit in the spaces between/around the cartons I hatch with. I soak those sponges with all the hot water they will hold. If they drip a little into the tray under the rubber shelf liner, so be it, but I don't fill the channels. Then I watch the humidity. If it gets below 60%, I add hot water to the sponges through the vent holes with a syringe and aquarium tubing or a drinking straw.

Thank you Wisher I will do that. I do not have any water in the bator now. I am using an egg turner now. So in lock down do I put the eggs in cartons then?

 

[ronott1]

Thank you Wisher I will do that. I do not have any water in the bator now. I am using an egg turner now. So in lock down do I put the eggs in cartons then?

The tops are cut off to allow air flow. The eggs are tilted back so that the chick will pip into the big part of the air cell. I candle and set them this way. I only had two Dels pip the wrong end last year. They both hatch fine too!




OMG look how well they hatched!

 

[ozexpat]

Green Tea may reduce the effectiveness of medication used to lower your blood pressure. A new study published in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics Jan. 13 found that drinking tea may actually lessen the efficacy of the drug nadolol commonly prescribed for treating high blood pressure per Tech Times.

Image Courtesy of Flickr​

Researchers recruited ten adults and gave them a single dose of 30 milligrams of nadolol after drinking three cups of green tea or water every day for two weeks. When the volunteer’s blood was tested, they found the concentration of nadolol was 76 percent lower compared to those that drank water. They also found that the amount of nadolol detected in the urine was approximately 80 percent lower among those who drank green tea regularly.The results concluded that green tea may reduce the ability for nadolol to be absorbed well by the body. Follow up lab tests showed that green tea blocks a drug transporter found in the lining of the gut that helps transport nadolol from the gut into the cells, where it works on reducing blood pressure.
Researchers acknowledged that further studies will need to be conducted to understand how green tea may react with drugs like nadolol but they have advised patients currently taking nadolol to avoid drinking green tea.

.​

Individuals who take nadolol and also consume green tea should be aware of this potential interaction and discuss this with their physician,” said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California in Los Angeles and spokesman for the American Heart Associatio

Sotiris Antoniou, spokesman for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and consultant pharmacist in cardiovascular medicine recommended a way to get around this. He advised high blood pressure patients who still need their green tea fix to leave a four-hour gap in between cups and taking their medication.


Thank God it doesnt interact with Lipitor.

 

[chickadoodles]

Wisher's routine is pretty standard.

I vary a little - I do not up humidity until I hear chirping. Then I add wet sponges and wipe the insode of the bator with warm water to get the humidity up fast. I even et up to 80 or 90% without worrying.

The only time I have ever had birds shrink wrap is when I have interfered with lock down by opening the incubator for whatever reason. Typically hatching birds add humidity and there is not a problem.

Most people that have had to treat for shrink wrap that I have talked to have admitted to "peeking" in the bator

Thank you Oz,
I have had two shrink wrapped chicks in two different hatches. But honestly the last one was two days late hatching and I could hear it chirping so I left it alone. But I did get it out and get it out of the mess when it quit chirping. I was afraid it was dying! And it lived!

Make sure the hygrometer is reading correctly. A trick is to put the hygrometer outside, under a covered porch or similar place. Let it sit for a half hour or so and then check the humidity for your zip code using intellecast or similar website.

You can use things like this to raise humidity a little bit:



It sits on its side in the incubator with water up to the cut line in the lid. Each tub will raise humidity about 10% and they last for about 4 days.

For hatching, fill all the wells. Remember, no plugs! If humidity is less than 65 to 75% then add a food storage container with a clean kitchen sponge.

One of your thermometers is a Brinsea Spot Check?

The three factors that cause late chick death, in order of most common are:

Temperature--Eggs need to be as close to 99.5 as possible
Humidity--wide range her--30 to 45%
Ventilation--As the chicks develop, they need more oxygen so dead air spots and poor ventilation will kill them.

Thank you Ron! I just put my hygrometer outside on the porch I will check it in a bit. I do not have a Brinsea Spot Check. But it is a digital thermometer and hygrometer. I do not have any plugs in the bator I took them out the day I bought it.
Thank you

 

[ronott1]

Thank you Oz,
I have had two shrink wrapped chicks in two different hatches. But honestly the last one was two days late hatching and I could hear it chirping so I left it alone. But I did get it out and get it out of the mess when it quit chirping. I was afraid it was dying! And it lived!
Thank you Ron! I just put my hygrometer outside on the porch I will check it in a bit. I do not have a Brinsea Spot Check. But it is a digital thermometer and hygrometer. I do not have any plugs in the bator I took them out the day I bought it.
Thank you

I really hope we can help you!

There are a bunch of very good hatch a holics on this thread.

Did the chicks that hatched hatch on time?

I just finished hosting the NYD hatch a long and you would be amazed at how many had multiple thermometer that were way wrong. Most thermometers are not accurate enough--They can be 5 degrees off, both up and down. Safe incubation is 99.5, one degree above and below so 98.5 to 100.5 is ideal. Incubator warehouse type thermometers are better but the Brinsea spot check is the gold standard.

@ChickenCanoe has a link to thermometers that are just as good so maybe he will jump in here and help.

I know most focus on humidity, but Temperature is actually the leading cause of Shrink wrap(Heat is lost when you open the incubator too). Too low of a temperature will make the chick hatch slower. Shrink wrap comes from the shell drying out and if the chick sits too long the membrane will dry not matter what humidity used. That and it will be weak from not developing correctly and will not have enough energy to break out.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

A new study published in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics Jan. 13 found that drinking tea may actually lessen the efficacy of the drug nadolol commonly prescribed for treating high blood pressure per Tech Times.

Define "commonly prescribed." I only see it for esophageal varices.

The person asking about bees and how much they eat - they do forage for up to 2 miles from the hive, so they can find stuff to eat. You can supplement what they can't get by putting a hive feeder in their hive with sugar water. I wouldn't then recommend eating the "honey" that they make... but it will keep them alive. You'd be surprised at what they can find to eat, though. Our bee club out here has a list of plants that are active to bees at certain times, and I'm surprised by some of them on the list.

For the bees that haven't found the nectar yet, give it time. The worker bees will find it and go back to the hive and let the other workers know where it is (by doing a dance). If they aren't interested in a day or two try a 2 to 1 sugar mix - 2 lbs of sugar for every pint of water. This is called heavy syrup and most closely approximates the "end of year nectar flow" - note that because it has so much sugar in it you will most likely have to boil the water and sugar to get it to dissolve, be careful not to burn it. You can also try to move it closer to the chicken food and tempt them with it and then move it a couple feet every night (while they're asleep).

For the person hatching with humidity issues, I don't worry about humidity. I add a quarter to a third of a cup of water every other to every third day and sometimes the well dries out. I fill both wells at lockdown and if it's really really dry I might also add a wet washcloth in the bottom of the incubator. I stopped measuring humidity though. I was unable to correlate good hatches with humidity and the Flukers hygrometer I had lied constantly.

And Oz, this is for you. We got a delivery today, and this is how it ended:

Well technically it ended by them eventually getting their truck straightened out so they were sliding down the driveway face first instead of sideways... but thought this was priceless and worth sharing. BF has put 300 lbs of salt and 50 gallons of salt/sand mixture on the driveway this week (in addition to whatever ash has come out of our stoves) in an attempt to give it some form of traction. I think it's working well!

 

[ozexpat]

Define "commonly prescribed." I only see it for esophageal varices.

The person asking about bees and how much they eat - they do forage for up to 2 miles from the hive, so they can find stuff to eat. You can supplement what they can't get by putting a hive feeder in their hive with sugar water. I wouldn't then recommend eating the "honey" that they make... but it will keep them alive. You'd be surprised at what they can find to eat, though. Our bee club out here has a list of plants that are active to bees at certain times, and I'm surprised by some of them on the list.

For the bees that haven't found the nectar yet, give it time. The worker bees will find it and go back to the hive and let the other workers know where it is (by doing a dance). If they aren't interested in a day or two try a 2 to 1 sugar mix - 2 lbs of sugar for every pint of water. This is called heavy syrup and most closely approximates the "end of year nectar flow" - note that because it has so much sugar in it you will most likely have to boil the water and sugar to get it to dissolve, be careful not to burn it. You can also try to move it closer to the chicken food and tempt them with it and then move it a couple feet every night (while they're asleep).

For the person hatching with humidity issues, I don't worry about humidity. I add a quarter to a third of a cup of water every other to every third day and sometimes the well dries out. I fill both wells at lockdown and if it's really really dry I might also add a wet washcloth in the bottom of the incubator. I stopped measuring humidity though. I was unable to correlate good hatches with humidity and the Flukers hygrometer I had lied constantly.

And Oz, this is for you. We got a delivery today, and this is how it ended:

Well technically it ended by them eventually getting their truck straightened out so they were sliding down the driveway face first instead of sideways... but thought this was priceless and worth sharing. BF has put 300 lbs of salt and 50 gallons of salt/sand mixture on the driveway this week (in addition to whatever ash has come out of our stoves) in an attempt to give it some form of traction. I think it's working well!

I have never seen it prescribed. period.

I just saw the article as worthey to share.

Glad to see you are doing so well on the driveway safety project.

I'll give a call should I ever need a good salting