I've got 8 more eggs in the incubator and they are alive, bit will hatch at different dates. To keep the eggs fresh I set them as soon as I the hen laid them. I guess I'm ready for the peafowl eggs!
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I've been trying to keep the humidity between 55-65%, I've had it swing up to 70 and down to 40 a couple times, last night when I candled them it dropped to 30!!! but since the candling went good, I'm hoping its ok. every time it goes above or below I've corrected it very quickly. yesterday it went unnoticed for a while because we were busy all day.... that's why it dropped so low.
this is the first time I've incubated anything. we have a old old old foam incubator, it has windows in the top to see in, and circles in the bottom for water with a metal mesh to hold up eggs. we put in a temp and humidity detector and the eggs are in the top of an egg carton to keep them tipped a little up. turn them 3 times a day 180 degrees. I put 6 in one night and the 7th the next night, the oldest egg was 10 days, the next was 8 days old I believe, the oldest two are the ones that did not develop. in holding they were turned 2x per day kept in our basement at a very steady 50 degrees.
anything else we should do to help hatch rate?
btw our hens are still laying, but its slowing down already, were getting 1 egg a day, back to 1 every two days. but we had a heat lamp when it was cold, now that its above freezing we turned it off. I think the lack of constant light affected their laying... it certainly affected the chickens. do you think they'll start laying more in april? - when they should be laying. oh ya its april now... oh boy.
I've been trying to keep the humidity between 55-65%, I've had it swing up to 70 and down to 40 a couple times, last night when I candled them it dropped to 30!!! but since the candling went good, I'm hoping its ok. every time it goes above or below I've corrected it very quickly. yesterday it went unnoticed for a while because we were busy all day.... that's why it dropped so low.
this is the first time I've incubated anything. we have a old old old foam incubator, it has windows in the top to see in, and circles in the bottom for water with a metal mesh to hold up eggs. we put in a temp and humidity detector and the eggs are in the top of an egg carton to keep them tipped a little up. turn them 3 times a day 180 degrees. I put 6 in one night and the 7th the next night, the oldest egg was 10 days, the next was 8 days old I believe, the oldest two are the ones that did not develop. in holding they were turned 2x per day kept in our basement at a very steady 50 degrees.
anything else we should do to help hatch rate?
btw our hens are still laying, but its slowing down already, were getting 1 egg a day, back to 1 every two days. but we had a heat lamp when it was cold, now that its above freezing we turned it off. I think the lack of constant light affected their laying... it certainly affected the chickens. do you think they'll start laying more in april? - when they should be laying. oh ya its april now... oh boy.
I have 3 Peahen laying eggs right now (2 IB, 1 White), Or at least I think they are. I let my peafowl freerange and around this season when they "dissapear" I know its because they are laying. I found one of my IB hen's nest and sadly so did some dogs :C They crushed all the eggs. I lost 6 eggs :C My other IB hen and my White one are probably laying too because I havent seen them around. My white peacock has being doing "the dance" but I havent seen him aroung the peahens which means the eggs are probably not fertile. By the way, Im from Mexico, This is my third year with peafowl and so far I have only had 4 peachicks survive out of the at least 20 that have hatched throught these years. Any clue what could be the problem? they all seem to die when their crest starts coming out.
Thanks for the info Dylansmom, I forgot to mention that my peafowl are surronded by turkeys and cows ( it's pretty much a farm here) domt know if they can catch any disease from them. Also we have had weird weather changes here in Mexico, soemtimes its really cold and usually its very hot, since it always happens when the chicks are little im thinking it affects them in some way. I buy their food in a vet store and there are only two different options chick starter and a mix of grains for older birds. Will definitely look for the things you recommended. Its really sad to see so many peachicks die knowing how beautiful they could end up looking.