Trader Joes & Other Grocery Store Egg Hatching Club - Are you a Member

[ronott1]

i see... thanks! makes more sense to me now.. people are always saying set ur temp higher for still air but i have no idea how to actually gauge if im getting the right temp for the eggs.. ideally the average is supposed to be 99.5 right?

Yes, it is supposed to be 99.5 at egg level and the way to get that is to use the average. It is better to be slightly high though.

Incubator warehouse sells fan kits form most still air incubators.

 

[olliegrow]

99 - 99.5F is ideal with slight fluctuation here an there is ok, over 50% humidity at all times, even a little higher when they hatch...Get a backup thermometer so you can get 2 temps to make sure the incubator temp is accurate.

 

[redheadhen]

99 - 99.5F is ideal with slight fluctuation here an there is ok, over 50% humidity at all times, even a little higher when they hatch...Get a backup thermometer so you can get 2 temps to make sure the incubator temp is accurate.

Are you recommending 50%at all times because they are store kept eggs and may be dryer?

 

[WalnutHill]

99 - 99.5F is ideal with slight fluctuation here an there is ok, over 50% humidity at all times, even a little higher when they hatch...Get a backup thermometer so you can get 2 temps to make sure the incubator temp is accurate.

In my experience 99F is not all that successful (as an average temperature using calibrated thermometers). For still air I prefer 101F average, for circulated air I prefer 100F average.

I add humidity if the ambient room humidity is less than 35%. I do not add humidity if the ambient room humidity is above 35% unless the egg air cells at day 14 appear too big.

For hatching, I prefer an incubator humidity level at 75-85% but I also drop the temperature by one to two degrees. The chicks work very hard at hatching, and pant both from trying their brand new air sacs out and with all the exertion. At 100F at 80% humidity, the heat index is 121F. At 98F and 75%, it's 111F heat index. As a hen's body temp is only about 107F and she leaves the nest during hatching, it makes sense to follow the same process. We don't want to chill them especially when they are wet, but when they are in the shell they are still trapping heat.

I will do a small test hatch with the eggs moved to an unheated still air box on hatch day after I split out a few hens and roos into a breeding pen. I know that my chicks and poults seem exhausted at hatch, where those that the hens hatch seem to recover more quickly.

 

[asteria01]

In my experience 99F is not all that successful (as an average temperature using calibrated thermometers). For still air I prefer 101F average, for circulated air I prefer 100F average.

I add humidity if the ambient room humidity is less than 35%. I do not add humidity if the ambient room humidity is above 35% unless the egg air cells at day 14 appear too big.

For hatching, I prefer an incubator humidity level at 75-85% but I also drop the temperature by one to two degrees. The chicks work very hard at hatching, and pant both from trying their brand new air sacs out and with all the exertion. At 100F at 80% humidity, the heat index is 121F. At 98F and 75%, it's 111F heat index. As a hen's body temp is only about 107F and she leaves the nest during hatching, it makes sense to follow the same process. We don't want to chill them especially when they are wet, but when they are in the shell they are still trapping heat.

I will do a small test hatch with the eggs moved to an unheated still air box on hatch day after I split out a few hens and roos into a breeding pen. I know that my chicks and poults seem exhausted at hatch, where those that the hens hatch seem to recover more quickly.

okay so Ive got 3 different thermometers in there, each in different locations of the bator. Im using the averages of all these thermometers to determine the temp of the bator, since they seem pretty consistent, The ones in the bottom corner is reading 97-98 and the ones on the top are reading 102-100, while it is set to 102, but its reading at 101.5. The average is at 100.2 right now. It is a still air bator. humidity is 35-40%.

 

[WalnutHill]

I try to measure each corner of the egg area plus the center, at the top and bottom of the egg.

If the eggs in the corners are at 97-98 on the bottom and 99-100 on the top, and the eggs in the middle are reading 100 on the bottom and 102 on the top, then the eggs in the middle will hatch faster by a day or two. The smaller the incubator, the harder it is to accurately control temperature or average it out. Filling the water channels with aquarium gravel can help maintain a heat sink but it won't make cool corners warmer.

If you move the eggs from the middle to the outsides daily, and every day the eggs on the outside get closer to the middle, you can average the temperatures out. Just do it while turning the eggs. It's what the hens do when the clutch is almost too big to set. The eggs on the edge come into the middle, the eggs in the middle get pushed to the side. They don't sit still for more than a couple of hours at most.

 

[asteria01]

I try to measure each corner of the egg area plus the center, at the top and bottom of the egg.

If the eggs in the corners are at 97-98 on the bottom and 99-100 on the top, and the eggs in the middle are reading 100 on the bottom and 102 on the top, then the eggs in the middle will hatch faster by a day or two. The smaller the incubator, the harder it is to accurately control temperature or average it out. Filling the water channels with aquarium gravel can help maintain a heat sink but it won't make cool corners warmer.

If you move the eggs from the middle to the outsides daily, and every day the eggs on the outside get closer to the middle, you can average the temperatures out. Just do it while turning the eggs. It's what the hens do when the clutch is almost too big to set. The eggs on the edge come into the middle, the eggs in the middle get pushed to the side. They don't sit still for more than a couple of hours at most.

so as long as i rotate the egg's position in the bator from the center to the edge, then they should all hatch together? Im rotating out the edge eggs to the center as im turning them already. but wouldnt the temp be too low for the eggs on the edge? I have 30 eggs right now, hopefully they can hold heat better as a group? sorry for all the questions, its my first time incubating and the little nuances here and there seem to make or break the incubating process.

 

[WalnutHill]

There is no such thing as perfection in artificial incubation. All we are trying to do is what hens do without special equipment or training. But given that tending her eggs is the hen's entire purpose in life for a month or more, it's understandable that some get really good at it.

As long as the minimum temp is never too low (not below 99) and the max temp is never too high (never above 105) and the average is close to 100-101 over the course of every few hours, you should be fine. It's the average internal temp of the egg, so hard to measure but so important, that matters to the embryo, who depends upon you for an environment conducive to survival.

And that is why it is so rewarding when we have a successful hatch!

 

[oldrooster]

Quote:
So true, even professional hatcheries don't hatch all the eggs they have and sometimes whole incubators go down and ruin the hatch. and you've got to figure they have more knowledge and better equipment than most here on BYC....

 

[redriver]

Okay peeps, I noticed that about a year ago there were quite a few people getting eggs from the Redding, CA area. I'm curious how the hens are producing now that a year has passed, and which store had the best hatch rate? Winco, Trader Joe's? I'm in Yreka, CA and tried Raley's Rock Island eggs last year, with only a few that started to develop, and zero that hatched. I'm hoping to get a good group of layers this year out of whatever I can hatch. I'm willing to go as far south as Redding, and as far north as Medford to get eggs, so anyone along that route, chime in please!