what's the best way?

[bullrider]

Quote:
is it a digital with both built in

 

[Feathered Wings]

I put mine in egg cartons and sit them on my side board in my kitchen. I don't tilt my eggs or store them in any certain temp. I collect for 7 days or if i want to extend that i wrap then individualy in plastic wrap and i then have up to 2 extra weeks to collect. I start my incubater 3 days before i plan to add eggs to allow it to reach correct temp and humidity and stablize.
I put them in and allow them to warm for 48 hours then adjust the temp and humidity if needed. I don't use egg cartons in my incubater at any point.
I have a 85% to 95% hatch rate with this method

 

[jloftin60]

First of all Kim....are you a BULLRIDER? LOL!
Not that I am an expert, but I hatched 36 out of
42 eggs the day before Thanksgiving. One little
chick was too little and died later and the other
eggs must have been scrambled from shipping. These chicks are
mixed RIR and BR. All are now growing like weeds.
I bought two digital Therm/Humidity meters from Wal-Mart
for about $6 a piece. Put them both at egg level and one
read a temp degree higher and one point humidity higher
than the other. I even put the thermometer that came with
the bator and it read differently. I tried to keep a 99.5 -100.5 temp
and a 40% humidity for the first 18 days. Day 18, I took the eggs out
of the auto turner, layed them on their side, added water to the pan
to bring up the humidity to 60 -65%, and put the lid on. The GOLDEN RULE
is not to open the lid until all chicks have hatched. It's hard, but if you open
the lid, you loose humidity and temp. It could affect the unhatched chicks.
Twenty one days does't seem like a long time, but it will seem like 42 days
when they begin to peep. My first peep was day 19 before I went to bed
and the next morning I had six little chicks running all over the other
eggs. I let them go and it was one hatch after another after that. That was
a fun day. I had a room full of people watching.
Be careful, this stuff is addicting.
John

 

[Grampa with chickens]

Quote:
So your saying if you wrap them in plastic, your oldest egg is 3 weeks old? Wow, I would like to try that. I would like some more info on this,

 

[Feathered Wings]

Yes i have bantams which lay every other day and it's hard to get alot of eggs in 7 days i learned this from Gail Damerow chicken health handbook.
Page 209 states you can increase storage time to as long as 3 weeks, while maitaining reasonable hatchability.
I have done this when i want to extend my collecting time and had a very good hatch.
The plastic wrap slows the evaporation of the eggs as less evaporation during egg storage the greater the hatching rate will be.> from Gail Damerow chicken health handbook.

 

[bullrider]

Quote:
lol, that is what my wife says you know you cant ride them right, i said it sounds so fun and it would be great for the kids she lol and said COWBOY UP!! SO HERE I AM BEGGIN FOR HELP, thank kim

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I use an accurite brand digital thermometer/hygrometer combo that I bought at Walmart for about $8. I stand it up on a small block of wood so the center of the thermometer is even with the tops of the eggs (I use a turner, then hatch in egg cartons so they are higher than if you lay them on their sides.) It's been pretty accurate for me.

 

[Rufflemyfeathers]

No but wish it were..I want to shop around and find one like you are talking about..I was in a hurry and that is what I got for the moment..

Quote:
is it a digital with both built in

 

[Rufflemyfeathers]

jloftin60 you say you bought two digital Therm/Humidity meters from Wal-Mart
for about $6 a piece..in what department did you find them in..I sure would love to get one ..thank you for your info..

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I found them over by the paint section in an aisle with the regular thermometers.