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Post by genuinesqueak on Jul 24, 2008 12:17:46 GMT 8
Hi Everyone, I just bought my first incubator. I got a Hovabator 42 egg (auto turn). I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips/advice with incubating eggs. I've only ever used broody chooks before. I'm going to start it up today, and put a batch of eggs, just a dozen, to see what happens, I don't even know if they're fertile, because my rooster seem's a bit feminine and i've never seen him ride chook! But thought it's worth a try atleast before I can get some fertile ones. And I might be surprised in 21 days Anyway thanks. Oh and where do you keep the incubator?? It says in a room that stays at about 21c, the only room that is a stable temperature is our lounge room, all other rooms drop to 2c at night. And it also says keep out of direct sunlight, does that mean artificial light too? Or would i need to cover it with a dark sheet? Thanks!
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Post by horses7 on Jul 24, 2008 13:09:40 GMT 8
You do have to let the incubator run for a few hours before you put the eggs in the get to the right temperature and follow the manual and you should be right. I've got both our incubators in our kitchen/loungeroom. But our new one is a Brinsea with a glass front door and every non chooky person that visits thinks its a wine fridge. I dont know whats worse, they think we drink a lot or are chook mad. I dont cover mine and we have pretty good hatch rates normally. As long as the temperature and the humidity is correct you should have no problems, oh and the eggs do need to be fertile. When we have a power cut I cover mine with blankets to try and maintain the temperature. You can candle the eggs during the incubation to see if they are any good. We did do that for a while but was never game enough to take them out of incubator if we thought they were no good, just in case. So we dont bother anymore and just wait with bated breath for the new arrivals. Good Luck and hopefully in 3 weeks you will have some new chickies
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Post by genuinesqueak on Jul 24, 2008 13:56:58 GMT 8
Thanks It's been running for a couple of hours and the temperature was steady, so i cleaned some eggs and put them in, making sure i chose nice ones with no blemishes and no irregular shapes. I've got 13 in there, so fingers crossed for atleast one ;D I remember reading about candling a while ago, what day do you usually do that at? This is so exciting! I can't wait until I have some pure breed eggs!
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Post by admin on Jul 24, 2008 16:01:12 GMT 8
I've been told not to wash the eggs only clean with a dry cloth as washing loses the natural protection of keeping bugs out. you can candle before you set the eggs to see any faults in the shell like hairline cracks, mottling and chalkiness. I have read that some diseases like infectious bronchitis actually can cause discolouration. Then at 7 days, you should be able to see something that looks a bit like a spider, eggs that look like a C the embryos have died, sometimes this could be caused by jarring by 14 days the egg should be completely black except the air cell. The point of the small end might still be a little cloudy. Then at 18 days when they are transfered to the hatcher and you should see a little beak going into the airsac. Candling is also a good indication of how your humidity is as well. when you do the first candling put a ring around the egg where the airsac is as this should get bigger to about 30% of the egg by day 18. Until you gain some experience at candling I wouldnt turf any eggs, just mark the ones you dont think wil hatch and see what happens at the end of 21 days and see if you were right. when you candle the next setting, make certain you candle on the same day each time and then you will get to recognise each stage a lot easier and make notes for yourself. Hope this has helped, now take a deep breath and relax.
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Post by genuinesqueak on Jul 27, 2008 12:26:03 GMT 8
Well it's day 3 so i thought I'd candle them just to check, and i don't think I'm going to have much luck with these ones. There were a couple completely clear ones (I'm guessing infertile) and there were a few really porous/mottled looking ones, there was about 3 or 4 that had an air sac and a yolky looking thing, so I'm not sure.
Is there a way to tell if they're fertile before you put them in?
I haven't given up because well it's still early and I'm not experienced with the candling. But I'll check them in another few days, at day 8 and see if there's any improvement with the air sacs and see if there's any veins etc.
My biggest fear is them exploding in the incubator... does that happen? Should I throw out any I'm positive are empty? And the porous looking ones?
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kowan
New Member
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Post by kowan on Jul 27, 2008 13:03:17 GMT 8
Well it's day 3 so i thought I'd candle them just to check, and i don't think I'm going to have much luck with these ones. There were a couple completely clear ones (I'm guessing infertile) and there were a few really porous/mottled looking ones, there was about 3 or 4 that had an air sac and a yolky looking thing, so I'm not sure. Is there a way to tell if they're fertile before you put them in? I haven't given up because well it's still early and I'm not experienced with the candling. But I'll check them in another few days, at day 8 and see if there's any improvement with the air sacs and see if there's any veins etc. My biggest fear is them exploding in the incubator... does that happen? Should I throw out any I'm positive are empty? And the porous looking ones? Question 1, Is there a way to tell if they're fertile before you put them in? Answer 1, Yes there is one way, crack the egg into a bowl and look for a small light coloured round circle in the yolk, you may have to turn the yolk over to view the circle. The only problem with doing it this way is glueing the shell back together..... ;D First Photo, Unfertile egg Second Photo Fertile egg, Notice the germinal spot looks larger and like a circle in this fertile egg. Question 2, My biggest fear is them exploding in the incubator... does that happen? Answer 2, Yes It can happen if you mishandle the egg, as in dropping it. Some have had them explode but I think that would have been because of the age of the egg. I think you MAY be safe before the 10th to 14th day. Question 3, Should I throw out any I'm positive are empty? And the porous looking ones? Answer 3, I would wait for the 10th day after you have candled the eggs, then I would dispose of the eggs that are not fertile. View my website on the bottom of this page "Sperm completion processes" www.freewebs.com/kowan/chook/page1.htmI hope this has helped a little, Cheers, Kowan
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Post by genuinesqueak on Jul 27, 2008 13:28:11 GMT 8
Wow thanks for that! Ok so I'll wait a few more days and wont make a final decision until maybe the 10th day. From looking at those pictures i might have one or two hehe. And if there's none, it confirms that my rooster is maybe not quite a man
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kowan
New Member
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Post by kowan on Jul 27, 2008 14:04:30 GMT 8
You know your rooster is not quite a man if he picks flowers for the other roosters lol
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