Preparing the incubator for the hatch

With our wildly varying spring temperatures, it took a week for me to figure out how to adjust the nearby heater to keep our incubator running on an even keel.  The low temperature alarm went off on the first night and the high temperature alarm went off on the third afternoon and the ninth night.  I'm sure these temperature variations will affect my hatch rate, but I'm actually quite pleased with the combination of the Brinsea Mini Advance Incubator's high-tech temperature control and our supplemental space heater --- there was much less temperature variation than I've ever managed before!  I'll count this first try a success if we get even one living chick.

With that goal in mind, it's finally time to prepare for the hatch.  Except for keeping the temperature even, my only job during the first two and half weeks of incubation was to keep one of the wells inside the incubator full of water --- it tended to need refilling every three days.  On day 19, I filled both wells with water so that the humidity inside the incubator would rise from 40-50% to 65% or more.  It's essential to have high humidity during hatch time so that the chicks won't get stuck in the shell and die.  I left the pot guard on all along, but now's also the time when you need to put that small insert in place to keep chicks from drowning.

The automatic egg turner feature on the incubator keeps track of days to hatch and stops turning at day 19 (which will read as day 2 on the count-down window.)  When the eggs stop turning, it's best to remove the egg disc insert and put a piece of paper on the floor of the incubator underneath the eggs instead.  (Be sure to cut a circle out of the center to fit around the water well.)  Paper on the floor of the incubator gives your chicks easier footing and also makes the incubator much easier to clean.

When you stop turning the eggs at day 18, each chick will be manipulating its location in the egg so that its head can point toward the air pocket at the blunt end of the egg.  By day 19, the chick will have poked its beak into the air pocket and will be starting to breath air, and soon thereafter you might be able to hear the chick peeping in the shell.  The chick can now start pecking its way out of the shell (pipping), which it may do any time between day 19 and day 22.  This period is toughest since you'll get best results if you leave the incubator completely closed between day 19 and the time when all of the chicks are hatched and fully fluffed out.  I'm looking forward to the challenge!