Well, I guess I Messed Up

[Taylorhens]

Maybe you could find someone locally who hatches eggs regularly and get them to hatch them for you? Post here on BYC, and possibly on Craigslist for your area. Some big hatchers are slowing down a bit for the summer and might have room in their incubator...just a thought.

 

[SlowMoneyFarm]

Facing similar aggravation here - had some pheasant eggs that 2 of 12 were viable - and 1 of those died. Set some chicks - were due Monday/Tuesday. Started hatching SATURDAY...a few Sunday, a few died in the shell - now nothing. One of those pipped then nothing - this morning was oozing goo and had maggots in it.

Some of them are eggs bought off of here - 2 of 11 of those hatched. At what point to give up? The temp hasn't had wide variations but has varied a degree or two. Candling showed a lot of good development in the chick eggs. And I had to open the brooder as for all the warnings they'd be ok the Maran chick was panting from heat of the bator and none are going to last 3-4 days waiting on these others to hatch. If they hatch. Someone else said they mist the eggs every time - but I suppose this is why hatcheries stay in business. It's easier and waaay cheaper to buy chicks than try to hatch.

Except some aren't affordable there either.

 

[Orange Ribbon]

Quote:
Hummelhill, that is a wonderful gesture, and I appreciate the offer, but I can't make that trip. Even if was able to physically, I have company that arrived today from Holland and they will be here a few days. Thank you much though.

I moved my incubator to my small shop and turned the air conditioner on low. So far I have been able to keep the room temperature steady at around 72 degrees. This has helped stabilize the incubator better, but I'm still not happy with it. At one time I was holding between 99.3 and 99.5 for about an hour then it started dropping and got down to 97.8 or so. I adjusted the knob a few thousandths of an inch and it started climbing but then went up over a hundred. Turned it back not even to where it was before and it slowly dropped down to 97. I put the plug in behind the fan and it shot up too high. Take out the plug too low again. Adjusted knob. Never could get it back to 99.5. So I turned off the fan to see if I could get it steady. It shot up to 101.4 I waited and it started dropping again. Kept going until it went down to 97 and still dropping. All during this entire process the red light comes on indicating it is heating, but the temps keep dropping anyway. The red light only stays on for about 20 seconds at a time though. So I turned the fan back on and it shot back up to 100.6 I left it alone and it began to drop again.

I have been fooling with it on and off all day. My friends from Holland turned in around 10:30 PM and I have been down there fooling with the thing since. I just came back into the house. It is now after 1:30 AM and I am so worn out. When I last checked it the temps had been dropping and it was down to 99.3 I am going back down directly and check it again. I figured I should come back and look at this thread again. I sure do appreciate all your help. I can see the dial is touchy, but there is nowhere I can set the thing that it will stay at any one temperature. There is no rhyme or reason to the thing. If I could get it to say, cut off at 102 and back on at 101.5 and come back to 102, shut off go back to 101.5 and climb back up again then I would know I could get it to stay between 99.5 and 100 if I kept tinkering, but the ding dang thing won't stay within any certain temperature. Maybe it would within several degrees, but not within 1/2 a degree. No way. I think it is a piece of junk, but I'm stuck with it. I'll never use one of these again. I will have some different brand before I ever attempt this again whether it is shipped eggs or my own. I have a bunch of chickens but none are good heritage stock like I want. Yes, good to practice with, but none are old enough to lay yet.

Let me ask you all this: Just what is the actual tolerance of temperature I have to deal with? In other words, between what degree low and what degree high can I get away with? If it is absolutely 99.5 to 100 I don't think I'll ever get it with this thing.

Thanks again for all your helpful suggestions. I would have responded sooner, but I got too much going on. And all my eggs didn't arrive today. So I'm sort of aggravated about that too. The first batch didn't get here for 2 days and got here today. The second batch was supposed to be sent on Monday, but the breeder says a black snake ate my eggs and she had to wait until yesterday for more to be laid to send me. She mailed them out yesterday morning, and they haven't made it in yet. Both breeders are in Georgia and I'm in Virginia.

Well, I'm going back to the shop. I suspect I'll be fooling with this thing all night. I won't be worth a darn around my company tomorrow. Heck, maybe I ought to just scramble the darn things up and make omelets for us all at breakfast time. It would be the most expensive eggs I've ever eaten.

 

[Ceinwyn]

Try putting both plugs in and setting it.
The most I had to do was remove a plug to adjust .5 degrees up or down.
I think your trying to adjust it too much when you see a drop or increase.
Try ignoring it when it does that and see if it corrects itself.
It takes a while to get the temperature to set but it should stay pretty stable in a stable room once you get it set.
Im keeping my fingers crossed it stops messing with you before your eggs get there.
Sorry your having so much trouble with it.

 

[Barrdwing]

You've got my sympathies, Orange Ribbon. I am having similar barrels of fun with my Brower Top Hatch. The dang thing's got a gremlin. It will hold steady around 99.5, plus or minus two degrees, for days. Then it will completely lose its mind and drop six degrees, then shoot up six degrees. It's gone as low as 93.6, and hit 105.8; when I caught it doing that, I was so honked off I removed the lid for a few seconds to vent off the extra heat. I don't know what kind of thermostat is in there, but I sure don't like it. In our last hatch, we lost two dozen eggs, and got six chicks, three of whom had physical problems. This time around I've done everything I can to correct the problems from before, but it's frustrating to see the thing still bouncing around like a yo-yo. I'm incubating eggs from some of our hens.

Regarding your question as to what temperature range is tolerable for eggs: I wish I knew! I've had hens successfully hatch eggs when the temperatures outside were hovering around 115 degrees. I think the eggs can tolerate temperatures two or three degrees above or below the ideal temp, so long as they don't spend much time at an extreme temperature. I have some peafowl eggs in my incubator that are all different ages (abandoned eggs), and one of them hatched successfully yesterday despite the temp swings. I'm keeping track of the temps, and I figure that I'll just wait and see how this hatch goes. If it's terrible, I'll know that the temps were still no good.

 

[Orange Ribbon]

I MIGHT have it.

It is 4 AM now. I've been working with that thing all night. When I went back down after my last post it was at 100.4 Instead of trying to turn the knob any I just put a tiny amount of pressure on it. If it moved, I couldn't even tell it. The temp dropped straight down to 99.3 and ever since it has been hovering between 99.3 and 99.5 I'm leaving it for now and will try to check it around 7 AM after I have a nap. If it is anywhere in that range I'm going to go with it. Around 11:30 AM will be 24 hours since I first let my eggs sit. I will call the post office around 7:30 to see if the other batch of eggs come in. If so, I was thinking of letting them sit about 6 hours and then put them in the incubator so I can get them all in the same day. Should I go ahead and put the first batch in at 24 hours and then put the others in about 6 hours later, or do you think I should wait and put them all in at the very same time? OR--should I just stick them all in without letting the second batch sit any?

I sure am a bothersome sucker, ain't I?

Ceinwyn, I see what you mean about that thing being touchy. Like I said above, just putting pressure on the dial evidently changed the temps. I bet I didn't move that dial more than one thousandths of an inch!

Boy oh boy, I am about to fall out of this chair. I'm heading for bed and I hope the best 3 hours of sleep I ever had! I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your help. There was not a post that was not read, and all of them were helpful.

Good night. I mean, good morning.

 

[mandelyn]

It's not going to be staying at a perfect 99.5 the whole time through no matter what you do. This last winter I ran mine at 100.9 because I couldn't get it above 98 otherwise. Not sure why. This time I have it at 100.2, close enough. I think it's the digital thermometers and their accuracy making us tinker until it's perfect. The red line on a regular type one always looks "close enough" unless it really spikes to 102 or drops to 97.

I heard an old wives tail about a higher temp bringing out more girls and a lower temp bringing out more boys. Subconsciously, I'm pleased with 100.9 over 98.9 any day. Because of something I heard a long time ago. But.. I sure have been getting an awful lot of girls. As pathetic as my hatches were with the shipped eggs, just one boy out of the whole pile.

All my ducks are girls, all 4 of them, 3 local freebie eggs and the one that made it out of the shipped batch. 8 weeks ago they hatched, all girls now. Weird! 2nd time that all the ducks were female.

So yeah, this time, 100.whatever range I'm sticking with. Candled last night, 16 are going strong at day 14. No way they're all girls. The other part of the tail, boys will develop but not hatch. I don't know if there is any truth to the tail or not. But hens are hens!

You could set the newest batch after the 6 hour mark, and pay attention to how good of a hatch you get from them versus the ones that sat for 24 hours. Or set them out for the 24 hours too. One day won't affect lockdown for them when it comes time to pull out the turner.

When you put the eggs in, the temp will drop. Don't touch the dial! It will right itself. Just check on it in 24 hours and make sure it righted itself. Once you find the sweet spot on the dial though, try real hard not to move it.

The eggs can survive some issues. They quit when the issue is on going. But another time, I couldn't get my temp steady enough. Up and down, the whole time. Just too cold outside and in the house. I had it wrapped up in towels! I gave up on day 24 with no pips. Broke an egg open and it was alive! Left the others, and 3 really did come out on day 28. Crazy. But they made it. A whole extra week!

When hatch day comes, don't open the incubator. "Shrink wrapping" is when the membrane glues itself to the chick from the change of air and drop in humidity from opening the lid. They get stuck and die. Even a small pip hole you don't even see is large enough for that to happen. Wait it out and talk to them through the window. They seem to make tamer and friendlier chickens when you talk to them during the hatch.

 

[Orange Ribbon]

Thanks Mandelyn, that is some good stuff right there.

I just called the post office (over slept!). I asked if they have eggs and the guy says, "Yeah, they are right here with your phone number on them telling us to call you when they come in." If that is so, why didn't they call me this morning when they came in? I checked caller ID and they did not.

Oh well, I'm heading out in a bit to get them.

One other question. My incubator humidity is staying between 30 and 35%. I'd rather have my humidity a little low than too high after reading so many posts of what is evidently chicks drowning. I have a set of directions I am going by from an article on here somewhere, and the gentleman suggested that until day 18 anything above 25% was acceptable, and to make it around 65% at lock down. That is what I had planned on doing, but I want to hear from you guys too.

I have not been to the shop yet to check on the incubator. I just got up. I don't know what woke me up but I am glad it did and hate it all at the same time! HA! It sure was one heck of a night. I sure hope the temperature is still stable! But at least I know I've done my very best at trying to make everything work right even if I did make mistakes. Thank all of you again. I wish I could show up at everyone's house, I'd buy you all dinner.

 

[LuvMyBLR]

I'm so glad it's better now! Our humidity goes with the room and goes between 20% and 36% very naturally with a rhythm that would be acceptable with a broody and my eggs are developing!

I love how everyone here can't wait to jump in and help. Can we all see another need that is having to do with the soldiers keeping us safe? https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6685441#p6685441 Here is something that is starting that everyone could do once at least easily and make a world of difference! Sorry to be posting like this on your thread, but I just want to spread the word.

 

[Orange Ribbon]

I went down after the last post and it was down to 98.7. Room temp had went down a few degrees this morning so it should warm back up. I stuck my first shipment of eggs in there a little while ago. I have my second shipment sitting pointy end down for about 6 hours then stick them in also. Keeping my fingers crossed. I'll let you all know how it is going in a few days, and especially at hatching time.

Thank all of you again. I just can't say that or emphasize that enough. We sure came a long way didn't we?