UPDATE!! our kinks have been worked out, getting ready for lockdown!

[ChobeeChickenMommy]

Ok now that I think my hubby & I have worked out the kinks with our homemade bator things are going great! Temp has been at a steady 99-100 & humidity nice & low since yesterday evening or so! Days 1-3 down only 15 more til lockdown (now that I know what lockdown really is, lol...) and 18 til "hatching day"!!! I am becoming so impatient already though! hahahaha... I don't know how all y'all do this all the time!! I rotate the eggs anywhere from 3 or 5 times depending on how busy I am with schoolwork or my boys & I have been keeping a really close eye on the humidity too... I know not to get my hope up too high since they were shipped eggs but man I really would love for just a few to actually hatch for me. I really want a couple Doms!

 

[Gypsy07]

Sounds like you've got everything sorted out just fine and you're doing all you can. What are you keeping your humidity at, just out of interest? And how many eggs have you got in there? Also how about posting a pic of your home made bator? Please...

 

[ChobeeChickenMommy]

Here is our homemade bator! Made completely out of reused thing from around our house!! No $$ spent! We have 18 Dom eggs && we are keeping the humidity around 30-35%... We have read about more results with dry incubation than without (after it was suggester to us), so we thought we would go that route.

Here's the outside set up; the battery runs the fan we installed on the inside

Viewing area

Inside view: our eggs, light, fan, cup w/ water, & 2 thermometers

Oh & here is a link to the little video I made showing everything
www.youttube.com/watch?v=MjAmvjPBFP8

 

[TheJuan-n-Only]

Let us know how it work!! Best of luck!!!

 

[cmom]

 

[ChobeeChickenMommy]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG I AM SO EGGCITED!!!

So just for the heck of it I decided to candle my Dom eggs to see if I could find anything &&& guess what?!?!?!

Out of my 18 eggs so 5 have definite veins & growth, 2 have veins & growth but are still questionable (1 has a crack from my oldest trying to turn them before telling me & the other's growth is just slightly smaller than the previous 5), 2 more are questionable about starting growth, & ending with only 9 that I know are completely clear still! YAY!!! I think that is pretty good for shipped eggs & my first try at incubating...

Now fingers crossed that I didn't just jynx myself by sharing the news but I am too excited to hold it it!

Oh & tonight is the end of day 5 for me!

 

[cmom]

I wait until day 10 to rule any out. I have had some early questionables that ended up hatching. I put an X on the questionable ones.

 

[ChobeeChickenMommy]

I was just getting ready to write you a pm cmom! lol... I numbered the ones that had growth #1-4 & 6, then 5 & 7 w/ a question mark next to the #, the 2 that I'm not sure if they fully clear or not I did a 0 with / threw it & a qeustion mark, & then the other 9 I just put the 0 with a / threw them... I put them all back since it's still so early & I was fixing to write you when I should think about ruling any out. Thanks so much for your advice!!

 

[Gypsy07]

Wow, your bator looks really well put together. And I think you're wise to go for a dry-ish incubation. Seems to me from reading everyone's posts on here that more problems are caused by over-humidifying eggs than just about everything else all put together! Congrats on your veins and I'd totally agree with Cmom about leaving in the questionable ones - I candle on day 6 and mark on the egg what I think's going on inside it, but I don't take any out till day 12. More than once I've had ones I wasn't sure about go on to develop and hatch...

Good luck with the rest of your incubation!

 

[ChobeeChickenMommy]

Tomorrow if d-day!! Went through and candled all my eggs for the last time tonight; out of my original 18 shipped Dominique eggs 1 broke a few days ago, 9 were definitely clears w/ no growth, & I have 8 babies getting ready to go into lockdown tomorrow morning first thing! Not bad for my first attempt at incubating with shipped eggs...

Now fingers crossed all goes well...