Let the Incubation Begin!

[Lizzy733]

Hi everyone!

This will be my first time hatching shipped eggs and first time relying on an incubator.

Our x12 BBS Orpington eggs arrived yesterday and have had a day to settle. Our x10 Golden Campine have just arrived today.

Everyone's been checked in, weighed and had an initial candle. I may have gotten away with only one possible air cell detachment on the campines and I didn't notice any saddled eggs.

With the orpingtons, the shell quality is quite good and they are obviously fresh, so air cells were less apparent. I'll be getting a higher lumen torch and re-candling those before setting tomorrow.

The incubator 'is new' and is getting it's test run while the campine's settle. I have two additional calibrated sensors in there with it now to monitor it's measurements overnight (one is smart and will give me a nice graph on my phone).

It is very plasticy - should I open it up to run and degass for a few hours as well?

Some of the orpingtons are a bit chunky, with two weighing in at 66g! Do big eggs ever equate to big boys, or is it just an indicator of freshness and vigour? I've heard the good ole 'pointy egg' wive's tale. Should probably be tracking egg shape for fun, even if I'm a skeptic.

With my incubator, it seems impossible to remove only some of the turning shelves and the turn function does not appear to be pausable, which might be an issue for any detached cell eggs I find. Any suggestions on how to circumvent this? Each tray is wired in with a candling light (which I don't expect to work), so dismantling the tray doesn't appear to be an option. Should I just leave it out for the first 6 days and turn manually for everyone, or just try my luck? It doesn't look like there are many air cell issues at this stage. - eggs were obviously handled appropriately on their trips.

I plan on keeping this post going with regular updates through to hatch.

Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Incubator has been set up in the bottom cabinet of my reptile Viv, which should be pretty temp stable. My bug farm is in the next door cubby and stays pretty stable.

 

[FeatherTay]

Woo! Following…

 

[Lizzy733]

Everything's looking surprisingly good in my cheapo incubator. After calibrating the probe and testing all over the thing with multiple sensors, looks like it held steady all night.

I think I'll keep the eggs to the center; seems to be the most ideal temps. Some of the corners actually run a bit hotter - not dangerous hot, but I'm keeping an eye on them.

The below reads a little low - maybe by about .3-.5. It's non-submersible, so can't give it a full calibration, but humidity is accurate to around 3%

 

[Lizzy733]

Four days in and so far, the incubator has only had a few temp fluctuations. I've decided to rearrange the eggs on occasion - centre to outside etc... So they get exposed to different temp zones. Also, not much ventilation on this thing, so giving it a chance to breathe at the same time.

So far, several of the campines have noticeable vascular development and looks like maybe one blood ring. I will let it stay on to day 6 and reassess then.

It looks like there are a few loose air sacks in the Orpington eggs and maybe one or two starting to develop their vascular system, but these are very hard to see through due to shell thickness.

Being that the campines are only just standard size and easier to see through, I would expect them to be a little faster to develop than the larger Orpingtons anyway.

Fingers crossed for their day 6 candle and weigh in. I'll have to post some pics of where we're at then.

 

[Billy Mahone]

Everything's looking surprisingly good in my cheapo incubator. After calibrating the probe and testing all over the thing with multiple sensors, looks like it held steady all night.

I think I'll keep the eggs to the center; seems to be the most ideal temps. Some of the corners actually run a bit hotter - not dangerous hot, but I'm keeping an eye on them.

The below reads a little low - maybe by about .3-.5. It's non-submersible, so can't give it a full calibration, but humidity is accurate to around 3%

View attachment 2842644

Can you please tell me what your using as these graphs are great

 

[Lizzy733]

Can you please tell me what your using as these graphs are great

It's a Xiaomi home temperature humidity sensor 2.

Early in the incubation, it did go rogue for a bit when the box got up over 38 - I've relocated it to the coldest spot in the Bator and a separate probe that is set up in the core, so using it as a general indicator.

I'm WFH at the moment, so go check in on it every few hours anyway.

 

[Lizzy733]

Day 6 check-in and everyone's aced their weigh-in.

With the 10 campines, two were clears (confirmed infertile) and one had a blood ring and was culled - chick was apparent, but inactive, egg contents were soupy and blended, blood ring was filmy.

The remaining 7 are all looking good-great, most with chicks clearly visible.

With the Orpingtons, that thick shell makes things a bit more tricky. Many are saddled or a bit jiggly. I 'think' I can see vascular growth in most, but some seem a bit less developed than others.

Out of 12, I have 1 looking like it might blood ring, 1 possible clear, 2 that look like they might have started but stopped or are behind and 1 with a big black spot on the side of the shell that doesn't seem to be spreading so far.

So also 7 looking okay-great, but very few with obviously visible chicks. I have not pulled any Orpingtons, going to give them a bit more time and monitor for progress.

 

[Lizzy733]

Big cull day today.

Of the campines, we have 7 happy bouncing babies to report.

With the Orpingtons, there are 5 with happy bouncing babies, two with great vascular development, but I didn't see any frisky babies... These have gone on my 'watchlist'.

Of my former watchlist, one surprised be with a bouncing baby while the other 4 were removed. I also had one that missed my watch list with a big corrupted blood ring deeper into the egg.

Of the 5 that were pulled, one was clear, 2 were practically clears with nothing but the tiniest of blood rings and two had dead embryos far too small for day 8.

Hopefully, my questionables are asleep or very deep. One I thought I saw movement, but the other.... Well, there's a reason for these watch lists.

All in all, the remaining 12 are looking great and hopefully the other 2 will make it to hatch and give me a 7/7 split. Still hoping for one blue and one splash pullet, but with only 5-7 eggs left, not sure how good my odds will be come hatch time.

I'll do another candle on day 10 and weigh in on day 12. Time to reorganise my records for now.

 

[Lizzy733]

Two more Orpingtons removed for blood-rings; we are down to 5 left, all of which have good vascular growth and are visibly active. All the chicks have moved lower in the egg and are looking very bouncy.

We're halfway through. Fingers crossed all these lil ones will make it through to pip. I've just ordered their feed so it'll be here early next week.

 

[Lizzy733]

Running a bit behind on my updates.

Is day 13 here; day 12 candle and weigh-in went well. No further pulls and we are still at 5 Orpington and 7 Campines. We have 2 or 3 a bit off-target for their weight, but not by much and in both directions, so will stay the course. Perhaps their shells are a bit more/less porous than typical because everyone else is spot on. Should still be in the safe range though.

Everyone was active, looking big and all moved nice and deep into the egg. I even saw some toes!

Ive had to gradually bump down the incubator temp the last few days as it's warming up out here and seemingly warming up in there too!

Incubator is now on 36.8 - central probe is reading high 37s low 38s and cold spots probes are reading low 37s, so everything's evening out within a degree.

I still think those campines are gonna pop early. Will still be doing check-ins, but I think we'll be smooth sailing into lockdown from here.