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

[joydix]

i JUST got an incubator....have it running for a few days prior to eggs arrival to get the settings right....i am not familiar with a cool down cycle. what is that?

 

[ronott1]

i JUST got an incubator....have it running for a few days prior to eggs arrival to get the settings right....i am not familiar with a cool down cycle. what is that?

I posted the contents of an article on cooling for you.

Cooling is an entirely natural process as most birds will get off the nest at least once a day and leave the eggs unheated for a significant time. From Brinsea’s 35 year experience, the best hatch rates are always achieved when the incubator can best mimic the natural nest conditions. For this reason Brinsea have incorporated a cooling option in our Advance models of egg incubators for 2012.
Based on the results of the research paper above the user of an Octagon 40 Advance could expect one additional egg to hatch on average.
Brinsea's cooling feature turns the incubator’s heater and low temperature alarm off for a selectable period but keeps the fan running. After the cooling period is complete the incubator reverts to normal temperature and the alarm is automatically reset. The cooling function is optional and the user can select cooling periods of 60, 120, 180, 240, 300 and 360 minutes with fixed 24 hour intervals. The default setting is that cooling is set to off. This new function applies to the Advance and Advance EX versions of the Mini, Octagon 20, Octagon 40, OvaEasy 190 and OvaEasy 380 models.

Brinsea have assessed the available research and recommend that smaller poultry, waterfowl and game bird eggs are cooled for 2 hours each day and larger eggs (e.g. duck and goose) are cooled for 3 hours each day from day 7 through to 2 days before they are due to hatch (the same point that automatic turning would normally be turned off). Cooling is not recommended for parrots and birds of prey because the results of cooling for these species haven’t yet been established. This cooling feature is an option which can be enabled to improve your hatch rates.


Further reading on the effects of period cooling of incubating eggs can be found here:

Joseph Batty ‘Artificial Incubation and Rearing’ 1994. P103.
‘…there is no doubt that the natural cooling given by the hen when she leaves the nest for feeding does result in very strong chicks’ ‘In the small incubator the cooling given when eggs are being turned or candled should be beneficial’

F. Bogenfurst, Pannon University of agriculture, Hungary. 1997. Experiment showed the increase in hatch rate of geese eggs with periodic cooling. Concluded ‘Incubation results improved with periodic cooling’.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Goose Production by Roger Buckland and Gérard Guy, ‘The eggs should be cooled each day during incubation by opening the doors of the setters for 15 minutes from days 4-27’ - click here to read the article.

 

[gotro17]

This is what I hatched from $12.00 of Store eggs!

Ha!!! That's so awesome, @ronott1! Great job! Thank you, too, for the article! I'll read it as soon as I have a minute.

 

[fresnofarmer]

This is what I hatched from $12.00 of Store eggs!

Love it are those mostly tjs or whole foods?

 

[ronott1]

Love it are those mostly tjs or whole foods?

They are very even--two more Whole foods chicks hatched, likely because the eggs were fresher.

 

[gotro17]

Love it are those mostly tjs or whole foods?

Putting in a dozen Vital Farms eggs tomorrow. I think I am going to split between non GMO (VF) from whole foods and regular (black box vital farms) from mainstream grocery store like Von's/Ralph's/albertsons...just so everyone can see they have easy options!

I'll keep you posted!

 

[ronott1]

Putting in a dozen Vital Farms eggs tomorrow. I think I am going to split between non GMO (VF) from whole foods and regular (black box vital farms) from mainstream grocery store like Von's/Ralph's/albertsons...just so everyone can see they have easy options!

I'll keep you posted!

Do all of those egg cartons say fertile on them?

 

[joydix]

THANK YOU so much....have to dash and will read ASAP when i get home....really, thanks for taking the time...j

 

[gotro17]

Do all of those egg cartons say fertile on them?

They don't say fertile, remember....? I've cracked some from both and they are fertile.... Even you signed off!

 

[ronott1]

They don't say fertile, remember....? I've cracked some from both and they are fertile.... Even you signed off!

I thought that was you!

Thanks for the reminder I am very interested in seeing if they develop or if the fertile eggs are from parthenogenesis. If they are from parthenogenesis, then they will develop and stop.

Love it!