# Incubating eggs for first time



## ksalvagno

So I got the bug to try incubating eggs. I got the Kibonnixs incubator. Figured it was best to start small. So I set my first eggs today. I hope I have a fertile rooster and get some chicks. I thought I would keep track of progress here. I couldn't find anywhere if 12 chicks can hatch and dry ok in the incubator.


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## AndersonRanch

Yay! Welcome to the addicting club lol 
Candle them between 7-10 days ans again before lock down. Most likely not all 12 will make it to lockdown. Doesn’t mean you did anything wrong or the chickens it’s just the way it goes. But even if they do all make it 12 will be ok. They will be all snug in there. I have moved eggs around to free up incubators and have had 12 hatch in there. It looks a little iffy but they all did fine.


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## daisymay

i dont see why not, they should be okay but remember when they hatch they make the incubator dirty especially with all the down, it gets in the motor and hard to clean. but if thats all you have then it should work. i love my brinsea ecoglo brooder so much safer then heat lamps and cheaper to run. not that im using it but when i did i loved it.


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## Kass

Are you asking if they can all fit? 
Some may hatch earlier and some later. Whenever one is dried off and poofy you can take it out and put it in the brooder. Dip its beak in the food and water so they know where it is even though technically they are still absorbing the yolk for the first day or so. 

Good luck with everything! Hatching chicks is very exciting

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## ksalvagno

You can open the lid during the lockdown? I could see the chicks fitting if you could remove egg shells or chicks.


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## AndersonRanch

No you really shouldn’t open it during lock down, but if the other eggs have not piped yet you can open really fast and pull them out. I promise they will be fine in there. There is still room for them to lay on top of the empty eggs and shuffle those half broken eggs around. But if you are worried about it move the incubator to the bathroom during lockdown. The issue with opening it is it allows cool dry air in and if one has piped it will dry the membrane out and you have a shrink wrapped chick. That is NOT fun to deal with! The outer membrane turns to leather so they can’t break threw and the inner membrane will turn to a cement around the chick. But if they are in the bathroom and you get worried you can turn the shower on with hot water, get it nice and humid in there and then you can open it. It’s still a risk but it’s not instant doom if one has piped on the bottom of the egg and you can’t see it.


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## Suzzetthegoatlady

It would be suggested to keep the baby chicks in for a little longer after ready to go out because the peeping and walking on the other eggs encourages the other chicks to start hatching, after two days take them out and put them in the broader that's my advice


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## ksalvagno

Thanks for all the advice! I'm excited about doing this. So far temp and humidity have been fine and the automatic turner working.


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## Sfgwife

We always keep another thermometer and hygrometer in the bator as well as the one that comes in it. Sometimes they are not real accurate. Good luck and enjoy it! It is fun.

We love the heat plates for the brooder over a lamp. The first few days before they go in the “wagon” brooder that is outside we keep them in a big rubbermaid tub and do use a lamp. But it is because there is just not enough room for the plate in it.


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## ksalvagno

I candled the eggs last night. It appears all 12 have that dark spot. Most of them I also saw the veins but I have 2 dark shell eggs that were hard to tell. So at this point I'll consider them all viable. We will see in a week if they all will remain viable. But it is exciting that things are progressing.


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## Kass

Yay! That's so exciting! Sounds like everything is going well. I can't wait to see them. They'll be here before you know it 

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## ksalvagno

Today is day 13 and I candled the eggs. I'm hoping I'm doing this right. Here are a couple pictures of what I think are good eggs.


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## ksalvagno

Here is a picture of what I think is a bad one. I possibly have 2 bad eggs now. Both pictures are the same egg.


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## daisymay

wow your fancy, i use a flashlight. usually they wont explode so if your not sure just wait a bit longer, but if no veins or if it looks yellow then the egg is bad.


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## ksalvagno

The light is on the Kebonnix incubator. I tried a flashlight to see if I would see the same thing but I couldn't seem to get the light blocked off on only the egg. I guess you need a small flashlight and the one I used wasn't small enough.


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## Moers kiko boars

Have you tried any other eggs, like duck, turkey or peacock? Are they all incubated the same & candled the same?


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## Sfgwife

Moers kiko boars said:


> Have you tried any other eggs, like duck, turkey or peacock? Are they all incubated the same & candled the same?


Turkeys take longer in the bator. 28 days. .


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## Moers kiko boars

Thankyou @Sfgwife 🥰


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## Kass

Looks right to me. Obvious veins in the first ones. No signs of life in the last. 

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## ksalvagno

This is my absolute first time with hatching eggs. I used the eggs from my chickens. I have a Cochin/Light Brahma mix rooster and he is a nice boy in that he never attacks. My girls are Buff Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Barred Rock, Cuckoo Maran and one I'm not sure. The 4 black ones were all supposed to be Cuckoo Maran but once they start growing, it was obvious they all were not. The girls were hatchery chicks from TSC and the rooster was free.


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## Moers kiko boars

I have an incubator. Ive never used it. So I will learn from you. Thanks for putting this post up.


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## goathiker

I'm getting an incubator when DH gets home from Alaska. I'm getting the Harrison Farms NR20.


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## ksalvagno

goathiker said:


> I'm getting an incubator when DH gets home from Alaska. I'm getting the Harrison Farms NR20.


Nice! I'm starting small. Trying not to go too crazy with chickens.

Here is my rooster.


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## Moers kiko boars

He is pretty.


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## Mike at Capra Vista

Nice roo
I like the contrasting black tail.
Do the feathered feet cause any issues?


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## ksalvagno

They haven't so far.


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## ksalvagno

We are now in lockdown. I took out the egg turner and candled for last time. The 2 eggs that I thought were bad may not be. Tonight I thought I saw veins. I did see movement in one egg which was cool. So now we see what ends up hatching. Hopefully no eggs explode.

I had a fox kill 5 of my hens today so I'm hoping there are some hens in there that will hatch.


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## Moers kiko boars

Ohhhh I hope they are all good. Cant wait to see how many you get. 
So sorry the fox got your hens.


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## ksalvagno

Today is day 20 and look what I'm seeing! Can't wait!


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## Mike at Capra Vista

ksalvagno said:


> look what I'm seeing!


???
A reflection of a window?
Unhatched chicks marking their eggs with X ?
One of the eggs turned white?

Congrats! Hope it goes well. Happy pipping.


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## ksalvagno

Funny man.


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## daisymay

so excited for you! i miss little cute fuzz balls!


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## ksalvagno

So I have 7 chicks hatched and 5 still in the incubator. I think if they aren't hatched by tomorrow, I will consider them not viable. 

So I did remove dried off chicks. I also removed the eggs of the hatched chicks. There just didn't seem to be enough room and a couple of the chicks got blocked in and couldn't move. Not sure if I hurt things by opening the lid. 

Once the chicks started hatching the humidity went over 80 and I couldn't seem to bring it down. I'm confused if that is ok or not. Also once lockdown started, I couldn't seem to get humidity over 69 so I guess I would need to put in bigger sponges. 

I think in the future I would only try to hatch out 6 eggs, maybe 8 at most. I think 12 is too many unless it is ok to remove chicks and eggs for more room for last hatching chicks. I understand now why people go for the much larger ones. But at this point I really have to stick to hatching small amounts of chicks.


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## Moers kiko boars

Ohhh how adorable! That was very interesting for me.


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## AndersonRanch

Awwww yay!!! You got your chicks. 
Candle the eggs before you Toss them, look for any movement. I have not had any that lived past a few days after the others have hatched but it is not unheard of some hatching super late. My sister had one hatch on day 29.
The humidity jumping around is totally normal. What happens is when a chick starts to hatch there is moisture in that egg and it is released which will spike up your humidity, when nothing is hatching it will be lower. I wouldn’t stress over low humidity as long as it stays above 50, I don’t like it too much higher then that when nothing is hatching because as you saw it can spike very fast and high humidity is just as bad as low, actually from playing this year I think it is worse because it drowns the chicks. Sadly though when figuring out your incubator it’s trial by error. I have a hard time with that since we are talking live chicks but you will get that happy medium that works for you. 
Defiantly need dried off chick pics!


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## ksalvagno




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## Moers kiko boars

7, thats Awesome! They are soooo cute.


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## ksalvagno

The chicks are 1.5 weeks old and doing well. Seven hatched and all 7 are thriving. I did have 3 bad eggs and 2 that started to hatch but died. Not sure if the high humidity drown them or what.


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## Moers kiko boars

They are sooooo cute!


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## FizzyGoats

They are adorable!


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## Mike at Capra Vista

What a great variety of chicks. Are they less than 1.5 weeks in the picture? Looks like they are only a couple of days.


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## ksalvagno

They are 1.5 weeks old in the last picture.


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## Mike at Capra Vista

That's just not fair. They still look so cute and fuzzy. Mine had significantly more feather growth by that age. 
Hope yours continue to be healthy.


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## BarnOwl

Congratulations on your hatch! I love candling and incubating eggs. I've only done two batches so far (one for quail and one for chickens) but it is so addicting. My lack of carpentry skills may be a good thing---because if I could build brooders, coops, and grow-out pens, I'd probably be incubating eggs all the time.  I pull the chicks that have hatched when things start to get too chaotic in the incubator. I don't think I've had any get shrink wrapped yet. I just open the lid for the least amount of time that I can, sweep the chicks out quickly, and throw a damp paper towel in as I close the lid--that seems to restore the humidity level.

Your chicks are so cute!


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## ksalvagno

Here are 2 week old pictures. I have one pretty one I sure hope is a hen. Everyone seems healthy and happy.


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## FizzyGoats

What a cool collection of chicks. They are also too stinkin’ cute! Glad they’re doing well. How old do they need to be before you’ll be able to tell the females from the males?


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## ksalvagno

I'm not sure at what age you can tell the difference. With my inexperience, it will probably be a while.


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## Sfgwife

ksalvagno said:


> The chicks are 1.5 weeks old and doing well. Seven hatched and all 7 are thriving. I did have 3 bad eggs and 2 that started to hatch but died. Not sure if the high humidity drown them or what.
> View attachment 211585



Woohoo way to go!


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## Moers kiko boars

❤💗😍🥰❤💗 Sooooo cute! They look GREAT!


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## ksalvagno

Chicks are 3 weeks old. They have been moved to the garage. Getting too big for the box and one got out. They have a new "friend."


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## Moers kiko boars

They are soooooo cute!


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## FizzyGoats

A friend who thinks they look tasty. 

They are growing quickly. They look great and are still adorable, of course.


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## ksalvagno

The chicks are 9 weeks old and in the barn. I have them in their own space for now.


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## Moers kiko boars

They have really grown! You did Good! 👍😁


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## FizzyGoats

They are getting big. Looks like they’re enjoying their new digs. Its crazy how fast they grow.


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## ksalvagno

The chicks are 14 weeks old now. I let them out and letting the 2 groups integrate. Of course right now they are staying apart but so far no fighting. First time outside.


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## Tanya

ksalvagno said:


> The chicks are 14 weeks old now. I let them out and letting the 2 groups integrate. Of course right now they are staying apart but so far no fighting. First time outside.
> View attachment 215289


Very very nice. Looks good.


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## Moers kiko boars

Wow..they look great! Good Job!


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## FizzyGoats

They look good. Staying apart with no fighting is amazing. I’m sure they’ll slowly mingle. It’s so crazy you were watching those little creatures inside their shells a little over 3 months ago. Now look at them.


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## daisymay

how many boys did you end up with?


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## ksalvagno

daisymay said:


> how many boys did you end up with?


Just one rooster. I'm very thankful.


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