Jonny Anvil's Incubation & Hatching Journal 2013

Hey Everyone,

Well I just couldn't take it any longer.. I had to fire up the incubator and hatcher(s). With all the posts from everyone who are already hatching, I got the urge to start this years breeding program sure I am fight against eggs freezing, but it's making me go back and forth a few times a day to collect.

This year I am thinking of documenting my hatches, in a journal form. Not the greatest at journals so I'll give it my best shot.

Feel free to check back to see how things are doing with the hatches that I will be working on this year.

Orpingtons - Black/Blue & Buff - Jonny Anvil's Line, Briarwood Lines, and Kathy S lines.
Sussex - Buff, Light & Coronation
Turkeys - Samis Lines of Ridley Bronze & Samis Lines of Narragansett
Pheasants - Ring Neck.

To kick start off my Journal here is a pic of my Incubation Set up

Running Tsamis's Sportsman 1502 W with the auto humidifier.
Inc Temp Set at 99.5%, Humidity with one wick in the water tray is at 54% humidity.

Using 3 hovabators to act as hatchers, otherwise it makes a mess inside the Sportsman.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Nice set up, I like your banner.

bckev wrote:Nice set up, I like your banner.

Thanks,

My cousin designed my logo and my best friend created the banner for me!

Welcome to the dark side Jonny. The more the merrier!

coopslave wrote:Welcome to the dark side Jonny. The more the merrier!

Why thanks

Nice set up, I will be watching this topic for surely. Doncha love it when you can get things going and set up. I think this year that I am going to do hatching in another hovabator style hatcher. I have a little giant one that was crap for hatching in. It is stored in our container. Never thought I would use it, would never sell it cause its a piece of crap. But I bet it would be perfect for using for the hatching out, then I wouldn't have to worry about bringing the beast of a sportsman up to 65%, from 30%. It loves to easily run at 30% humidity, but having issues with it going any higher. I'm going to pull it out and set it in the back room here and see if I can get it to run at proper temperature. What temperature do you set the hovabator style for hatching? It is similar to that. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Hey Cynthia,

Tsamis did all the incubating in the sportsman last year, and hatched out in the hovabators and it worked out rather well.
I will have to ask him what we had the hova hatcher set at.

Last year Tsamis was running the hatching duties and he informed me that he was running at the following.

99.5F and 60% humidity for incubation in the Sportsman

95F and 80-90% humidity for hatching in the hovabator.

This was for both Chickens and Turkeys.

He had excellent hatch rates.

We were also collecting and storing our eggs in an automatic egg turner, in our cold room. Right now its at 8*C or 48*F All eggs are stored air sac up. For a max of 7 days.
We usually will then move them in front of the incubator until roughly room temp and then into the Sportsman, for 18 days and then the whole tray gets moved into the hovabator for hatching at 80-90% humidity and a hatch temp of 95*F. (Forced air Hovabator)

As for moving the whole tray out of the sportsman. I find that they hatch so much better when they are not getting kicked around all over the place by the other hatchlings. Or I will quickly move the eggs on a cardboard egg flat and put into the hatcher.

The nice thing about using the egg tray for the whole process is that it's easy to keep track of who is who, as per breeds, or different lines for that matter. It also makes for a quick clean up. I can sterilize the egg tray before it gets used again.

In my last hatch I did last year I put them in a purple cardboard egg flat on a slight tilt. Best hatch I have had, it went very well.

This year I am taking over on the hatching for the most part.... tsamis, assisting me when needed.

Right now I have the bator set at 99.5*F and the humidity is holding at 52% with one wick in the auto humidifier tray, and the bucket gravity feeding from above.

In an hour I will be setting 2 dozen B/B/S Orp eggs from Briarwood!!

The first Batch of Hatching eggs are now in the Bator!!!

2 doz B/B/S Orpingtons from Briarwood!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I would think that 8 degrees is much too cold to store eggs Jonny.
My first two hatches were not very good this year, I stored the eggs out in my old office, not heated and it get's down to 8 degrees out there, I have moved them to the basement now and it is 15 degrees down there, the hatches have been much better since I started doing that.

Whoa, Jonny you said that Tsamis had the last three days hatching at 95 degrees? Ooops. Need to learn more about that, never heard of it being that low. Maybe, would you like me to start a new thread to talk about incubation stuff so that you don't get this thread muddled up? Cause I would like to know who else hatches at a lower temperature. I never change my temperature during hatching, ever, and now wonder if my hatches would be way better if I did. Although for the most part I am pretty satisfied with my temperatures. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Good Morning!

Update: (Briarwood Orps)

Status: Eggs held for 24hrs at 19*C before being placed in incubator.
Day 18: April 8th 2013
Hatch: April 12th 2013

Day 1
Eggs are all snuggled warm and inside the Sportsman. The temp is 99.5*F and the Humidity is holding at 53%
Turn count: 15

Hidden River wrote:I would think that 8 degrees is much too cold to store eggs Jonny.
My first two hatches were not very good this year, I stored the eggs out in my old office, not heated and it get's down to 8 degrees out there, I have moved them to the basement now and it is 15 degrees down there, the hatches have been much better since I started doing that.

Hey Jayme,

A fair amount of people have showed concern when I mention I store my hatching eggs at 8*C. I guess I should mention that I don't always store eggs for incubation at 8*C
Over the past few years from research, and our own experiences we have found that the longer you plan to store the eggs for incubation, the lower the holding temp must be.
For example if i am planning on holding eggs for 2 - 3 days then I will hold them at 13*C.
If I am holding the eggs for a max of 7 Days they are held at 8*C. and keeping the Humidity up is important, almost crucial
60-70% Humidity is ideal from my findings on storing the eggs.

My method for storing eggs come from a rather long list of researching other's findings and experimenting with them, taking bits and pieces where I see they fit into my hatching program. Most of the articles I have been reading and coming across are heavily based upon broiler and commercial meat birds.

One of articles that I read can be found here. (UofA)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

(Virginia Tech)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Here is another good article
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Last one I can find that I saved on my computer was this one here
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

All these are interesting reads.

I also mentioned that I temper the eggs by removing them from the cold storage to room temp infront of the bator for at least 6 hours, and then into the bator. This greatly reduces sweating of the eggs. I climatizing the eggs between storage and placing in the bator they will develop better.

CynthiaM wrote:Whoa, Jonny you said that Tsamis had the last three days hatching at 95 degrees? Ooops. Need to learn more about that, never heard of it being that low. Maybe, would you like me to start a new thread to talk about incubation stuff so that you don't get this thread muddled up? Cause I would like to know who else hatches at a lower temperature. I never change my temperature during hatching, ever, and now wonder if my hatches would be way better if I did. Although for the most part I am pretty satisfied with my temperatures. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Hey Cynthia,

There is a major reason why we have the hatch temp at 95*F in the Hovabator ONLY.
from trial and error we have found that this temp works best for us when hatching.
Remember developing chicks can handle a temperature drop of a few degrees rather than a spike of a few degrees,
Ie: Temps goes from 99.5*F - 95*F they will be ok, for the most part. (lots of variable factors involved, humidity, strength of genetics of breed and so on)
Temp spikes by even a few degrees and they more often then not will parish, but not always.

For the last few years we have played around with our hovabators and incubating / hatching in them.
We found it difficult to maintain the temperature in the hovabators at 99.5-100*F after day 18-19. The temps were spiking to 101-102. We lost chicks, This happened our first few hatches. Not a total loss, but reduced hatch/survival rates.
We then started to incubate in one and hatch in another, moving the eggs from one hovabator into another. Both at 99.5*F
What we noticed then was a spike in temp after the eggs only being in there 12hrs roughly day 19. Temps had risen by 1 degrees, and was reading 101.3*F by day 20

I started scratching my brain and dad and myself started then to play around with the hovabators, bought a third one to use as a control.We thought that our hovabators we just super sensitive, and tried to fine tune over a number of hatches we did.
It was mutually agreed upon, that by day 18 of incubation the soon to be hatching eggs were producing their own heat, this was determined by doing a series of surface temp readings spanned out over a few hatches. I am not saying that the eggs them selves produced that much heat, but they contributed to the rise in temp.
Other contributors were, not opening the bator, using warm water to increase humidity, as well as fluctuating room temps.

We then started to drop the temp down to 95*F and 80% humidity and found that our hatch rates were much better in the hovabator.

Last year we bought the Sportsman, and decided not to hatch in it, and hatched in the hovabators. Worked really well. Hatch rates were in the 90% + range for most chicken hatches, and 96%+ for Turkeys.

The only and MAIN reason we drop the temp down is that the hovabators are so "touchy" I'd rather have them have a slower longer hatch, then to cook before pipping.

I find that Cabinet incubators are way more accurate, superior and reliable. The can hold temps/humidity better, than the Styrofoam models. If I were to use the Sportsman for hatching, I wouldn't decrease the temp, just increase humidity.
Just don't like the idea of having to clean up after every hatch.



Cheers,

Jonny.

Hey Everyone,

Time for another Update....

Orpingtong Hatch "1" (Briarwood's lines)
03/21/2013 Set - 04/11/2013 Hatch Due
( 2 doz Orpington eggs)
It's Day 4, all eggs are still incubating, will candle on Day 7 to check development!

Sussex Hatch "1" (TSamis / Jonny Anvil Lines)
03/25/2013 Set - 04/15/2013 Hatch Due

(30 Light/Coro Sussex eggs placed into the bator today!
These eggs have been collected for the past 7 days, from our Light Sussex and Coro Sussex. Eggs were held for 7 Days at 8-10*C. Oldest eggs are 7 Days. Newest are Todays.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Check back for updates as the 2013 Hatches are documented.


Cheers!

Orpingtong Hatch "1" (Briarwood's lines)
03/21/2013 Set - 04/11/2013 Hatch Due
( 2 doz Orpington eggs)

Well it's Day 6 and I couldn't help but candle the eggs.

Out of the 24 eggs 17 Eggs have developed and are looking good, the others didn't fully take.

Hatch is looking good!

Sussex Hatch "1" (TSamis / Jonny Anvil Lines)
03/25/2013 Set - 04/15/2013 Hatch Due


Candled the eggs on Day 7, which was Monday.

Bad News.... Not all my hens are Fertile yet. Looks like 3 hens are not yet fertile.
Out of the 30 Eggs I have 13 that are fertilized. The rest were Duds.

Someone, aka LS Roo is not doing his Job.

Don't worry, reading the posts, but not commenting cause I personally think you need to have a reasonably clutter free thread, smiling that big smile, as I clutter your thread have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Everyone is welcome to comment!!


Update:


Power outage this morning. 2hrs. Incubator Temp dropped to 88*F.

Hope this has not affected the hatch to much.

Jonny Anvil wrote:Everyone is welcome to comment!!


Update:


Power outage this morning. 2hrs. Incubator Temp dropped to 88*F.

Hope this has not affected the hatch to much.

As long as it ticks along again you won't have any trouble. I don't think they got cool enough, but sometimes a power outage can make the hatch a little late.
Good luck with it.

coopslave wrote:

Jonny Anvil wrote:Everyone is welcome to comment!!


Update:


Power outage this morning. 2hrs. Incubator Temp dropped to 88*F.

Hope this has not affected the hatch to much.

As long as it ticks along again you won't have any trouble. I don't think they got cool enough, but sometimes a power outage can make the hatch a little late.
Good luck with it.

Thanks Coop,

The power went out at 9:20am my time, I was awake and just about to have a coffee after a late night and bam, out goes the power.
First thing I did was plug the air vents, and tossed a towel over the incubator. at 11:20 when the power came back on I took the plugs out, and removed the towel.

I am not to concerned about the Sussex eggs, as I can walk 400feet and get more, it's the Orp eggs from Briarwood I am concerned about, as they are due on the 11th, a week from today!

Not overly worried, as it's out of my control.

Ah, Jonny you asked for it, comments, you should know me by now . I ramble almost as much as another person I know . About the power loss, it takes a very long time for an egg in an incubator to cool down. Been there, done that, many times, the hatches never changed in length of time very much. The hatch before last, the temperature was even down to about 94 (wafer screw had been bumped by me) for who knows how long, still had eggs hatch. Do you remember there was some studies done about cooling eggs for a bit and then putting back in the incubator for heating up? I can't recall what thread, but something to do with Egypt I think (search button, but I'm too lazy). Don't worry about that, and keep up with the setting and results. Think Coopslave and I will do that too, but it seems we are sharing a thread, and that is even better!! It is fun. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

UPDATE:

Orpingtong Hatch "1" (Briarwood's lines)
03/21/2013 Set - 04/11/2013 Hatch Due
( 16 Eggs made it to lockdown)

Last night I put 16 eggs into lockdown, they are due to hatch on the 11th!

Looking forwards to the hatch!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

UPDATE:

Orpingtong Hatch "1" (Briarwood's lines)
03/21/2013 Set - 04/11/2013 Hatch Due
( 16 Eggs made it to lockdown)


1st egg pipped at midnight, right on cue!
1:30 am and have three pipped so far.

Will see how things are in the morning, hopefully waking up to some fuzzy butts!

now that's the beauty of putting them in with the hopes that they hatch overnight, well a good many anyways. Happened to me last hatch, 2 had zipped and were bopping around a Friday night, next morning, whoopee!! Basket of fuzzy butts. So, ya, let's hear how many came this morning so early. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Jonny, sounds like you will have an exciting morning. I like when they hatch overnight as well. You get to wake up in the morning and SURPRISE! You know we need pictures now, right?

Well it was a surprise this morning,


Woke up to 3 hatched chicks and 4 more pipped in the bator.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]