Has anyone tried dry incubation and does it work well? And a sexlink breeding question.

[Debbie292d]

So can I put an egg in the incubator when the eggs in the incubator are 2 days old? Is it okay if they are all different ages??
P.S. I love that cabinet/dresser!

Thank you! It was a find on Marketplace.

I do staggered hatches but always have minimally 5 days in between them, and for the reasons @NatJ said.

Without having a second incubator, this would get tricky as you'd have some eggs in back-to-back lockdowns.

 

[Moon Daizy]

What does that mean? Is it something that I should look out for??????

Um... Well, we drew round the air cells after candling on day 17, but the chick pipped well outside of this air cell. So I was worried it wouldn't be able to get air - the pip had cracked the shell but had not broken through. So I candled the egg to see if the pip was inside the air cell - and thankfully, it was. The air cell had grown a lot or moved. In anycase, this chick managed to unzip okay and came out live an kicking, full of spunk!

THAT IS SO EXCITING!! I hope the other ones make it out great too! Any araucanas yet??

Yes, we have 5 happy chicks at the moment! Two cream legbars (one girl, one boy), one cuckoo Maran (I think a pullet, as she's very dark, no hint of grey), one lavendar araucana and one black araucana. Still two Maran and two araucana eggs left in the incubator, but I fully expect one of these to not hatch as it was questionable at the last candling.

The other araucana is unsure - it looks viable on the float test and candling, but has not internally pipped. The same story for the other two cuckoo Marans, but candling them is almost impossible! I have made a tiny safety hole into the air cells of these three, and popped them back in the incubator. Will give them a bit more time. Can't hear any chipping/pecking or cheeping noises, but I wouldn't expect to hear anything until they have internally pipped anyway.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

In anycase, this chick managed to unzip okay and came out live an kicking, full of spunk!

Phew!!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Thank you! It was a find on Marketplace.

I do staggered hatches but always have minimally 5 days in between them, and for the reasons @NatJ said.

Without having a second incubator, this would get tricky as you'd have some eggs in back-to-back lockdowns.

That makes sense. I think maybe 3 of the eggs in there now are only a day older than the rest. Last night my incubator went down to 99! Is that okay?? I'm very worried about them.

 

[Debbie292d]

That makes sense. I think maybe 3 of the eggs in there now are only a day older than the rest. Last night my incubator went down to 99! Is that okay?? I'm very worried about them.

I don't worry as long as it's within .5 of a degree one way or the other.

I would just wait an hour or two to see if it comes back up to 99.5 as it may drift between the two and that's okay.

 

[Huntmaster]

That makes sense. I think maybe 3 of the eggs in there now are only a day older than the rest. Last night my incubator went down to 99! Is that okay?? I'm very worried about them.

I don't worry as long as it's within .5 of a degree one way or the other.

I would just wait an hour or two to see if it comes back up to 99.5 as it may drift between the two and that's okay.

Dropping down to 99 is not bad but as @Debbie292d stated you don't want large fluctuations in temp. Noticed in your other threads you said you were getting fluctuations of 3 to 4 degrees. That is not good. (Your quote in other post)> is it okay that my temperature fluctuates about 2-3-4 degrees or is that something to asses? <

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Dropping down to 99 is not bad but as @Debbie292d stated you don't want large fluctuations in temp. Noticed in your other threads you said you were getting fluctuations of 3 to 4 degrees. That is not good. (Your quoit in other post)> is it okay that my temperature fluctuates about 2-3-4 degrees or is that something to asses? <

Yeah my incubator is awful at keeping temp, it's SO annoying.