I need to know when you put eggs in the incubator if that first day is counted as day 1. I put eggs in at 4:00 pm on feb 3 and need to know if the following day starts my counting.
Tammy, Yes, that would be wise, but if they are chicken eggs, you can watch for hatching from day 19 to 22 if all remains well. Write the due dates on your calendar. Most will hatch 20-21 days. Good luck. I have started some today under hens! CJR
CJR,
Tammy, If they were mine, I would call Feb 4th day one, as it takes a while to get them warmed up to incubation temperature inside the egg--when the embryo starts to develop. The temperature your incubator needs to be held at, is considered to be correct at the top of the egg, as it lays in the incubator. So there can be difference at the bottom. The egg could be kept too warm, if it was the temp the incubator calls for, at the bottom. My incubator thermometer fastens so that it is "top of the eggs" height.
By Cjeanr on Tuesday, February 5, 2002 - 11:25 pm:
By Tammy (Tammym) on Wednesday, February 6, 2002 - 11:50 pm:
Thanks for responding. Yes, they are chicken eggs and i put them in feb 3 would feb 4 be considered day 1 i guess is what i'm wondering. What kind of hens do you have that set. My husband and kids think i'm totally obsessed with my chickens but i think its so fun. I have 3 different thermometers in my incubator. One is poked in thru a hole on the top, one lays on the bottom. They are usually just one degree different. which to me makes sense, because the hot burnners are on top. The other one lays on the bottom also and reads 5 degrees cooler. that one has to be off. how many chicken do you have?
By Cjeanr on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 12:51 am:
Right now, I have 32 breeding birds, 8 cocks, and each heads a pen of 2,3 or 4 hens, but I only hatch from a few at a time. One very special cock is on loan in Michigan. I have just hatched chicks from his pen, so won't need h im for about a month, when I will get him back. Then I have some youngsters, 2 days to 3 months old, they live in other pens, with the newest chicks in shoe boxes in a bedroom, under lights! I have been obsessed with chickens, probably since I was about 9 years old and had 2 pair of bantams of my own. But my parents had a flock of chickens, to sell eggs, when I was even younger, and I liked those, too! Now I try to breed the best exhibition bantams that I can, and study a lot more than I did years ago. CJR