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PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:54 am 
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Location: About mid-way between Ipswich and Toowoomba
Either that or kids doing something silly.

I'm just going with the flow. Sometimes I hesitate to share what's going on here because it is a bit "look at how clueless I am today", but I figure if something I share actually helps someone, it was worth embarrassing myself.

Update: There is a batch in the incubator right now. The one which includes seven Silkie eggs from Noddy along with an OEG and huge egg from two of my chooks.

...

As outlined in another thread the Silkie eggs have just candled as infertile. I saw no visible development.

There is development in both the OEG egg and the large egg in the Easter basket.

Due to the size, the large egg isn't ideal for incubation and may not hatch. As for the OEG egg -- which is quite small -- I guess I'll be a little closer to knowing next week. There are two OEG eggs under the remaining broody bantam, only one of which is actually due to hatch next week. If that one hatches, this one should, too.


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 Post subject: Renovated incubator
PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:20 pm 
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Location: About mid-way between Ipswich and Toowoomba
I renovated my incubator overnight to increase the capacity.

With the new setup, all the eggs are laying down, big end higher where I've been able to enforce it, otherwise it's up to the eggs to sit properly.

No rice! :lol:

I created a wire rack for them using mouse/snake mesh.

And, rather than try to do something about keeping the chicks from drowning or straying into the fans or anywhere else just as they're hatching, I've done that BEFORE putting the eggs in. They can hatch when they want and I won't have to worry about them getting "lost" in the incubator.

If you liked my incubator before, you're going to love it now.

I will try to remember to take photos when it's open for turning.

The creation of heating, humidity and airflow is all at one end and there is a mesh and light wood barrier between that and the area where the eggs are.

The chicks shouldn't get lost when they hatch.

The light wood barrier is basically at the level of the light bulbs to stop direct heat from them hitting the eggs and warming those more.


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 Post subject: incubator
PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:19 pm 
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Sounds absolutely fantastic. You seem to be on a roll! Can't wait to hear about the next hatch.


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:03 am 
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Location: About mid-way between Ipswich and Toowoomba
I've finally remembered to take pics of inside after the renovation the other night. See the incubator with renovations right here.

What I did was moved the lights down one end. I added a third light as well, but later took it out as the thermostat would cut out at an air temp of 39 as required, but the air temp would continue to climb to readings such as 40.3.

I also changed to two 40w bulbs, but a smaller size (save space).

I created a mesh/wood barrier upon which I mounted two old computer fans powered by one 12v transformer.

[Someone asked me the other day what a "transformer" is and it occurred to me others may not be sure what I'm talking about. What I call a "transformer" is one of those power pack thingos that you plug into the mains power to provide power for such things as little organs, modems, zip drives, computer speakers, etc, etc. It basically takes 240v AC and "transforms" it into 12v DC (or whatever voltage that particular gadget needs). Think mobile phone charger...but don't use that as it outputs something like 3v.]

The two fans are mounted such that they draw air FROM the egg area into the heating area where hopefully it warms before it finds its way back through and around the eggs.

The water tubs for humidity are up that end, too.

I then created a wire rack to sit the eggs on using mouse/snake mesh. I measured twice, cut once and wish I'd measured three times. It could have been perhaps two inches longer. It had come off a roll and so wanted to curve, but if I tried to straighten it, I may have created a really distorted up/down surface. So, I tacked a few bits of thin board to it to hold it flat. It's not perfect, but it's better than it could have been.

I cut a bit out of the rack to accommodate the digital thermometer/hygrometer.

Then, because I had to scramble to create dividers during the first hatch to stop the chicks from escaping and falling down the bottom (or worse), I added a couple more bits of mesh to keep them on the rack. With the lights, water tubs and fans the other side of the tall mesh/wood divider, they'd have been safe anyway, but keeping them in view makes me feel better.

I put it all in place and closed the lid and tested it, removed that third light bulb like I said and allowed it to run a couple more off/on cycles before adding half the eggs I had. Later yesterday morning I added the rest of the eggs.

See the incubator with renovations right here.

While turning the eggs a little while ago, I did the eyetest on a few of them where you put them up to your eye socket to detect how warm they are and though from different areas of the rack, they all seemed fine.

Success!

...well, when they hatch, I'll know for sure.


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:45 pm 
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Location: Gold Coast, QLD
looks like your going to have loads of babies soon :-D

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:12 pm 
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Location: About mid-way between Ipswich and Toowoomba
Kylie wrote:
looks like your going to have loads of babies soon :-D


I want a 100% hatch rate this time. It's going to be a nervous three weeks.

Each time I turn the eggs, I find one that feels a little cooler than the others and hope I'm wrong.

I'm thinking of disconnecting one fan to reduce the airflow.

Does anyone have any reliably proven responses regarding whether the speed of the airflow should make any difference. Logic tells me that faster flowing air is no warmer or cooler. The only reason we feel cooler when there is a breeze is because we're usually sweating..even a tiny bit. My eggs aren't sweating. :-)

And, besides we don't get cooled by the wind, we get cooled by the evaporation of the sweat from on our skin.


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:32 pm 
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I don't think the speed of the airflow would have much effect on the temp. It would be controled by the air vents and effected by the ammount of times and time that the lid is off wouldn't it?

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:56 pm 
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Location: About mid-way between Ipswich and Toowoomba
That's my thinking, too.

The other thing I considered is turning the fans OFF during turning. I did turn them off once yesterday and forgot to turn them back on for about 20 minutes until I noticed.

Imagine two fans sucking air down past the eggs when the lid [edit: is] open. :-(

The cool eggs I think I notice are usually towards the end of turning, so that might explain it.

I look forward to when they start creating some of their own heat.


Last edited by greenaus on Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: turning
PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 6:42 am 
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When you put eggs in the incubator, it can take a number of hours for them to reach incubator temp. Likewise when you turn your eggs fairly quickly, it's way too short a time for the internal temperature of the egg to change. Maybe the external shell could change a fraction that you are picking up when you check it, but the internal temp will be unchanged. I wouldn't be concerned. I have taken eggs out of the incubator completely to candle them, and returned them a few minutes later with no problems. Even in a power failure, if the internal egg temp drops momentarily, you can still get a good hatch - unlike a temp rise which is a disaster.

Fan forced incubators tend to get back to their set temperature very quickly, unlike still air models which take a while. This really helps if you have to open it to turn. I think in a smaller model, one fair would be sufficient.

The fan speed can affect the humidity, which you are no doubt monitoring, and also whether the air is being evenly distributed around the incubator chamber.

If I were you, I would resist making major changes, because otherwise it gets very hard to know what is successful and what is not. It sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck.


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:37 pm 
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Location: About mid-way between Ipswich and Toowoomba
First...
greenaus wrote:
Eight eggs under broody bantam #2 are now 5 eggs.
Reminder: They'd come from the incubator. She hatched these in the mower catcher down in an outbuilding.

All five of those eggs hatched last Tuesday. 100%

Another OEG egg had been laid with this lot while the broody was off the nest the day I wrote the comment above. I left it with her, but she kicked it out and it went cold. It was quite a bit younger than the other eggs anyway.

Next...
Thanks Eggsalive for your comments and support. I wrote my message below before I read your post. Please don't think I meant to defy your suggestion to leave things alone.

I notice this became a sticky some time. Now I feel bad about any off-topic bits I included amongst my replies and stuff. :oops:

The pressure is really on now. With 44 eggs in the incubator, most of which I consider "special", and just days after renovating the incubator to accommodate them all, I am quite worried about the temperature. It all looks good on the thermostat and even on the digital thermometer/hygrometer, but most times I turn the eggs I feel one or two eggs just aren't as warm as the others.

[Edit: Like Eggsalive I have taken eggs out for candling before and returned them perhaps five minutes later. However, as I recall, even after five minutes out of the incubator, their shells usually felt warmer than the ones I'm talking about as feeling cool. But...I guess in the incubator I notice it more because I may turn a "warm" egg before turning a "cool" egg.]

I think it might be due to the walls not being as "insulating" as I'd hoped. With 44 eggs squeezed in there, there will always be a few close to the walls. Previously, around 20 eggs were in there well away from the walls.

The other contributor might be the old rack that the new rack is sitting on. It may be messing with the airflow. Maybe I should have gone with the original plan of the bed of rice.

I'm going to be turning the eggs in a short while, so I reckon I'll throw in some plywood or cloth or something around the sides to see if that helps. (It can't hurt).

Update: Candled at 1am. Six days. Took one with zero development and jammed a thermometer into the core. 34.9. :-(

When I did this with an egg during a previous batch, the temp was 37.6.

Actual development stats are "classified". Suffice to say, I still maintain some hope. 8)


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